Accessible and Inclusive Marketing Practices

Accessibility and inclusivity are intermingled concepts, both striving to achieve the ideal of “equal access and participation for all”. Since any individual is open to experience impairments or disability that may cause limitations in terms of vision, hearing, mobility, and cognition in his/her life stages because of the aging process, illnesses, or the circumstances s/he lives in and becomes vulnerable in the marketplace. For that reason, the businesses should design their products not only for the able-bodied consumers but also for the disabled people, older consumers, or the parents with small children in order to ensure equality, retain customers, and create lifetime loyalty. All the products, services, or environments should be carefully designed for equal access that makes everyone experience consumer normalcy regardless of age, disability, gender, and race. This study aims to examine accessible and inclusive marketing practices across various sectors targeting the growing consumer segment including individuals aged 60 and above. The rise in senior population, both globally and in Turkey, necessitates the development of products and services that cater to the specific needs and expectations of older adults. Senior consumers are expected to become a significant demographic group in the future. Due to their distinct characteristics compared to other consumer groups, providing accessible products and developing products as inclusive as possible are expected to occupy the agendas of businesses. In this chapter, marketing practices carried out in the light of accessibility and inclusivity for elderly consumers are examined with the examples from tourism, banking, food retailing, and health services sectors.