AARP, the association for the 50-plus crowd, has developed a program to put a seal of approval on a range of products that meet strict standards for its 36 million members.
The association has aligned with The Home Depot in a three-year exclusive distribution deal beginning next spring, just in time for the gardening season. The goal is to expand the program into an “endless list” of categories and industries, including consumer packaged goods, health and beauty products and automotive, says Howard Byck, VP-strategic alliances for AARP Services Inc., the wholly owned for-profit subsidiary of AARP, which provides products and services for its members.
“This year, our first toe in the water is the home improvement category,” Byck says.
The program has a two-prong objective: to stimulate innovation in manufacturing products and services for the 50+ market and to deliver information and education about those products and services to its members. Products must move through a three-step process before winning the seal of approval. First, the candidate company undergoes due diligence to ensure its practices and finances are in order. Second, the product is subjected to third-party lab testing for safety based on a set of 50+ friendly criteria, such as larger fonts on packaging and ease of assembly. In the third stage, a panel, comprised of experts from across the country in the areas of gerontology and ergonomics, assesses the product. Once the product has passed through the three steps, AARP determines its worthiness for its seal of approval.
In The Home Depot alliance, there is no shortage of brands willing to undergo the scrutiny in the hope of being endorsed by an association that represents so many millions of people, of which more than half are not yet retired. It’s a lucrative target as well, with the 50+ age group representing almost three-quarters of all financial assets in the country or about 57% of all discretionary income, Byck says. He declined to comment on specific brands participating in the program, saying they are still working through the process.
“We’re not lacking in the demand side, I think the issue is going to be whether the products pass muster,” he says. “We will award seals to manufacturers that have innovated in ways that address the needs of our members.”
A representative from The Home Depot declined to comment.
Once a product receives the seal and appears on The Home Depot shelves, it will be a prime-time opportunity for, say the ergonomic benefits of a particular garden shovel to stand out among the rows of others in catching older consumers’ attention for its ease of use.
“[The AARP brand] represents lots of things to members, including trust and integrity,” Byck says. “This is something that a 50+ individual can say, ‘is right for me.’”
In fact, market research has shown that 70% of members believe that an AARP seal of approval will mean a product of higher quality and 80% say they will be more likely to purchase a brand carrying the seal.
AARP plans to market the seal through its members and with The Home Depot until it reaches critical mass.
“It’s going to be a relatively low-key process the first year until we expand,” Byck says. “We’re taking a careful, conservative approach. We want to do it the right way.”
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