Grey Power:
Older Workers as Older Customers
Sue Tempest, Christine Coupland &Christopher BarnattNottingham University Business School
The Silver Market Phenomenon: Business Opportunities
and Responsibilities in the Ageing SocietyTokyo 2008
DISCLAIMER
No portion of these materials is to
be used or disseminated by any
method without the expressed
written consent of the presenter(s)and the German Institute forJapanese Studies (DIJ).

Grey Market Potential•

Demographicg pageingg g challenges
g firms to respondpwithrelevant products & services•But too manyy firms are not responding
pg or adopting
p gstereotypes of older customers•

We urgeg consideringg older workers as older customers
in context» Profiling older individuals – individual level» Shifting grey household composition – domesticlevel» Intergenerational implications – societal level

Grey Power“They’reydiscerning,g widelyy read, widelyy travelled & used tojetting off for long weekends - they’re pretty cool customers”
Director of a retirement community (Sunday Times 15.06.08)•A study of centenarians in a nursing home chain foundthat 27% liked to watch MTV music channel, 15%played video games & 4% knew how to use an iPod.
(Sunday Times 17.06.07)•In 2008, a 91 year old became the oldest person to beawarded PhD by Cambridge University (Sunday Times, 20.07.08)•In the US, people over 50 account for nearly 50%
market share for housing, food, transportation & healthbut the majority of firms market to younger people (Pak(P k &Kambil, 2006)

Stereotypes of Older People

Older people are diverse? Different
Lifestyles & Beliefs?

FINANC
CIALLYSECU
URE
FINANCIAALLYINSECUURESTATTE OF W
WEALTTHThe Older Customer Wealth/Health
Segmentation Matrix
Internalistic Focus

Externalistic Focus

The Assisted Old

The Discerningg Old

The Dependent Old

The Grafting Old

POOR HEALTHGOOD HEALTHSTATE OF HEALTH (Tempest, Barnatt & Coupland 2008)

Realising Older Customer
Opportunities•“Byy the time we reach our fifties two-thirds of us have vision,
hearing or dexterity impairments” (Microsoft, 2008). Microsoft on-line‘guide for aging computer users’ offers suggestions on how toadjust the computer making it easier to use•

Ford’s ‘Third Age Suit’ – a product development tool to help
younger designers develop cars for people with mobility, visual &strength issues. Applied to hospital design for older people•Retirement homes that enable independence but later can layer inservices & care if required (Sunday Times, 15.06.08)•

Robotic suit developed in Japan increases wearer’s leg strength by80%. Enable older people to pursue activities ruled out previously.
Prospect of “geriatric gliding, wrinkly wakeboarding” (The Business 5.05.07)•

Saga experienced a tenfold increase in trekking trips to Nepal in thepast 13 years. (The Times, 15.09.07)

The Future Household:Older customers in domestic context••••••••

Pensioners with pensioners
Pensioners in isolation
Pensioners with parents
pPensioners with teenagers/students
Who is the product/service designed for & who is making
the spending decision?
Products & services to overcome isolation
Th mythTheth off theth older
ld person ffree off family
f il commitments
itt withith
endless leisure time
How to respond to multiple generational usage of products?
The role of ‘universal/inclusive’ design(Tempest, Barnatt & Coupland 2008)

Responding to Future Households• Domestic appliances such as cookers, washing machines &hoo ers that are safer to access & easier to usehoovers
se - more stable,stablehigher for loading or lighter to lift
• Social networking
g & affinity
y web sites & ggroupsp• Tefal ‘Quick Cup’ kettle heats water for single mug in 3 seconds• ‘Lifetime Homes’ - new homes with design
g features that willmeet the needs of most households• Saga recognise domestic context by offering 100 ‘free’ holidays
a year to people over 50 in a caring role: caring for a disabledchild, a partner or an elderly relative (Sunday Times 15.06.08)• Age Concern offers travel insurance for older people - children
undernder 18 in the familyfamil can go free (domestic contecontext);t) life cocovererthat extends to those aged 85 (intergenerational context).

The Intergenerational Agenda:
Older customers in societal context•

Intergenerational exchanges are crucial to the viability ofgrey strategiest t i & products.
d t
E.g. in many Western nations a generation of ‘savers’ hasenabled a g
generation of ‘spenders’ who risk a legacy
g y of ageneration of ‘debtors’ as their successors. Business plans
based on the ‘spender generation’ of boomers may befundamentally flawed as the ‘debtors’ mature•

Intergenerational issues are culturally relative. Firms
need to consider the specific intergenerational dynamics
in their geographic markets
markets. Ageing in emerging
economies?

•The role of g
governments,, charities,, & firms in ensuring
gsustainable intergenerational dynamics via appropriate
tax & pension regimes & sustainable business models

Ageing & Product Development•

Could existing
gpproducts be more accessible to olderpeople?

•What are you doing to meet the needs of older people forrelevant products & services? The role of older workers
as older customers.

•Are you excluding potential older customers byassumptions about them as individuals,individuals their householdcomposition or their intergenerational context?

•Better information to support purchasing decisions &demonstrate value, usability & sustainability of productsReferences
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