On November 6, the Suzhou Consumer Rights Protection Committee of Jiangsu Province released the "Investigation Report on the Current Situation of Elderly Consumption in Suzhou". The survey was conducted from October 16 to 20 through the official WeChat public account of "Suzhou Wisdom 315". It set up two sets of questionnaires: the elderly questionnaire and the child caregiver questionnaire. A total of 9,081 valid samples were recovered, including 3,411 elderly questionnaires and 5,670 child caregiver questionnaires. It presented the consumption portrait of the local elderly, demand for elderly care services, consumption risks and rights protection status.
The survey report shows that the elderly consumer market in Suzhou has strong demand, and the consumption channels are characterized by being offline-based and quickly replenished online. Offline physical stores are the first choice for consumption by the elderly group, with supermarkets, pharmacies, community convenience stores and other channels accounting for 57.80%; comprehensive e-commerce platforms account for 45.25%, and short video platform live broadcast rooms account for 33.42%. Online channels have become important consumption supplements. It is worth noting that on-site sales at health lectures and community sales accounted for 18.98%, and purchases recommended by elderly care and residence institutions accounted for 12.47%. Although WeChat private channels accounted for only 5.84%, due to concealed transactions and convenient transfers, they are key scenarios for the prevention and control of elderly-related consumption risks.
In terms of consumer products, health management categories (blood pressure monitors, smart bracelets, massagers, physical therapy equipment, etc.) and clothing, shoes and hats received basically the same attention, accounting for 50.68% and 50.09% respectively; household products accounted for 35.73%, and food and health care categories accounted for 25.86%. Overall, aging-friendly home furnishings and health food are popular areas for consumption by the elderly. This is also a sector where the risks of false propaganda and quality problems are concentrated, reflecting the consumption demands of the elderly group that take into account health care and the quality of daily life.
In terms of the choice of elderly care model, community elderly care is the most popular, accounting for 52.98%, and the demand for elderly care close to "doorsteps" is prominent; institutional elderly care and home elderly care account for 32.2% and 30.51% respectively, still occupying an important position; new models such as integrated medical care, residential care, and smart elderly care also have a certain audience, but the overall proportion is limited, and it is still necessary to continue to cultivate supply and optimize the user experience.
The demand for elderly care services has gradually extended from basic life care to medical care and spiritual and cultural dimensions. In terms of daily care, the demand for bathing services, home aging modifications, and door-to-door meal delivery all account for more than 40%; in the field of medical care, there is a strong demand for door-to-door rehabilitation and physiotherapy, chronic disease monitoring and management, cognitive impairment care, and professional companionship; at the spiritual and cultural level, the demand for smartphone and network application counseling is the highest, reaching 45.45%, reflecting the urgent desire of the elderly to integrate into digital life. Community elderly activities, elderly tourism, legal consultation, and rights protection services have also received more attention.
Data show that the consumption risks related to the elderly are diversified. Only 0.53% of the elderly people surveyed said they have not encountered consumption problems in the past year. Among them, false propaganda and consumer fraud in the health care category accounted for the highest proportion, reaching 41.72%; prepaid consumption cards that are easy to apply for and difficult to cancel accounted for 37.85%; low-priced tourism and forced consumption accounted for 36.68%. These three types of problems have become frequent pain points in the elderly consumption field. In addition, private domain induced transactions on the Internet account for 19.64%, and traps in elderly care services and financial collections also occur from time to time. The risk of consumption involving the elderly has extended from traditional product quality to marketing routines, prepaid funds, private transactions and other links.
In terms of rights protection and handling, the elderly group shows the main characteristics of "family assistance + self-negotiation". 43.92% of the elderly will seek help from their children and family members when encountering disputes, and 42.48% will choose to negotiate directly with the merchant. However, 31.75% of the elderly will choose to consider themselves unlucky, and only 16.71% will complain to the competent authorities. This reflects the lack of willingness of some elderly people to defend their rights, weak awareness of evidence retention, unfamiliarity with the rights protection process, and low awareness of complaint channels. There is still much room for improvement in the convenience and accessibility of consumer rights protection for the elderly.
From the perspective of children, 56.58% of children adopt an attitude of appropriately reminding the elderly about their consumption and respecting their independent choices. Nearly 90% of children have received reports of consumption disputes from the elderly. The consumption risks that children are most worried about are concentrated in the four major areas of silver travel, prepaid consumption, health care, and private online transactions, accounting for 49.10%, 42.12%, 36.16%, and 31.22% respectively, which are highly overlapped with the actual problems encountered by the elderly group.
Regarding improving the quality of consumption for the elderly, the expectations of the elderly group and their children are highly consistent. They both list standardized charges and clear price tags, strictly control product quality, and improve aging-friendly services. At the same time, they also have a common voice for standardizing live broadcast private marketing and strengthening prepaid consumption supervision.
