Whether it is offline or online retail, there are multiple options for new borns to middle age men and women. However in the case of the elderly, the options have been none to very few for a long time. After sensing this unfair ignorance, many smart online startups have mushroomed that caters specially to senior citizens. You can almost hear Indian Ecommerce players saying ‘Senior citizens, you have our attention.’
Etailers like OldisGoldStore and Senior Shelf are the only shopping sites that are specially designed for senior citizens. Portals like Health Kart and Health Genie have a separate category for ‘elderly care’ besides selling other health care products. But the number is too less considering the huge market and demand.
One of the promoters of Oldisgoldstore quite rightly reasoned, “There are over 120 million people over the age of 60 in India. That is more than the entire population of most of the countries in the world. With improved health care, more people are living longer and this is increasing the need for home health care as well. This means that there is a significant growing market for e-commerce players in this sector.”
Inability to venture out and shop after a certain age and unavailability of specialized products in offline stores presents a great opportunity to online sellers. Rahul Upadhyay came up with the idea to start Senior Shelf after he failed to find blood pressure machine online. He shared, “It was just not available. That is when I realised that there is virtually no retail – online or offline – which is catering to the elderly while they are the most vulnerable ones. Despite having the means, senior citizens in India are mostly left to fend for themselves and in many ways the market has ignored them as a consuming class with needs of their own.”
Special health-care products such as wheel chairs, toilet seat risers and life saving tools are and will remain the product category that is most needed by seniors. Besides that, demand for simplified technological products, comfortable but tasteful shoes & clothes, grooming aid, and trustworthy care services also exist.
The challenges that niche players in this sector face are high logistics cost, low awareness and lack of funds. It’s about time investors realize the true potential of senior citizen ecommerce sector and pump in funds to advertise, promote and back such beneficial online portals.
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