Any company worth its salt has to do projections at least 10 years out. According to Dr. Mary Furlong, author of “Turning Silver into Gold, How to Profit in the New Boomers Marketplace“, by 2020 “healthy living” will be over a trillion dollar a year business. Notice she said “living” not “aging”.
Dr Furlong writes of exogenous shock or e-shock as something that throws the status quo into chaos. E-shock can be a life crisis, a death, losing a job or even turning 50! She states that when you understand what people are coping with, you can plan a wealth of new products to not only target them, but help them as well.
Examples, someone decided to solve loneliness and created E Harmony.com. Struggling with weight gain? Last year people spent $50 billion to shed the fat. $23 billion was spent last year on vision correction. Is your hairline bailing out? Talk about e-shock! Well, you’re not alone. Last year men and women spent $17 million on Rogaine. Prescription drugs have gone through the roof! It was $40 billion dollar industry in 1990 and $250 billion in 2005. Have you got a green thumb? Gardening is already a $36.8 billion year industry. Boomers are digging in and growing faster than your backyard weeds.
The beauty of this potential market is that it’s growing right before your eyes. Even the US Census bureau wants to help you. They report that the 50- to 69-year-old market has grown by 41 percent in recent years.
There’s your market, pick up a copy of Dr Furlong’s book and go get em!
