Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Retailers need to shift the focus of their efforts from young to more mature shoppers if they are to capitalise on spending growth amongst older consumers.
So says Verdict Consulting UK, which predicts that people aged 65 to 74 will increase their retail expenditure by over three-quarters across the next 10 years.
In terms of spending, this will make them easily the fastest-growing age group, although the over-75s will also see above-average spending growth.
Verdict Consulting says that by 2017 the over-65s market will be worth £64b to UK retail compared to £39b this year.
The company points out that two main trends are fuelling the growing power of the older consumer. The number of 65- to 74-year-olds in the population will grow by 28% over the next 10 years and the over-75s by 19%. Secondly, older consumers will develop younger attitudes and shop for a far wider variety of products than older shoppers today.
At the same time, younger shopper groups will see relatively muted levels of spending growth, says Verdict Consulting.
