What has a long shelf life and is worth approximately $32 billion? – New Zealands ‘booming’ grey generation! ;ACNielsen delivers a 360° view of the ageing Kiwi population
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The biggest demographic change of current times – the ageing Baby Boomer generation – is causing one of the most significant changes in consumer behaviour seen in this country, and ACNielsen has captured the implications of household size and structure, workforce participation, education and health in a recently published 360° view of New Zealand’s ageing generation.
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“Although it’s widely understood that New Zealand’s population is ageing, the behavioural characteristics of this demographic and the economic implications are less clear,” says Alistair Watts, Managing Director, ACNielsen New Zealand. “By integrating information drawn from our various New Zealand research businesses, we have built a profile that has broad implications for businesses and government.”
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In developing its report, ACNielsen New Zealand combined resources and expertise from across parent company VNU’s various research businesses. Additional in-depth syndicated, quantitative, and qualitative research and analysis was also conducted.
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Highlights
On family and children: “Chain them up outside the supermarket!”*
Lower fertility rates mean less demand for baby products, toys and educational products and services. And ageing New Zealanders claim to be less patient with smaller children these days, compared to when their own were small.
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On retirement: “You don’t get much bang for your buck from $1,000 a week at a retirement village.”*
Choosing when to retire is a judgement call for this group, based on education, health and wealth factors. Some claimed they couldn’t afford to retire. The trend for women to live longer and partner older men means that some couples will manage one partner into assisted living accommodation, with the other partner becomes a single household.
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They want to plan for their retirement and don’t want to put it off until they are too old to enjoy it; they don’t want to feel they are wasting precious time doing things they don’t enjoy; and part-time work is an increasingly attractive option. Retirement is far more fluid a concept for this generation.
On wealth: “I want to support myself in my old age, and I want to relax and enjoy myself.”*
Those surveyed intend to spend their accumulated wealth now, rather than leave it to their children. Instead, they try to provide for them as the need arises, for example, funding tertiary studies and allowing children to live at home much longer, sometimes rent-free.
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On their aspirations: “I still want to ride a Harley across the USA.”*
They’re driven by their own concept of success. They want to be taken seriously and happily embrace change. Holidays, family and travel are high priorities. They go through cycles of fearing age and then accepting it. Regrets include unfulfilled career aspirations, not dealing with health issues earlier, leaving school without qualifications, not managing their weight and image issues and wishing they had found confidence to do what they wished to do earlier in life.
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On health: “As the car gets older you tend to drive it slower.”*
Not surprisingly, health is a high priority for ageing New Zealanders. They know they’re likely to live longer and potentially enjoy a higher quality of life. They realise the importance of exercise, particularly cardio-vascular, and want to look and feel healthy. Interest in traditional sports such as bowls is declining in favour of more strenuous exercise such as running and cycling.
However, ageing New Zealanders feel confronted by age through joint pain, deteriorating eyesight, aches and pains, and memory loss. They are focused on what they can do to prevent health problems.
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On shopping: “I like trying free tastings of new products.”*
They are often well-educated and adventurous shoppers who like bargains, trial new products and use loyalty cards. They are less attracted to shopping around for the best price and are less likely to enter competitions or instant prize draws. They are not bothered about the time it takes to go shopping.
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On technology: “I love sending a message overseas and getting a reply instantly with no wires involved. But I have over 20 PINs – how am I supposed to remember them all?”*
They enjoy technology but want it kept simple and useful. They think txt is great but are frustrated by small pinpads, fonts and screen sizes. Digital cameras are great for photos that can be sent around the world, but they still want hardcopies for albums. There was considerable dissatisfaction among those surveyed about multiple PINs and access numbers, icons instead of words on buttons (such as remote controls) and self-service telephone call centres (such as press button menus in government departments). They appreciate and use online and telephone banking.
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Ageing New Zealanders have increased the numbers of PCs in their homes and have increased the time they spend surfing. They use the Internet for accessing information such as the White Pages, banking and travel, health and product information, as well as news sites.
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* Comments taken from ACNielsen focus groups held in Auckland 4th and 5th April 2005.
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