‘Stop thinking of older adults as one market’: Stanford business school's Susan Wilner Golden

Susan Wilner Golden (left) teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is also director of the dciX impact initiative at the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute.

Declining birth rates and increase in life expectancy in large parts of the world are fuelling a megatrend: population ageing. What does this longevity mean for businesses and how should they strategise to leverage it? Susan Wilner Golden explores this evolving market in her book, Stage (Not Age): How to Understand and Serve People Over 60 - the Fastest Growing, Most Dynamic Market in the World.

Susan Wilner Golden is an expert on innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities created by the new longevity, and she teaches this subject at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is also director of the dciX impact initiative at the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute. Excerpts from an email interview:

Longevity+Healthspan=Opportunity. Could you tell us more about this?

Life expectancy has increased dramatically in the past 100 years. Longevity is the length of lifespan. However, healthspan is the time that a person is free from the serious diseases that are leading causes of death – eg., heart disease; cancer; Type 2 diabetes; stroke. People can now experience the same health status in their sixties and seventies, as they did in their twenties to forties.

These longer healthspans have many implications, and are creating new opportunities for businesses, innovators, and investors to support the many ways to support healthy ageing.

Also read: Why workplaces need experience capital

The narrative around ‘old age’ has to definitely change. What are some less ageist terms for those over 60?

Traditionally, all older adults have been categorised as the same, and terms such as old, senior, elderly, retiree were commonly used for all people over 60 or 65. These terms often imply the end, rather than viewing this period as one of great opportunity to reset life priorities; repurpose; engage in lifelong learning, and relaunch a new career or become part of a new activity.

Older adults or older people are more acceptable terms, that can imply experienced and wise, and not declining. However, even those terms do not fully capture the vigour and vitality many will experience with longer healthspans.

We do need better terms to describe the age diversity of older adults who will be living much longer and with longer healthspans. I have called this new period the “Renaissance” stages for older adults. It is a period when you can look forward to many new stages filled with vibrancy and purpose. I have also suggested the concept of “Furtherhood”, as we think about going further in life and contributing in new ways.

How should businesses rethink strategy when customers may live up to a hundred years?

Businesses now have the opportunity to not only target the 18-34-year-olds because they thought they had more disposable income, but to focus their efforts on older adults. In fact, older adults account for more than 53 percent of spending in the US alone and over 40 percent of the wealth.

Businesses should now be thinking about developing multigenerational customers; and designing products that will serve the needs of older adults to achieve healthy ageing. They may also need to modify their marketing campaigns, so that they don’t depict all older adults the same – not all are “superagers” running marathons and not all are frail and declining.

Companies that have understood this include Warby Parker, a well-known eyewear company. While initially they targeted their eye frames and services to the “hipster”, they realised several years into their company’s growth that a large percentage of older adults needed progressive lenses but did not want different eyeglass frames – they wanted the same type that their children or grandchildren might wear. So they modified their services to include progressive lenses as an offering, which now accounts for over 30 percent of sales. BMW has also changed many of their internal features of their cars to be “age- friendly” recognising that the majority of their customers are over 55 years old. They offer larger fonts and colour contrasts on the dashboard, and entry into the car is more accessible.

Marketing to ‘stage’, not ‘age’ - why is this important?

The key is to stop thinking of older adults as one market. People over 60 are  a deeply diverse population. It is more than just adding years to their lives. They are travelling through different life stages and therefore want and need different products and services at each of those stages. Their wants and needs will change as they enter new stages –  not all of which are characterised by declining capacities. Rather, they will be discovering new life priorities and purpose, and indeed have different health and care needs between 60 – 100+!  In my book, I outline up to 18 different stages people will experience with longer lives, many of which will recur at different times in the course of 100-year lives.

The financial industry has done a good job of recognising this diversity in ageing and diversity in defining life priorities at different stages. Merrill Lynch/Bank of America train all their wealth managers to utilise a planning tool for their customers called the Seven Life Priorities, and have them reassess each year to see what stages they are in and their life priorities.

Cake is a company focused on end-of-life planning and care, and they offer different products and services to those who are “pre-need” vs those who are “at-need”, or those who are in the grief and legacy stage.  This is an important way to segment their diverse market, and obtain a broader customer base.

‘Design with, not for’ mantra for entrepreneurs…

Often, older adults want “stealth” features that assist them, and not a product that screams “For older adults only”. Designing with older adults will enable multigenerational teams to better understand their needs, and better understand how to successfully market to them, without stereotypes, bias or ageist attitudes. This is a very heterogeneous market: “If you have seen one 85-year-old, you have seen one 85-year-old”!

The benefits multigenerational teams can bring, for instance, in  product design…

In order to design new products or modify existing ones for older adults in different stages, it is essential to have a multigenerational team. The concept often stated in the field is to “design with not for”.

Multigenerational teams have been documented to be more productive and more creative, and having older adults on the team will provide better understanding of their needs and preferences. The largest growth in the workforce will come from those 50 and older.

Innovation potential of the longevity market…

The healthy ageing longevity market is considered to be $22 trillion worldwide, according to research done by AARP Longevity Economy Outlook, and growing over the next 30 years.

In the five largest consumer product categories, those aged 50 and older in 2020 were responsible for roughly half or more of global spending. In the US alone, it represents over $8.6 trillion.

The potential for innovation is enormous, as new products and services are needed to support older adults optimise their health and purpose and engagement.

Domains with immense scope in the longevity context…

There are many “obvious” domains that have growth opportunities such as alternative housing and intergenerational housing; caregiving; transportation; food services; telehealth; financial planning; and end-of-life care and planning.

Some of the “non-obvious” domains include digital literacy; entertainment; travel; leisure; dating; fashion; transition planning; lifelong learning; fitness and strength training; intergenerational engagement and mentoring.