Senior citizens have been given the lowest priority for marketers in Japan for many years. They had been perceived as an un-trendy, low-tech, and under spending generation who are difficult to target. But now the silver generation is reaching into its pockets and hitting back!

Nikkei MJ recently conducted a survey of senior citizens living in the Tokyo and Osaka areas of Japan. Two thousand males and females in their 60s were interviewed regarding their attitudes toward life.

The survey showed seniors to be highly interested in spending time and money on discovering new enjoyments and although their spending tends to be somewhat discreet, they do show a surprisingly strong appetite for indulging themselves. It also appears that seniors feel active and are concerned more by "looks" than practicalities. They don't mind spending money on expensive and luxurious goods, but are not be easily pleased. Above all they do not like to be categorized as the "silver" generation! Currently in Japan the 60-69 age group accounts for 12.4% (15.7 million) of the total population. However, increasing numbers of baby-boomers are beginning to enter this age bracket. The proportion of ages 50-59 is currently 19.1 million or 15.0% of the total population. This means that the population of over 60s will increase by 11.9% in 5 years and by 21% in 10 years.

The expenditure per capita of those in their 60s is second highest only to those in their 20s. Moreover when the high proportion of fixed expenditure of those in their 20s is taken into account, consumers in their 60s actually have a higher capacity to spend for themselves. Considering these facts, the consumer market seniors is currently in stage of rapid growth and will be peak in 5-15 years time.

Active and Young...

Among seniors, the key word is "enjoyment".

Over 90% of the silver generation say that their priority when spending money is their own enjoyment not that of their children or grand children! 72% of seniors consider themselves to be "active" and 90% said they are enjoying their lives. 88% have hobbies and 66% said they have increased spending in order to enjoy themselves.

Seniors have an average of 7.7 hobbies! And those interests are diverse. The top three are domestic travel (64%), appreciating music (37%) and movies (35%). On average they start 3 new hobbies while in their 50s and the most popular of these new hobbies are: running/walking, eating out at gourmet restaurants and walking around town. Gardening is also very popular among seniors.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) life expectancy ratings, the Japanese have the longest healthy life expectancy, on average 81 years, among 191 countries in 2002. This is very much reflected in the image that Japanese seniors have of themselves, which is typically 10 years younger than their actual age. This is backed-up by the fact that three quarters say they have never bought "silver" products.

Seniors, especially women, are more interested in new products. Their taste and trends in fashion are similar to those of their daughters and they are very concerned about the way they look. They prefer to buy goods that they can show off to others and favor limited editions to mass-produced products.

Interest in their health is also very high. Over 60% claim to exercise regularly and 18% have signed up for the fitness club. Popular health/wellness goods are health food/drinks (for 42%) and sleeping/bath related products (37%). Massages or massage equipment and vitamin supplements also feature strongly.

But traveling is most popular hobby of all for seniors. Almost 70% said they traveled at least twice a year domestically and a number have traveled abroad during the last 3 years. And well-traveled seniors do not like ordinary tours! They prefer intellectual tours with knowledgeable guides (76%) or luxurious train traveling (64%)

...But hard to seduce

So does all this add up to mean that Japanese seniors are an easy target for marketers? Well may be not.

While they don't mind spending a lot of money (54%), they are not easily satisfied and two-thirds say that they don't mind waiting until they find exactly what they're looking for. They are not easily persuaded either. Only 26% say that they buy goods on the recommendation of sales staff and generally they find that too much information is a turn-off when it comes to making decisions. Rather they would prefer to listen to someone they know who has experience of using the products in question. Word of mouth is very important for seniors.

Seniors are not as 'low tech' as commonly perceived. Nearly 45% said they use computers regularly and 55% have mobile phones. However, 70% mentioned that PC instructions are hard to understand and that PC manufacturers should provide more in the way of telephone customer services.

So for global marketers with an eye on Japan, here are the most popular products among the county's seniors:

1.		Luxury travel - priced anywhere from of USD4,000 to USD30,000, trips to destinations all over the globe
2.		Digital Cameras - 30% of senior said they use digital cameras, mainly to take pictures of their grand children. The shift from film to digital cameras is as apparent among seniors as for other age groups
3.		raku-raku hon (easy-to-use mobile phones) - With bigger screens, larger key pads, voice instruction features and more user friendliness, seniors can now browse the web and send e-mails to each other from their mobile phones
4.		Dinner shows of old-time stars - Annual dinner show of old-time star, Yuzo Kayama sell out within a week.
5.		The Toyota Prius - a gas and electric hybrid car
6.		High quality walking shoes
7.		Flat-screen TVs
8.		The "Just as I wanted" food line (from Nippon Suisan) - home-made style frozen foods that are sold in convenient containers, so that they can be defrosted and used in just the small quantities for "o-bento" (lunch boxes)
9.		Bathing Suites for Seniors (Mizuno)
10.		Membership Hotels such as Harvest Club (Tokyu Real Estate) and Hatsushima Resort (Resort Trust). Members' average age is 61.

Considering the seismic shift in demographics presently occurring in Japan, the market of seniors is set to grow rapidly in the coming decades. Understanding their needs and behaviors will be key for those companies hoping to tap into this exciting business opportunity.

But one thing is apparent: Japan's current silver generation is already unlike any from past and will be the most difficult of segments to please...