[Jeon Youngsoo's Population Prism] Focus on the Blue Ocean of an Aging Society: the 'Yojum Eoreun' Generation

Quotation

Korean Population Decline, a Major Transformation in the Consumer Market

Focus on the Changed Aging 'Nowadays Adults'

Completely Different Orientation from Previous Generations

Neither Sick, Old, nor Lonely

Diverse Types, Desires, and Orientations of Aging

Detailed and Specific Responses to Needs Are Crucial

Expansion of Essential Needs Related to Health

Consumption Changes through Exercise, Caregiving, and Post-Mortem Preparations

Selective Needs Are the Hot Issue in the Adult Market

Segmented into Relationships, Happiness, and Hope

Professor Jeon Young-su, Graduate School of International Studies, Hanyang University

When the population changes, the market changes. Korea is a society experiencing the most dramatic population changes in a short period. It is quite aggressive and destructive. No other country has embarked on the path of population decline that Korea has not walked. The market is also pressured to change. With changes in population and customers, demand and desires cannot remain the same. Ultimately, Korea's consumer market stands at a major transformation. It is the greatest change since the founding of the nation. Whether this is a crisis or an opportunity depends on the degree of adaptation to change. Industries that relied on the numbers of subsequent populations have lost their footing. Instead, new business models aligned with population changes represent a blue ocean. The key is the transformation from 'population cliff → population revolution.' Growth beyond survival is likely. The focus is on the equation 'future society = aging society.' It is about creating value in aging. The point lies in the 'changed aging.'

An aging society changes the existing landscape. As people change, behaviors change, and responses also shift. Let’s look at some examples from Japan. Bus departures are commonly understood to be 'slow after seating.' Rest areas are increasingly installed throughout shopping spaces. There are many elderly employees serving elderly customers. Neighborhood parks replace playground equipment with exercise machines. Elementary schools change their signs to caregiving facilities. Newspaper ads mostly promote funeral services and cemeteries. Orthopedic clinics (bone-setting centers) replace closed obstetrics clinics. Morning markets flourish to replace lost early morning sleep. Convenience stores even provide caregiving consultations. Food becomes softer, and gum loses out to jelly. Cushions give way to chairs. Additionally, marketing that specially treats aging is common. All these are examples of transformation driven by the dominance of the elderly wallet.

However, it is still clumsy and unfamiliar. The rationale is correct, but the reality is not sharp. Even knowing the era’s changes, the target points are ambiguous. There is uncertainty. Therefore, even taking half a step forward is difficult. At this time, effective modifiers are 'new' or 'becoming new.' 'Newness' is the grand premise that abandons old standards and leads changed aging. These are close to new customers who did not exist before. In short, the main actors of the 'new adult market' are summarized by the keyword 'Nowadays Adults.' They aim to be fundamentally different from 'Previous Adults.' It is natural since middle-aged people different from yesterday have aged into a new elderly generation. Nowadays Adults are more positive than negative. They are more active than passive, and more open than closed. They are demand subjects familiar with change and consumption actors who break common sense against the past.

For the time being, 'Yesterday’s Adults + Nowadays Adults' coexist. However, since the quantitative increase of Nowadays Adults is anticipated, the weight shifts from 'Yesterday’s Adults → Nowadays Adults.' Nowadays Adults are close to a new human species as they did not exist in the past. By institutional standards, they are old, but their reality perception aims for youth. They are a coexistence generation of 탈 (?) aging and 향 (向) youth. If 40-70 years old is considered middle-aged, they mostly coincide with the consumption points of the active generation. Compared to Yesterday’s Adults, they are a customer group who are neither old, sick, nor lonely. Therefore, 'elderly = aging' is problematic. Nowadays Adults have diverse types, desires, and orientations of aging. Their life paths differ from Yesterday’s Adults, creating differentiated consumption points.

Therefore, a decomposition of aging is necessary. The interests and expansion potential of the adult market inevitably spread widely. Nowadays Adults are on average highly educated. They have studied a lot, and their range of experience and expectations are high. They are familiar with overseas situations. Diverse life experiences mean the emergence of demanding customers. They reject the mass market of the mass era. They require differentiated satisfaction of desires within changed values. Nevertheless, there is a common point: the anxious desire to cope with old age and the extended average lifespan. Ultimately, the emergence of a large customer base with a bigger size but different inner nature is the mega trend of the adult market. Detailed and specific responses to needs become important. The key is discovering differentiated demand rather than mass customers, such as the segmentation into premium market (65-74 years), mid-senior market (75-84 years), and up-senior (85 years and above).

The detailed differentiated needs of the adult market give rise to various consumption changes. They are broadly divided into essential needs and selective needs. The expansion from 'essential needs → selective needs' gradually progresses reflecting Maslow’s five levels of needs, economic power, health strength, and values. Essential needs are indispensable consumption items for survival. Both Yesterday’s Adults and Nowadays Adults share these repetitive consumables. However, unlike the active generation, they are differentiated by keywords reflecting aging limits. These include daily life needs such as three meals a day, purchase agency, housekeeping agency, and welfare check-ins. Along with daily needs, health pursuit is essential. From here, Yesterday’s Adults and Nowadays Adults diverge. Unlike the absolutely poor Yesterday’s Adults, Nowadays Adults broaden their interests with health desires. Consumption points include preventive exercise, caregiving measures, specialized housing, and post-mortem preparations.

Daily life solutions and health pursuits apply to all, whether aging or young, affluent or poor. Nevertheless, Nowadays Adults differ in quality. Even with the same daily life and health needs, the wealthy and healthy expand the consumption front. In short, this is the emergence of the Senior Shift. Instead of focusing only on the active generation, the strategy slightly modifies forms and contents to include the elderly. It subtly reflects the physical characteristics of the elderly in products and services aimed at the active generation, capturing the daily life and health needs of Nowadays Adults without being obvious. It emphasizes the active extension of the active generation rather than the stigma of aging. It is the completion of 'active-oriented → elderly-reflecting' tailored to the changed situation, perception, and desires of Nowadays Adults.

Following essential needs are selective needs. These are subdivided into strengthening relationships, realizing happiness, and expanding hope. This is where the differentiated points of the upcoming adult market opened by Nowadays Adults begin. Among Yesterday’s Adults, this is the high-end realization area of some groups called active seniors. From Nowadays Adults onward, the universal consumption realization of selective needs expands. It is practically the hot issue of the adult market. Since they live and are healthy, the market naturally expands. Keywords for strengthening relationships include familism, grandchild love, filial piety products, and twilight relationships. It is a new elderly instinct and a magical spending area where repetitive consumption capacity is confirmed. It is natural to turn attention to family and relationships when affluent.

Realizing happiness and expanding hope are exclusive desires of the active generation. Maintaining and expanding happiness and hope for a better life is the reason for existence and the role of the active generation. Nevertheless, Nowadays Adults remain active in happiness and hope despite aging. They reject consumption behaviors that organize life. They insist on keywords such as anti-aging, lifestyle enjoyment, hobby learning, and memory reflection for happiness. They pursue intellectual joy to extend the maturity of youth. Ultimately, they hope to maximize a bright and clear old age. They personalize future preparations such as mobility rights, travel desires, residential relocation, and asset management. The phenomenon of people in their 70s and 80s buying real estate and enjoying overseas travel shakes even the existing life cycle theory.