One of the biggest dilemmas facing North Americans today is the growing need to not only care for our children, but also for our aging parents or relatives. Statistics report that by 2030 the number of adults aged 65 or older with double to nearly 70 million. With this information as well as more knowledge of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, a new market is opening up in the area of products and services designed and targeted to senior citizens. Any businesses that can address issues in terms of health care, stress management, financial planning, problem-solving, and mental and physical health for the elderly is a huge opportunity right now for new businesses.
Senior Services: Geriatric Assessment Services: If you have a background in social services, nursing, or community services, one entrepreneurial option is to provide services for assessment and evaluation, medical appointment coordination and medical/legal power of attorney.
In Home Non-Medical Care: If you have to have compassion and love for seniors and helping people, you may want to help the 90 percent of seniors who want to stay in their homes as they age. By operating an in-home non-medical care business, you could provide the services to help seniors live they way they wish to live.
Personal Training/Fitness Coach: Many gyms are now offering classes specifically designed for the elderly, taught by instructors specially trained in this field. There are actually course offered as part of the Fitness Training course for individuals working with seniors, and leading these types of classes.
Personal Shopper: As many elderly citizens prefer to reside in their own homes rather than to take residence in senior’s homes and communities, there is opportunity to provide personal shopping services for the homebound. If you are creative and put some thought into it, there are many services that would create a value-add to the customer. A few worth mentioning are:
· Weekly flyer watcher – creates savings for the client
· Standing orders – certain staple or regularly purchased products such as milk or bread are delivered every Monday and Wednesday unless otherwise notified
· Bulk Sharing: In many cases, club pack purchases are more economical, but the customer may not have anyone to split purchases with. You could either arrange to split the bulk packs purchases with one or two of your other elderly clients or yourself. Everyone saves!
Senior Products: Mental/Cognitive Products: According to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, there are approximately 5 million Americans who suffer from this disease, and this number is expected to rise significantly in years to come. Recent studies suggest that brain health can be improved through the use of memory type games and products. This is being tested more and more in Alzheimer’s patients with very positive results. This creates an opportunity to successfully develop and market games, products, or devices that enable a person to exercise their cognitive and mental skills. These types of products should be challenging and stimulating, as well as fun. Your target market would include senior’s homes, caregivers, and doctors as well as the individual.
Monitoring Products: A huge challenge for many families, has become the need to keep track of the whereabouts of their elderly parents who are living at home. They have a tendency at times to wander, sometimes getting lost or injuring themselves. This makes a great case for repositioning existing products in the market place to accommodate the needs of the elderly. One example is that of the baby monitor. Used to monitor a sleeping child, this device could be re-marketed to help monitor an elderly or invalid parent or spouse.
Mobility products: Items that make life easier for people with arthritis such as stylish velcroed clothing and push button water faucets and lighting fixtures are in high demand.Also consider mobility products, slip proof products for floors and stairs, items that could help to compensate for loss of strength, etc. According to statistics, home health-care items reached $2.5 billion in sales last year, with the elderly consuming the majority portion, and the need is growing. This means big profits for the manufacturers and marketers who are able to provide a variety of solutions to the common problems of the geriatric population.
Investigate what is already available and think about what would make life easier for the elderly, the homebound, patients with dementia symptoms, and their caregivers.
I think you make a good point. There are a ton of opportunities for the growing senior market, especially since the dependence on comfort and convenience is growing every day. It’s definitely something I’m going to keep in the back of my head.