The demands of the elderly are a wake-up call

‘Do store equipment and the services offered serve the needs of elderly customers?’ – Nielsen asked consumers in 60 countries, including Hungary, examining 15 factors. In Hungary participants viewed lighting the most positively, followed by the expertise and politeness of shop assistants and the large size letters used for advertisements: 75, 72 and 69 percent were more or less satisfied with these. In general we can say that Hungarians are more satisfied with the way stores make shopping easier for elderly consumers than the European average. In Hungary there are 2,300,000 people who are older than 60 years, their proportion in society has grown from 19 to 23 percent in the last 20 years. Hungarians are most afraid of losing their mobility and not being able to take care of themselves when growing old; the third biggest fear is not having enough money for a comfortable life. Todd Hale, Nielsen’s senior vice president responsible for consumer and shopper insights told about the survey’s global results that they represented a wake-up call for manufacturers, retailers and other market players to make stronger efforts for serving the needs of the aging population better.