TOP TEN 10: The grey pound
Position in 2008: 6
The over-50s market not only has the most money, but it's the one that responds the most to good service and product knowledge - so why don't more people know what they need?
One of the tricks to being a good retailer or manufacturer is, surely, to understand the audience. Knowing exactly who you're aiming at is the first step in knowing exactly what to sell.
However, the market changes and shifts as time passes and those retailers and manufacturers must keep up, monitor and adapt to those changes or suffer the same fate as many failed businesses in this recession.
So let's start with some statistics: The UK now has more people aged over 65 than under 18, and 80% of the country's wealth, 60% of its savings and 40% of its disposable income is held by the over-50s.
And the demographic is growing, it's expected that by 2030 around 50% of the UK population will be over 50.
So it is the huge value of this grey pound that more than justifies its being a hugely important market for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom industry. But why is it in a top 10 of issues?
Despite the massive potential spend, many retailers and manufacturers still haven't embraced this as a significant market in the way that they have with, say, environmental issues. This is particularly strange as it is the over-50s that are usually happy to pay more if it means getting what they want and are the most responsive to good customer service and product knowledge - something that the independent retailer consistently regards as a USP over the multiples.
But what does the over-50s market want that they're not getting?
The physical restrictions of getting older range from a niggling annoyance to a day-to-day struggle, and while many over-50s may have bad backs, creaky knees, fading eyesight or weak grip, they still aspire to a stylish bathroom or kitchen that they can use and is designed to take account of both their tastes and their needs.
What they don't want is 'disabled' products or products that look like you can only order them from classified ads at the back of Sunday supplements. Remember that this isn't a niche market for specialists in social housing regulations, this is rapidly becoming about selling to the mass market.
Often referred to as 'special needs', experts in the field much prefer 'inclusive design'- a way of designing products, services and environments to meet the needs of the widest possible audience.
Inclusive design is about issues that have more to do with general age-related wear and tear than disability - experienced by us all at some stage in our lives. Designers need to consider these issues at the outset of the design process to try to ensure that the resulting product works well for the majority of people for the majority of the time.
So why has this dropped down our top 10 since 2008?
Simply put, some of the design needs associated with inclusive design have begun to be addressed, but often more by luck than judgement. General design trends like wet rooms and wall-hung sanitaryware in bathrooms and full extension drawers and lever taps in kitchens are all good examples of inclusive design - some deliberately and some not.
Plus the Government's Lifetime Homes initiative for new-build housing has introduced 16 design criteria intended to make homes more easily adaptable for lifetime use - and the kitchen and bathroom clearly come under that.
But retailers still need to understand how they should identify what their clients need beyond what they want, without offending them or implying they're old and decrepit - there are products out there for everybody and it's the designer's job to help the customer choose what's right for them.
Dropping down this top 10 doesn't mean the grey pound is worth less. On the contrary, it's worth more than ever, as many younger home owners find themselves in negative equity.
