Despite the seeming lack of commitment to middle-and senior age consumers, the Chinese market for the elderly is clearly huge and growing. The question China faces is how to improve it. Maybe its neighbor Japan, more advanced with its aging society, can be a model.
Japan has been an aging society for years. In 2013, more than a quarter of its population (31.9 million) was above 65.The specialized market is mature, with plenty of products for aging people available there.
Pan Xiaojing, a 60-year-old former Chinese diplomat who lives in Japan 15 years, thinks the Japanese society is more "elderly friendly" in many aspects. Most of products there have special mode for elderly, for instance.
Survey of internet growth in china
By the end of June 2014, the number of Internet users in China is 632 million, and mobile Internet users is 527 million.
By the end of June 2014, the proportion of mobile phones (83.4percent) as access to the Internet overtaking the traditional PC (80.9percent) for the first time, and the mobile Internet has driven the overall development of the Internet.
Meanwhile, the mobile phone's utilization ratio in mobile e-business, entertainment, information acquisition and communication applications grows rapidly, the mobile Internet has driven the development of various Internet applications.
In the first half of 2014, payment applications grew the fastest in both the entire market and the market of mobile terminal.
By the end of June 2014, the Internet users aged above 50 had accounted for 7.3 percent. The proportion rose by 0.3 percent compared with that at the end of 2013. The Internet is continuing to penetrate into the elderly population.
