Hong Kong media: In the first three quarters of 2021, China's silver-haired people's online shopping increased nearly 5 times year-on-year, mainly buying leisure products and services
Hong Kong "South China Morning Post", October 24th article, original title: Chinese elderly consumers are turning "silver hair" into e-commerce "gold"
Zhu Genghui (voice) is a novice online shopping, but like those who are only 1/3 of her age People like online shopping.
Between taking care of his grandchildren and dancing square dancing, the 67-year-old retired man spends an average of 3 hours a day on his mobile phone, looking for clothes, household items and health products.
Zhu said: "The quality (online shopping) is better than most of the products I buy in the supermarket, and it is more convenient, especially when there are promotions." She also shared relevant links with a group of friends on social platforms. Discuss and recommend products to each other, "It's exciting to find (cost-effective) things, which makes me look forward to it every day."
Zhu is a member of an expanding group of Chinese silver-haired netizens. Driven by factors such as the epidemic, government policies, and e-commerce giants, this group has turned to online shopping in the past year.
A report released this month showed that although young people were responsible for online shopping for older relatives before 2020, the trend has now changed.
Relevant investigations have found that many retirees in large cities in China have money and leisure, and they have become one of the "most affordable" online shopping groups after the epidemic.
More than half of the elderly products sold this year were purchased online by the elderly themselves.
In the first three quarters of this year, China's silver-haired people's online shopping increased nearly five times year-on-year. They mainly purchase leisure products and services, such as gardening supplies and group tours.
China’s population is rapidly aging, and the scale of goods and services suitable for the elderly has grown accordingly.
In the past year, elderly people aged 60 and above have become one of the main growth forces of Chinese Internet users. As of June this year, the number of active elderly Internet users reached 123.3 million, compared with only 60.6 million as of March last year.
Tao Ruisi Feng, an economist who studies China’s elderly consumption, said that nowadays, Chinese elderly customers are more closely connected with society and have begun to shift from offline to online experience. Especially since the outbreak, “many elderly people like Online shopping, they want to feel young and try new things."
In order to open up relevant markets, online businesses need to simplify the design of apps and websites, or provide elderly-friendly user-friendly guides.
Relevant experts believe that the business community needs to abandon outdated views of the elderly in China and create a stronger supply side for the silver economy.
The 14th Five-Year Plan has listed the silver economy as one of its development goals, and China has begun to implement measures to ensure that websites and apps are more convenient for elderly users to use.
Duan Mingjie, founder of a consulting company in Beijing, said that some companies are trying to enter the elderly market even during the epidemic. "It is important to seize this opportunity now. The elderly have been ignored for a long time, but this is no longer the case."
(Author Cat Wang, translated by Ding Ling)