While technology offers a window to the outside world for younger digital natives, older people are often locked out of the most convenient solutions. The pandemic has only widened and deepened this gap because of the necessity for remote and virtual communication. This is even truer in China, where a QR code known as a Health Code has been mandatory for entry since last February, acting as a digital “ticket” for anything from entering a shop to inter-city travel.

During national lockdowns, older people reported feeling disconnected and alienated. As a result, the Chinese government has pointed out the need to make the online environment more inclusive and directed companies to develop websites and apps that are more “elderly-friendly” in order to better serve elder users.

In response to Beijing’s call for development, companies are gearing up to make changes to welcome their elder consumers online. The team at Dao Insights looks at three solutions created by three Chinese brands to show how they have helped older consumers settle into the digital world.

WeChat launches “Easy Mode” for older users

Tencent’s WeChat, digital home to tens of millions of users aged between 55 and 70, has become the main communication platform for 98.5% of older adults. This has pushed WeChat to create more functions for older people. In September 2021, the platform rolled out “Easy Mode,” with three main functions benefiting older people: larger fonts, bigger buttons and sharper colours.

WeChat has also gone beyond visual aids and optimised the services considered to be most relevant to the ageing population, focusing on tools such as the Health Code, online payment of utility bills, real-time bus tracking and online hospital appointments. All these features are integrated into the platform and presented through a simple and clear layout, utilising the new visual aids to make life more intuitive for the least tech-savvy.

So far, as of October 2021, over four million people have switched to the new mode, highlighting the helpful nature of these new features for the older generation, whilst keeping WeChat popular and accessible amongst its users.

Alibaba’s Gaode Map rolls out “Senior Mode” for car-hailing service

Tencent’s rival, Alibaba, has also been adapting its products to cater to older people. While changes have been made to its e-commerce platform Taobao and online payment service Alipay, a “Senior Mode” feature has also been launched on its car-hailing service Gaode Map.

Gaode Map has pledged to bring 10,000 “Heart Stations” to more than 300 cities in China within the next five years, where a smart QR code will take users directly to the “Senior Mode” page on its app. This QR system means that trips can be booked with just a simple scan, making another form of digital consumerism inclusive to older people.

The app can auto-locate where the code has been scanned, communicating the information directly to the driver. The app also has a journey tracker for the family members of older passengers, adding an extra safety measure. Once a ride has been hailed, updates will be sent through the in-app mini programme and via messages.

More than 15 million rides have been booked since the launch of the new mode in February 2021, assisting over 6.6 million older people to get around and simultaneously adding additional revenue for Gaode Map.

Housing agency Beike offers technology education for older adults

While Tencent and Alibaba have been trying to minimise the number of processes that older people have to go through to use apps, Beike (also known at KE Holdings) has taken a different approach. As China’s largest real estate platform, its strategy looks to bring changes from within – imparting useful knowledge about technology.

On the eve of the Double Ninth Festival this year, a day when the Chinese pay their respects to their elders, Beike released a series of short documentaries entitled “Ageing with Mobile Phones.” Told through the story of a property agent volunteering to teach older people in a local residential compound, the short films are linked to the company’s charitable project, “Let me tell you how to use a mobile phone,” where regular training and door-to-door tutorials are provided by volunteers.

This community service also aligns with the issue that the ageing population usually choose to spend their pension years in local communities (rather than in dedicated retirement communities, for example), with 65.5% of them living alone, according to Beike’s Research Institute.

So far, since it was launched in 2018, the service has covered more than 1,400 communities across 47 cities, providing over 5,000 classes tutoring more than 170,000 older people. This service not only increases the tech skills of older people in a wider sense, but also creates a positive image of Beike, particularly with the demographic who typically owns real estate.

Targeting older people by listening to their needs

With more older people in China venturing into cyberspace, willingly or not, there are a lot of potential avenues for brands to explore. Companies that would like to tap into the market of less tech-savvy older people will need to learn how to identify the technological needs of the generation. Understanding the challenges facing this group, and ultimately providing convenient solutions, is key to accessing a larger market.

Get the latest insights on China’s consumers with CBBC’s China Consumer 2022 flagship event which will take place in London as well as online on 28^th and 30^th June. Learn more and register here.

The post Why you should consider targeting the elderly market in China appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

With the fastest-ageing population in human history, China is heading into a demographic crisis. The country’s over-60 population reached 222 million in 2015 – 16.1 percent of the population – a rate predicted to grow by three percent annually. By 2050, one in three people in China will be aged over 65.

This change has huge social, economic and political implications. Although younger generations have traditionally looked after ageing relatives, mass rural migration means many children now live and work far from their hometowns. The one-child policy has further compounded the problem, leaving working-age children to care for two parents and four grandparents. China’s traditional multi-generational households are no longer practical for many families.

Yet the country is vastly undersupplied with elderly care accommodation.  Currently, state institutions only care for two percent of the elderly population and 18 percent of its disabled elderly population, and there are only around 42,000 private facilities. Official estimates say an additional 3.4 million nursing homes will be needed within the next five years alone.

Various approaches have been considered to alleviate the pressure. One nursing home in Suzhou gave vouchers of RMB 200 to people who visit their elderly parents regularly. This incentive follows a law introduced in 2013 which said adult children must visit their parents frequently or face punishment.

But what remains conspicuously absent is a well-developed and regulated care home sector.

“There’s currently a big push towards not only creating a sector that doesn’t exist yet, but also towards creating standards and qualifications for people working in that industry,” says Robin Weir, senior associate at Dorsey & Whitney in Shanghai. “If you’re going to suddenly have an elderly care sector, where are you going to find all the people to do the work? There’s a great need to create standards for elderly care and the people who work in it.”

By 2050, one in three people in China will be aged over 65

This demand is creating opportunities for international companies to bring their expertise to China. In 2014, the national government confirmed that foreign investors could establish for-profit elderly care institutions, and last year the Beijing government said it would further open its elderly care market up to private institutions in the city.

A series of recent UK trade delegations have brought interested parties to China to explore opportunities. In January 2016, 21 British companies met a stream of customers at Zhejiang International Healthcare Expo in Hangzhou, and then at Care Expo in Shanghai.

Shaw Healthcare is planning to be one of the first UK operators in the Chinese market. The company has been operating in China for almost two years, offering both consulting and training, and are now preparing to open a 226-bed care home in collaboration with Chinese giant Fosun Group.

“We are focusing our first centre on short term rehabilitation; China faces a challenge with hospitals overflowing with patients, especially elderly people,” says David Gray, China Director for Shaw Healthcare Group. “They are medically stable and able to leave the hospital, but not medically stable enough to go home, and at the moment there’s just nowhere in the middle for them to go to. What we are trying to do is develop something new for China, a step down service which gives intensive rehabilitation care for a period of about six to eight weeks.

“Because the centre has a medical license issued by the local medical health bureau, a patient’s care is covered by health insurance, so about 50 percent of the fees for the individual can be claimed back through the public healthcare system.”

The industry is estimated to be worth 1.8 trillion RMB by 2020

Several international operators have already opened in this field. French nursing home operator ORPEA opened its first nursing home in the eastern city of Nanjing in January 2016, a 139-bed premium facility that reportedly charges between RMB 20,000 and RMB 50,000 per month. Other organisations are also working with Chinese real estate developers.

“There are property developers and other big state-owned groups which are looking at this sector and have the financial resources, but not the experience,” says Weir. “That’s when foreign providers with expertise are very useful. Often these groups have buildings, which need to be converted for elderly care, and there is work to be done with staffing, putting in good management systems – the whole world of how you run a care home.”

UK healthcare company Annie Barr Associates is currently providing training and consultancy in China, as well as developing concepts around remote healthcare monitoring, using digital technology and IT skills to help enable better elderly care.

In a similar field, a new Sino-UK Health Big Data Park is being developed in Guiyang, south-west China, where 30 organisations from mostly the UK and China are bringing together new digital technologies to remotely diagnose and monitor people in their own homes. Nine Health Global is one of the UK companies involved in the project, focusing on care that can be delivered earlier and more efficiently to a greater number of the population at a much lower cost.  They are also planning to bring new technology to a purpose-built older care village of 170,000 residents.

“You don’t want people to go to hospital or a nursing home if they don’t need to, it’s much better to care for them at home,” says Annie Barr, of Annie Barr Associates. “We are looking at new models, and new care approaches for China, and we are finding the appetite is definitely there.”

However, complex and obscure regulations are often a problem, as are extremely localised markets, making it difficult to roll out a business model across the country. Many international operators have been looking at high-end developments in order to recoup costs, but the greatest need for senior care in China is in the mass market.

Research from analyst Rubicon Strategy Groups suggests the elderly in China are not yet prepared for care homes. In its research, the group found nearly 87 percent of high net worth individuals want to stay put in their homes, although the majority of their children said they would prefer a senior living home.

A cultural gap therefore needs to be bridged. Elderly care homes in China have typically been poor quality, built and run by those with little experience of the sector, and therefore, many of the older generation in China have been reluctant to consider them. In addition, it has been seen as a loss of face if younger generations don’t care for their elderly relatives.

However, the necessity of the situation looks set to help change attitudes, with enormous numbers of elderly people needing additional support, set only to increase through the next decade. Research from law firm Dezan Shira & Associates said elderly care will surpass real estate as China’s largest industry within 15 years, and is estimated to be worth RMB 1.8 trillion by 2020.

For UK companies, especially those with skills in new technology, the opportunities in the sector are vast. “There are tremendous opportunities in older care in China, particularly in health improvement and prevention, as well as remote telehealth and telecare,” says Eileen Taylor-Whilde CEO at Nine Health UK. “The population is ageing and there is a significant requirement for purpose-built older care facilities and to extend the reach of care to those who are unable to access it and those living in rural areas.

“The challenges for us are all about forgetting the Western healthcare ways of working, and listening to the wishes of those developing and delivering care in China.”

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