• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2011

On 1 July 2000, as the over-65 year-old population numbered 3,371,000 and accounted for over 7.1% of Korea's total population, an aging society was revealed. The over-65 percentage climbed to 11.0% by late 2010. A truly aged society is expected soon, by 2019. This aging society requires marketing research concerning the consumer behaviour and well-being of the elderly, because the 'silver generation' is emerging as a large part of the consumer market. The purpose of this study is to empirically analyse one effect among several satisfaction factors in the consuming cycle of various health functional products on consumer's well-being and the effect of product knowledge on the relationship between product satisfaction and well-being. To achieve this purpose, we established a research model after reviewing previous studies on product satisfaction, product knowledge, and consumer's well-being. The following hypotheses were developed from the research model. Hypothesis 1: When elderly consumers' satisfaction with health functional products increases, their well-being will increase. Hypothesis 2: The effect of their satisfaction with health functional products on their well-being will be strengthened according to the level of their knowledge of the products. Those hypotheses were tested by multiple and moderated regressions to the empirical data through a questionnaire survey. As a result, Hypothesis 1 was totally adopted, and Hypothesis 2 was only partially adopted. The study has many practical implications for well-being marketing. First, in order to heighten the elderly consumer's well-being, the level of his or her satisfaction with the health functional products has to be raised in every stage: during the acquisition, preparation, use, maintenance, and disposition of the consumption cycle. Moreover, promoting positive emotional experiences while diminishing negative ones requires effort because a consumer's well-being is made up of various needs. Second, the marketing of health functional products should be invigorated in order to raise the level of elderly consumers' knowledge of them. In other words, it is important to give them an expertise in the health functional products through different channels. A statistical analysis showed, however, that their knowledge has a decisive effect on only two satisfaction stages, preparation and maintenance. Nevertheless, this merely confirmed the intuitive assumption that the knowledge of health functional products is most relevant to their preparation and maintenance. In conclusion, this study is timely because few empirical studies exist on the relationships between silver consumer behaviour and well-being marketing. It contributes to our understanding of this subject by revealing the causality between the silver consumer's satisfaction and his or her well-being in the consumption cycle and by discovering the moderating influence of knowledge in that process.