Chinese companies seek gold in ‘silver economy’ as population greys

In a small Shanghai supermarket recently, customers were surprised to see more options for adult diapers than what was available on shelves for babies. A few aisles away, in the section for milk formula, they noticed a similar trend – more choices for adults than for infants.

“High calcium and low fat milk powder is particularly popular,” a store assistant said. “There are quite a few people buying adult milk powder now.”

“Many older people are healthy, active, time-rich and have significant purchasing power,” said Irina Fan, director of research at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.