India’s silver economy: Far-off prospect or underserved segment?

Representative image

Guess the fastest growing demographic in India today? If you said Gen Z, you’d be wrong. It’s actually Gen X — the soon-to-be-silver segment.

Currently, senior citizens, aged 60 years and above, constitute just over 10% of the Indian population, approximately 150 million individuals. But projections by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) suggest that this segment could swell to 340 million by 2050, encompassing 21% of the total population and 17% of the world’s elderly population.

Yet, brands, marketers and the advertising industry in general continue to overlook this cohort.

Underserved segment

“It’s natural that brands want to focus on youngsters — Gen Zs, millennials and such, because for most brands, they form the bulk of the audience. Also lifestyle imagery wise, they make a more attractive target segment,” says brand expert Lloyd Mathias. “The reality, though, is that there are a lot of categories in which the real consumers tend to be people in the 50-plus range.”

A McKinsey Global Institute report in 2016 found that older consumers in developed economies spend more per head than younger people. While this is largely because of heavy spending on healthcare, they also predicted that this group would contribute more than 40% of consumption growth in housing, transport and entertainment in the US.

Ashwini Sirsikar, group service line leader, Ipsos India, which puts Gen X’s annual spending at close to $200 billion, says this “rapidly growing, affluent generation” is often ignored in terms of targeted marketing and specific activations. “Work done by Ipsos has shown that Gen Xers feel under-represented in specific categories such as fashion, beauty, durables, automobiles, etc — and unfortunately, these are the very categories that they are looking forward to consuming,” she says.

Fashion has a large untapped market, says Piali Dasgupta, former senior vice-president, marketing at Columbia Pacific Communities (a global senior living community operator). “Fashion doesn’t really like to touch this segment because it’s not seen as being ‘aspirational’ enough. It’s a shame because our parents’ generation is just like any other one. Just because you’re 65+ doesn’t mean that you don’t enjoy dressing well or eating a bar of chocolate,” she says.

Those that shine

Another reason why brands have overlooked this segment is because they believe seniors are not key decision makers in households. “Brands have always focused on the generation that spends the most in categories that they operate in. FMCG and apparel, for example, are very Gen Z-focused,” says Dasgupta.

Still, there are pockets in which it is the senior citizen who shines. “In jewellery segments, for instance, brands look at an older audience, recognising that while older people may not necessarily be users of jewellery themselves, they’re often the decision makers,” Mathias adds.

Another example is fine dining. “The whole experience is targeted to the senior generation, from upscale packaging to a lower volume of music. The drinks menu reflects their taste, and even servers know whom to give importance to,” shares Naresh Gupta, co-founder and CSO, Bang in the Middle.

It’s similar in the luxury automobile category. Activations and outreaches are targeted towards this segment and even advertising no longer shies away from showing older individuals, he says.

“We have seen a few great ads portraying the elderly demographic, such as Tanishq’s ‘Vighnaharta’ ad or Vodafone’s elderly couple ad — but these are rare. We need to see more senior citizen representation in mainstream narratives,” Dasgupta adds.

Silver opportunities

Still there are categories built around the elderly segment, like senior living. India has seen a significant surge in the number of senior living projects in the past decade, with 18,000 units spread across the country. The majority of these are concentrated in South India — Coimbatore, Bengaluru and Chennai — and they contribute to approximately 40% of the country’s total inventory, according to a CBRE report.

Another category that’s doing significantly well is age-tech (tech built around the needs of older adults). Take SeniorWorld’s Easyfone — a phone designed especially for seniors, featuring larger buttons, clearer displays, simplified menus and essential safety features such as emergency SOS buttons and caretouch (remote access for caregivers). “Technology should be accessible and user-friendly for everyone, including seniors, without diminishing their sense of intelligence or independence,” says Rahul Gupta, co-founder and CEO, SeniorWorld.

SeniorWorld has also launched an app, SilverWings, which offers daily engaging content such as technology classes, fitness sessions, health articles and medicine reminders. The app currently has about 1.4 lakh downloads, the founders say.

Yet, there is still more room to grow. Most products created for the senior segment are prohibitively expensive or hard to find, says Ankur Bisen, senior partner at Technopak. “The elder care market here is sporadic and extremely fragmented. While there are products that cater to this segment, particularly in categories like safety and security, they are not available easily. For example, a lot of adult diapers are non-branded and imported from China. But if tomorrow, it starts to become profitable, you’ll have sanitary napkin companies, and those who make kids diapers, entering this segment.”

A good reference is Japan, says Bisen. “Japan is well ahead of the curve when it comes to catering to the elderly. They are rethinking everything, from public transport to roads, from product labelling to call centres and digital support for the elderly,” he adds.

The unsung heroes

When you consider products designed for senior citizens, most think of senior living, geriatric care, insurance or adult diapers. But one category that has done really well is travel. “Senior citizens tend to seek community and activity together, and they’re seeking travel as a means to achieve that,” says Abraham Alapatt, president and group head – marketing, service quality, value added services and innovation, Thomas Cook India, adding that customers aged 60+ form 10-12% of their customer base.

A common misconception is that they might be mobility challenged or prefer to take things slow. “But we’re seeing a growing number of senior citizens who are remarkably healthy. A lot of them are very active professionals, sometimes consulting or on boards of companies. Even though they’re not doing 9-to-5 jobs, they’re very active socially and physically, and the itineraries they request reflect that. For example, we see groups of senior citizens travelling just to scuba dive,” he shares.

While ample opportunities abound, brands need to be careful about how they market to this segment. Advertisers sometimes talk down to them, showing them as being traditional, gullible or even ignorant, says Sirsikar.

“Today’s senior citizens are smart, tech-savvy and empowered. Ads should use empowering tonality instead of dumbing down their communication,” Dasgupta says. “Be mindful of using clichés like ‘old is gold’ or ‘with age comes wisdom’. It comes off as being cold rather than engaging. This generation is one that appreciates wit tied to current events or topics relevant to them.”

As Alapatt says, they “don’t want to be treated like grandfathers or grandmas. They want to be treated like regular people. They want speed and efficiency. A lot of them are very digital savvy and would prefer being served on phone, on WhatsApp or on e-mail”.

Mathias says a lot of brands fall into the trap of using older models when talking to this generation. “But your point can be made just as effectively without,” he says. “It’s like IPL advertising — brands that have cricket endorsers stuff them into everything, but very often, it’s the brands that don’t use cricket celebrities that make far more salient points.”