Senior Chinese consumers are digitally engaged | WARC | The Feed

Senior Chinese consumers are digitally engaged

Older consumers in China present brands with significant business opportunities because they are becoming more tech-savvy and now embrace smart products and digital campaigns - . In other words, when it comes to digital offerings, China’s “silver” citizens have moved from being passive users to “active consumers”.

That is according to a new study by Wavemaker, the media agency network, and Nestlé Health Science. Entitled Embracing Spring of the Silver Economy, the findings are published by Campaign Asia.

Why it matters

The number of smart products and services designed for seniors tripled between 2018 and 2020, while in 2020 alone 1,908 start-ups set up in business to cater for older consumers. Wavemaker estimates that the annual spending of senior citizens from tier 1 to 3 cities in China is worth Rmb 6.64 trillion. And it is forecast there will be 300 million senior citizens in China by 2025.

Key findings

• The urban silver generation has become more confident and is investing more in personal appearances and skin management.
• They already use more diversified smart technology products, such as water purifiers (50%), air purifiers (39%), Bluetooth earphones (38%), tablets (36%) and cleaning robots (26%).
• They also use various apps to make their life easier, such as for online payment (71%), online shopping (59%), maps and navigation (51%), life services information (41%) and ride-hailing services (34%).
• Older Chinese consumers are also less worried about ageing and have more expectations for life after retirement.
• The market for senior citizens is still imbalanced with not enough supply; specifically, sectors like health, beauty and fashion, travel and financial services still need to provide exclusive products for silver consumers.

Sourced from Campaign Asia