The market for scooter sales is now — and that market is good. The aging population is growing. Today's seniors want an active lifestyle. And the home medical equipment industry has the scooters that will serve all their mobility needs, medical and social.

Where the rubber meets the road to success for providers is in bringing people and technology together. If HME providers are willing to do the right prep work in making this connection, says Dan Meuser, president of Pride Mobility Products, they can put seniors on the road again.

“The providers who set up their resources to follow what we think is a fundamental and simple plan for scooter sales are successful,” he declares.

Shifting Gears

What drives this plan? “A continued focus on raising awareness,” says Meuser. “The challenges we face include providing people with economical scooters and making many people who need scooters as a life-enhancement product — as opposed to a medical product — aware that a scooter is a personal mobility vehicle. It is a product of freedom, not a product of confinement.”

This shift in understanding is what will push the scooter market into high gear, other experts agree. “It is opening a whole new niche — a whole new opportunity for the market,” says Bruce Russell, president of Winmed Products.

More people are purchasing scooters for convenience, not medical necessity, adds Cheryl Gwiazda, senior product manager for Invacare. “There is still a medical need that exists,” she says, “but we are also seeing baby boomers who use scooters to enhance their traveling ability or their ability to go longer distances.”

What all this also means is that marketing is a critical driver of success in the scooter business today. And to sell seniors on how much a scooter can enhance life, providers must learn to think differently about how they promote the product.

Marketing ‘Personal Mobility’

Because it often takes time to determine which advertising avenues are the most appropriate in any given market, many manufacturers provide print, television and radio spots that can be customized to each provider's business. Manufacturers also recommend trying different combinations and follow-up strategies to discover which are most profitable.

“Sometimes it takes experimentation,” says Jack Sheehan, director of sales and marketing for Bruno Independent Living Aids. “You have to examine how many leads you receive and how many sales result from those leads to see if it pays. If it does, do more of the same. If it doesn't pay, try something else.”

The other key component to selling the lifestyle angle, says Darrin Horst, president, Lifestyle Mobility Aids, is having a wide variety of scooters available for customers to view. “You can't sell what you don't have,” he says.

And what you have, say manufacturers, must be well-presented. You need the right merchandising — from signage and displays to overall showroom design — and salespeople who are knowledgeable, friendly and committed to matching customers with the right scooters.

Appealing Choices

To meet each customer's unique needs and wants, a scooter must be the perfect blend of form, function and appealing accessories. That's why the market is now producing “more varieties of scooters that appeal to different lifestyles, and this is boosting scooter sales,” says Horst.

Many of the latest scooter models, for example, are smaller, more lightweight and easier to handle than their predecessors. But overall enhancements also are showing up on entire scooter lines, says Meuser.

“Luxury features are now available on economy scooters,” he says. “Advanced technologies in electronics and the manufacturing process have created better stability and we have been able to achieve that in less expensive scooters.”

The market for scooters that are safe, affordable and fun to use is growing — and fortunately, so is the number of scooters that fit this description, says Dan Teeters, president, Shoprider Healthcare. “There is virtually no consumer who can't be matched to a power mobility product — no matter the price, feature or color he or she wants.”

On the Road Again

Scooter purchasers vary in their level of ability and their expectations about what a scooter should provide, but most experts agree that transportability is an essential feature.

Transportability is so important because it helps restore scooter users to the more active lifestyle they either lost over time or lost because of an illness and injury, says Jack Sheehan, director of sales and marketing for Bruno Independent Living Aids.

Cheryl Gwiazda, Invacare Corp.'s senior product manager, agrees. “The easier you make the scooter to transport, the better it is for everyone,” she says. “People will use it more and will be happier with the overall experience.”

To meet this need, say manufacturers, lightweight scooters are the name of the game. Some lightweight models are classified as travel scooters, while others are just smaller than standard in size. But in either case, says Darrin Horst, Lifestyle Mobility Aids president, this class of scooters gives consumers what they want: “performance, convenience and transportability.”

The added benefit of these smaller scooters, notes Dan Teeters, president of Shoprider Healthcare, is their cost. “The type of scooter creating the most attention at this point is the mini-scooter,” he says. “That particular segment plays to the consumers' interest in the transportability of the product — and hits a lower price point.”

Internet Drivers

Growing numbers of people over age 60 are computer users and information seekers on the Internet, according to the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine.

That includes seniors in the market for scooters, says Shirley Beebe, advertising and public relations manager for Amigo Mobility International. Not only are scooter buyers making their own decisions about which model is best for their lifestyles, she says, but they are getting much of their information from the Internet.

Education should be the Internet's primary focus, Dan Meuser, president of Pride Mobility Products, believes. “When it comes to scooters, the Internet is only effective in educating people about what is available and where to access it,” he says. “The first goal of an Internet site should be to serve the customer — sales can be a residual effect.”

Keeping to that ideal, Meuser warns that Web sites should not focus on discounted prices because people also care greatly about the service and skills of a mobility specialist. “Confidence in service has to exude out of a Web site,” he says.

The National Institutes of Health offers a tool to guide companies through the process of creating and maintaining Web sites that are “senior-friendly.” NIH's “Making Your Web Site Senior Friendly: A Checklist” suggests design tips, including the most appropriate fonts, colors and type sizes, as well as a list of resources and suggested readings.
The report is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/checklist.pdf or by calling 800/222-2225.

Experts Interviewed: Todd Aiazzone, sales and marketing manager, Merits Health Products, Cape Coral, Fla.; Shirley Beebe, advertising and public relations manager, Amigo Mobility International, Bridgeport, Mich.; Matt Evans, retail mobility sales manager, and Dan Meuser, president, Pride Mobility Products, Exeter, Pa.; Cheryl Gwiazda, senior product manager, Invacare Corp., Elyria, Ohio; Darrin Horst, president, Lifestyle Mobility Aids, St. Petersburg, Fla.; DuWayne Kramer, president, and Mike Wade, national sales manager, Leisure-Lift, Kansas City, Kan.; Vivian Lo, sales manager, CTM Home Care Products, Taipei, Taiwan; Randy Riecks, national sales manager, Ranger All Season, George, Iowa; Bruce Russell, president, Winmed Products, Fort Myers, Fla.; Jack Sheehan, director of sales and marketing, Bruno Independent Living Aids, Oconomowoc, Wis.; Dave Tasselmyer, sales and marketing manager, Golden Technologies, Old Forge, Pa.; Dan Teeters, president, Shoprider Healthcare, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

To follow up with these companies, check out the complete listing in HomeCare's annual Buyers' Guide available in print or online at www.homecaremag.com.