Silver surfers are tipped to be the next growth audience on the internet, according to the latest research from Forrester. By 2005, 3.2m retired people will be online in the UK and will present a huge opportunity to advertisers and online businesses. Increased leisure time and a love of communication are helping to push retired people into cyberspace and Forrester predicts that they will pick up the skills needed to use the internet a lot more quickly than originally anticipated. “PC retirement gifts and the impact of children and grandchildren communicating via email will spur uptake of the internet amongst the over 55s,” said Forrester analyst, Caroline Sceats. “And the kick-off to hyper-speed learning happens when consumers spend sufficient time online to pack a year’s worth of online experience into a few months.”
Successful businesses should adapt to seize the commercial opportunities presented by online retirees, as Forrester predicts that within a year older users will dominate in areas such as online gaming and shopping. The most dedicated users – termed “Addicts” in the report – will use the internet almost every day and will become a valuable target audience for advertisers. The most profitable online seniors, however, will be the “Net-Powered” and the “Net-Reticent” retirees. The former will embrace new technology whole-heartedly and will take-up lower-cost digital TV and mobile internet offerings, while the latter group must be enticed onto the net by online personal assistants.
“Content-commerce partnerships will become retailers’ best revenue propositions, and the net-reticent retirees will have the finances and the interest to plug into online financial management in a big way,” said Sceats. The burgeoning audience of retirees has been noted by advertising agencies and media owners alike, but silver surfers were in the minority in a recent survey from the Office of National Statistics.
