“In China, the number of people above the aged 60 or over will reach 400 million in the early 2030s, representing a quarter of the country’s total population. To put this into perspective, the total US population is officially forecast to be 359.4 million in 2030. The United Nations forecasts that 30% of all Chinese people will be older than 60 by 2040, and a quarter of the population by 2050. National Bureau of Statistics forecasts hold that 2015 will see the over-60s population surpass 230 million.
Yet the number of products and services aimed at the over-55s consumer group remains pitifully small. Of the nearly 15,000 new products picked up in China by Mintel’s GNPD new product database during 2014, only 33 (0.2%) made the claim of being aimed at people over the age of 55. This illustrates a mismatch between the size of the over-55s consumer market in China, and the number of new products and services being targeted at that consumer group.
The key finding of this report is that there is a huge potential market, full of opportunities, that is largely being ignored by product and services marketers. For companies that can engage with over-55s consumers, and adapt their products to serve their needs better, or can come up with innovative new solutions to solve lives problems for the over-55s, there is a wealth of opportunity and potential for new business growth.”
In this report, we answer the key questions:
Why, despite the over-55s being a significant and growing segment in China’s domestic consumer economy, is it that potential marketing is still not being fully developed?
What are the over-55 consumers looking to spend their not insignificant pools of savings and cash-in-hand on?
How are the over-55s planning to enjoy their later years, and what motivates them to spend?
What are over-55 people spending more, about the same or less on?
What can companies do to successfully market to older Chinese people, apart from simply not ignoring this significant group of consumers?
Definition
The report covers the lifestyles, life and financial planning and consuming habits of people aged between 55 and 84, living in the People’s Republic of China.
Report structure
The report features three sections (Executive Summary, Consumers and Key Issues) and an Appendix. The Appendix contains the full consumer survey and demographic data.
Methodology
This is a marketing intelligence report published by Mintel. The consumer research exclusively commissioned for this report was conducted by a Chinese licensed market survey agent (see Research Methodology China for more information).
For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned a quantitative research survey carried out to explore consumer attitudes. The consumer survey conducted for this report was done using face-to-face interviews of respondents recruited via street intercept around the places where over-55s people go most frequently (eg supermarkets/wet markets in the morning when they go to buy groceries, small gardens in the neighbourhood/community they live in).
Fieldwork was conducted in October 2014, in four tier one cities and six tier two and three cities of 750 adults aged 55-84. The tier one cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. The tier two cities are Nanjing, Shenyang and Changsha, and the tier three cities are Bengbu, Baoji and Baoding.
Unless otherwise stated, photographs in this report were taken by Mintel analysts.
