More than 80 percent of older participants in a survey said they felt discriminated against when shopping, the Consumers’ Foundation said yesterday.
Taiwan is to become a super-aged society by 2025, presenting an estimated NT$23 billion (US$716.4 million) in business opportunities for companies catering to older people, the foundation told a news conference in Taipei.
The foundation therefore conducted a poll among people aged 50 or older to gauge attitudes toward older shoppers, including service, shopping environment, products, accessibility and more, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Consumers’ Foundation
Of the 723 respondents to the online survey, nearly 90 percent said that they encountered products that made them feel discriminated against based on their age, the foundation said.
Product descriptions were mentioned by most of those who felt discriminated against, with 97 percent of them saying that many labels are hard to read, it said.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents reported feeling somewhat or strongly discriminated against in Taiwan’s consumer culture, with more than 60 percent feeling labeled as “out of touch” with fashion, or needing nutritional supplements or health-focused appliances.
“How is this not a stereotype? In the next 20 years, Taiwan’s population pyramid is to become inverted, with more people aged 50 or older than below 50,” said Wu Chun-cheng (吳春城), chairman of the Strong Generation organization, which seeks to promote dignified aging.
Wu called on businesses to rethink their approach to older people.
Catering better to older shoppers would create a “win-win situation” for businesses and consumers alike, Wu said.
Some tourist agencies exclude people aged 50 or older, but especially with advances in medicine and technology, age is no longer an indicator of a person’s fitness, the foundation said.
In clothing stores, many clerks assume older customers are buying products for a younger family member or friend, it said.
“When more than 80 percent of older people have experienced ageism when shopping, it is an issue worth considering,” foundation chairman Terry Huang (黃怡騰) said.
“One in five people is to be older than 50 by 2025,” Huang said, urging businesses to focus more on “consumer equality.”
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS