In the grey tide, most people regard the elderly homogeneous in a stereotypical manner and neglect the diversity of the elderly. For the grey generation living in the new era with modern values and technological progress, we give it a new name: The Happy Aging Elderly.
There are many discourses on aging in the product design, technological applications, ways of consumption, and service models, but most discussions hold a homogeneous perspective on aging. Many brands that focus on teenagers and middle aged consumers even care less about the grey tide. However, according to the observations on consumer behaviors that have had by IEK of Industrial Technology Research Institute since 2010 and the survey conducted in nine important cities in China and Taiwan, behaviors of the happy aging elderly vary significantly; people with different backgrounds face aging and present diverse lifestyles. How to accurately position the target group and find the product segmentation is the final goal of the survey.
The study will explain that from which perspective we can see such difference; in addition, the study will briefly introduce the difference in behaviors and values of four groups according to the survey of happy aging consumers conducted by IEK in 2014.
I. From the perspective of technology acceptance and life independency
II. Diverse features of the happy aging elderly
III. IEK View: Looking at aging opportunities from the perspective of lifestyle
Figure 1: 4 groups of aging