Companies are targeting the business of the over-55s, the so-called “silver economy” that represents a third of the Spanish population and six out of ten euros of spending. Half of the companies in Spain offer services and products aimed at people over 55, which represents a 4% increase compared to 2023, which was 46%, according to the study carried out by the Mapfre Foundation ‘Monitor of Senior Economic Companies’. Companies are betting on communication channels and marketing campaigns specific to this cohort.
This is a key activity for many companies, which dedicate sales strategies such as special goods and services, differential rates and discounts or specific communication channels to reach these people: the turnover of the companies surveyed depends, to a large extent, on this group which represents 40% of the turnover in half of the companies.
The report concludes that 59% of entities have increased the orientation of their activity towards the senior economy in the last five years and 58% have a productive or commercial strategy aimed at this group. However, only 10% offer it exclusively to the senior group.
The sectors most involved in this segment of the population are: insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, banking, distribution and trade. For many companies, aging continues to be associated with care and assistance (48%) and experience and knowledge (41%). Furthermore, 39% of the companies analyzed consider it a “business challenge”.
On the other hand, they also consider that this senior economy is a driving factor for the creation of new goods and services with a score of 7.7 out of 10, and for the economic development of the country, with a score of 7.6 out of 10.
Over the next five years, 41% of companies intend to implement specific plans or lines of business for the senior group, a figure that is up 5% compared to 2023, even if they have only launched market research on the group, i.e. 23% of companies.
An analysis of the exit of seniors from the labor market
The Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions, Borja Suarezassured that the reform of partial and active retirement agreed with social agents will serve to put an end to the “brutal” end of working life and to continue to benefit from the potential of this layer of the population.
“We are one of the few European countries in which retirement is not applied progressively, working fewer and fewer hours,” said Suarez, who made these statements during the presentation of the Observatory.
He also warned of the “great challenge” that will be posed by the integration into retirement age of those born during the “baby boom” and stressed the need to face the challenge of retirement in a new way, since older people enjoy a better quality of life, standard of living and greater activity than a few years ago.
Suárez also assured that Spain has had for several years “a very serious problem” regarding the employment rate of those over 55, but that it is currently “on the right track” to tackle this problem. “Thanks to measures such as the labor reform, we have managed to solve this problem,” said Suárez, who also said he believes that Spain will never again have an unemployment rate between 15 and 20%.
