Demographic dividends - grasping the retail opportunities of healthy ageing
I've long felt that businesses ignore older people at their peril: as shared, in his recent book, 'Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism', Tom Peters rants "'Oldies' have ALL the money - how could marketers be soooo clueless?"!
He goes on to point out that "the average American household buys thirteen new cars in a lifetime, seven of them after the head of the household turns 50." Then he challenges businesses to ask how representative their exec team is of their target customer. I could go on, but you get the point!
So I was delighted to contribute to an important and lively webinar by the International Longevity Centre - UK, on the topic "Demographic dividends – grasping the retail opportunities of healthy ageing".
With the potential annual spend by disabled people estimated at £80bn in the UK, the arguments for making shops and High Streets both accessible and appealing to older people (as both customers and employees) are clearly commercial as well as moral.
In the webinar we explored, in the context of ageing trends (by 2030 there will be 1.3bn people on the planet aged 60+), all the ways in which placemakers and retailers can create cohesive, compelling, and sustainable experiences, as well as the health and wellbeing benefits of reimagined High Streets and town centres that cater to this market.
We also discussed the controversy surrounding the 15-Minute City concept; how humans "experience"; how to use 'IA' rather than 'AI'; and why every successful destination development initiative needs a 'SPACE MAN'. Finally we all got to wave a magic wand, to identify the key success drivers for a healthy High Street. You can find the recording, and the speakers' slides (including mine), below.
I was pleased to be invited to speak by my dear friend and colleague Ailsa Forbes, Retail Impact Fellow at the ILC, and to be alongside Lily Parsey of the ILC, Karen Wilkinson of Innovate UK KTN, Professor Joshua Bamfield of the Centre For Retail Research Limited, Tim Etherington-Judge of Healthy Hospo, Andrew Goodacre of Bira - British Independent Retailers Association, and Prof. Hannu Saarijärvi of Tampere University.
This is such an important topic and I look forward to learning and sharing more about it this year! Watch the webinar below: