The ageing customer

The title of this blog sort of states why we are here. Demography is important and as such we will for example be talking about how western countries' populations are ageing and how this will affect society, policy issues and the economy. But is it all doom and gloom? Will the demographic realities of the future only pose problems and issues to be solved?

Obviously not!

From a marketer's point of view the agening population is merely the emergence of a new and potentially rich segment with needs and new wants to be served. The American company Deloitte has recently begun to publish podcasts on the basis of their conducted research and the first podcast dealt with the agening customer and which possibilities this presents to business. The podcast presents an interesting discussion based on a paper entitled "Wealth with Wisdom: Serving the Needs of Aging Consumers"

(from the paper)

”The major demographic trend toward increased longevity and larger age 50+ populations creates new opportunities across multiple industries. This paper sketches out a framework for
systematically thinking through four key dimensions of change and also considers the fifth dimension of personal relevance which may be partially shaped by the other factors.
Understanding the unique impacts of aging on variouscustomer dimensions is the first step to reshaping businesses and tapping profitably into the opportunities of emerging age
50+ markets.”

So there you have it; demography offers opportunities as well.