Just as the general population is aging in many countries, the same is predicted to occur online - something that online retailers need to consider.

According to a section in a recent emarketer report, the number of US Internet users aged 62 and over is set to rise substantially over the next few years, with the following figures representing this group as percentage of the overall US online population:

2007 - 9.7%
2008 - 10.2%
2009 - 10.6%
2010 - 11.0%
2011 - 11.4%
2012 - 12.0%

Those couple of percentage points over the next 2 years represents 5 million people; i.e. 5 million potential online shoppers. I guess the same sort of growth in this demographic will also occur in other markets such as Canada, the UK and Australia.

Emarketer points out that while seniors these days tend to be healthier, lead more active lives and have higher discretionary income than previous generations, they do tend to begin to have challenges with vision, hearing and cognitive functions, something that online retailers should take into consideration when designing their sites.

I guess that’s something positive about all this web 2.0 stuff - all those darned big buttons and minimalist interfaces ;).

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