The most important points in brief:
- Best Agers (and people older than that) make up approximately 47% of the German population.
- The Best Agers have the highest consumer spending.
- Best Agers buy high-priced products, have few returns, and are very loyal customers.
- Best Agers value trust, security, personal contact, purchase on account, and ease of use.
- Older adults often struggle with cognitive and motor problems that can make it difficult for them to use an online shop.
- Good contrasts, large fonts, flat hierarchies, and large controls are a few things that make the online shop easier to use right away.
What or who are Best Agers?
The term “Best Agers” refers to people aged 50 to 65.
Currently, people aged 50 and over make up approximately 47% of the German population. Compared to 1990, this group has grown by roughly 9 to 14%.
According to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (German), by 2035, almost half of Germans will be 50 years or older, and one in three will be 60 or older.
According to a study by the German Economic Institute (German), consumer spending among 55 to 65 year-olds is slightly higher than the overall household average at € 2,600. For 65 to 69 year-olds, 84% of disposable income is spent on consumption, and for 70 to 79 year-olds, almost 80% is spent on consumption.
According to the ARD Media study “Golden Age” (German), they are responsible for 58% of total household spending, 60% of total spending on electronics, and 61% of total spending “around the house”.
So, older adults not only have money, but they’re also willing to spend it. And they’re increasingly doing so digitally. According to the latest study by Bitkom from 2026 (German), internet usage among older people is rising significantly:
- 80% use online banking
- 76% shop online
- 52% plan their trips entirely or partially online.
- 47% use health or fitness apps.
Why Best Agers are the ideal target group for your online shop
As we’ve just established, a lot of older adults have saved money over the course of their lives, and they are now happy to spend it. But purchasing power isn’t the only reason to focus more on older adults as a target group.
They are looking for quality and high-priced products.
Quality plays a crucial role for older adults. They don’t want to buy just anything “quickly,” but rather actively seek out high-quality products that last. Their motto is “I’m going to buy it right this time,” or, as my father always said, “Buy cheap, buy twice!”
This can be particularly relevant for digital advertising. Advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube is becoming increasingly expensive. Currently, it’s assumed that to advertise profitably on these channels, the product being advertised must be worth at least €150.
Higher-priced products, therefore, mean a higher return on investment for advertising. Which in turn makes advertising more attractive to the Best Ager customer group.
They have lower return rates.
Because quality is so important, older adults are more research-oriented. They read product descriptions, study the pictures, and make several comparisons before deciding on a product. As a result, they are less likely to reverse their purchase decisions later.
Unlike the younger generation, the trend of “trying things out in bulk” is not widespread among older adults. They don’t order five sizes only to return four. This naturally saves on shipping and logistics costs, leaving a larger profit margin in the end.
They are very loyal
According to Shopify (German), the Best Ager generation is very loyal. Once they’ve bought from your online store and are satisfied with your service, you won’t lose them easily!
This is naturally interesting for the metrics “cost of new customer acquisition” and “customer lifetime value”. Which in turn makes advertising to this target group lucrative.
What do older adults frequently buy on e-commerce?
While virtually everything is bought, a few sectors benefit more from people aged 50 and over. According to Shopify (German), the most popular industries for this demographic are those that improve the quality of life. These include:
- Travel and leisure offers
- High-quality furniture and home accessories
- Fashion with a focus on quality
- Health products, fitness equipment, wellness
- Educational offerings, online courses, e-books
- Services related to living, house, and garden
- Products for comfort, safety, or accessibility
- Smart home technology is also gaining momentum.
Therefore, anyone offering something for health, leisure activities, or home improvement should focus particularly on their target group.
What is particularly important to Best Agers in e-commerce
Of course, older adults also have certain concerns and needs when it comes to online shopping. The better you address these concerns, the more likely they are to fall under your shop’s spell!
1. Trust
To convince older consumers to use your online shop, you must build their trust.
To build trust, you should, for example …
- … provide clear information regarding warranty, returns, and payment.
- … show transparent delivery times.
- … view product reviews.
- … show the people behind the company.
2. Personal contact
Older adults still place particular value on personal contact. If there’s a problem, they want to be able to reach someone, preferably by phone.
Searching for information in confusing FAQs or dealing with an AI chatbot is more likely to lead them to abandon their purchase.
3. Safety
The fear of online fraud is particularly high among people over 50. Frankly, this is justified given all the AI scams these days. (Younger generations could actually learn a thing or two from this and become a bit more cautious.)
It is therefore particularly important to convey a sense of security. This can be achieved, for example, by …
- … providing an imprint.
- … having an “About Us” page.
- providing simple terms and conditions.
- … working with well-known payment providers.
- … showing verified reviews.
- … the team being personally featured on social media.
- … offering the opportunity for personal contact.
4. Payment by invoice
Anyone who really wants to be on good terms should offer “payment by invoice”. Mature consumers like to have the product in hand before they pay! That’s the best proof of trust and security.
5. Simplicity
Complex processes, cluttered navigation, and vague product information are off-putting. The more cognitive effort the shopping experience requires, the more likely it is that the shopper will abandon the purchase.
This leads us directly to the problems that often get in their way when shopping online.
Problems and obstacles for older adults when shopping online
A meta-study in the ACM Digital Library analyzed over 4,052 articles on web design barriers for older people. It identified 25 types of problems.
| Category | Impact |
|---|---|
| Cognitive difficulties (28.3%) | Being overwhelmed by too much information and complex texts |
| Physical difficulties (42.5%) | Vision, hearing and fine motor skills decline, making it more difficult to use an unadapted online shop. |
| Technological skills (17.7%) | There is a lack of understanding of technology. (However, this group is getting smaller and smaller.) |
Among the categories, cognitive difficulties (28.3%), physical difficulties (42.5%), and technological skills difficulties (17.7%) are the most relevant. We will now discuss the first two in detail.
Cognitive barriers for older adults when shopping online
The cognitive barriers are diverse, so we will only look at the top 3.
1. Problems with text comprehension
The most frequently cited problem is with text comprehension.
This is not surprising, since, in general, the level of texts remains relatively high, even digitally, although the majority of the population relies at least on simple language.
Language proficiency levels in Germany are divided into three categories:
- Basic language use (A1: Beginning, A2: Basic)
- Independent language use (B1: Intermediate, B2: Upper Intermediate)
- Competent language use (C1: Advanced, C2: Excellent)
In terms of language level, the simplified language is roughly equivalent to levels A2-B2 inclusive. This corresponds to the language comprehension of approximately 90 percent of people in Germany.
Simply shortening texts and simplifying the language can therefore give your online shop a massive advantage.
2. Complex information structure
Another major hurdle is an overly complex information structure. Overly cluttered and complex menus quickly overwhelm our cognitive abilities. And the lack of a search function to circumvent the problem is, well… a problem!
Another important point here is lack of consistency. Our brains quickly recognize patterns and want to stick to them. If the navigation is in the top left corner, I remember that. If it’s no longer in the top-left corner on the next subpage, I have to expend cognitive effort again to find the search function.
3. Too much information and too many choices
Finally, the overabundance of information is also a major problem. More content often means customers read less of it and leave more quickly.
This is one of the reasons why you often hear me complaining about so-called full-screen carousels on websites. They try to cram even more information into the website, which a) is rarely read anyway and b) overwhelms everyone more than it adds value.
Physical obstacles for older adults when shopping online
Older people face more obstacles online, not only cognitively but also physically. We’ll take another look at the top three of these.
1. No support for motor impairments:
A certain number of older people are no longer fully fit in terms of their motor skills.
This can mean that they are generally slower and cannot meet certain time limits on online shops or banking websites. Two-factor authentication can also be a problem here.
Or they may suffer from a tremor (severe shaking) and can no longer press buttons and controls that are too small.
Furthermore, some of us rely on assistive technologies to use websites correctly. These include screen readers and voice control. A website should support these technologies to ensure easy website navigation.
2. No support for visual impairment:
Another major problem is that eyesight declines with age. Problems with perceiving poor contrasts can begin as early as age 45.
However, fonts that are too small are also often a problem, and the website should still work when zoomed in.
3. No support for hearing impairment:
Ultimately, hearing also declines, and videos without captions or audio files without transcripts can make it difficult to learn about a product or service.
How to optimize your online shop for the over-50s
Here is a list of ten adjustments you can implement in your online shop to improve the user experience for older people.
- Use simple language: Make sure your texts are easy to understand. You can find out more about what this means in our article on simple language.
- Adjust color contrast: Adhere to WCAG color contrast guidelines. Text smaller than 24 pixels should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 to the background. Controls (such as clickable icons) need a contrast ratio of 3:1 to the background. to verify this you can use a contrast tool. Check out our article about contrast checker (German) if you want to know more.
- Enlarge controls: Your controls should be at least 24 by 24 pixels. On mobile devices, both iOS and Android recommend a size of 48 by 48 pixels.
- Offer multiple navigation options: In addition to the main navigation, include a search function so products can be found faster and more precisely.
- Increase the text size: Make your text at least 16 pixels high; 18 pixels would be better.
- Support the zoom function: But even 18 pixels are usually not enough. Therefore, you must ensure that all elements on the website remain readable and usable when users zoom to 200%.
- Highlight links clearly: Ensure your links stand out from the surrounding text so users understand what is clickable and what isn’t. The best way to achieve this is still to underline the links.
- Provide clear and helpful error messages: If an error occurs, give clear instructions on how to fix it. Error messages, especially unclear ones, are among the most common reasons for abandoned shopping carts.
- Support assistive technologies: Ensure your website also works with voice control and screen readers. You may need to use ARIA (German) to make your elements interactive.
- Offer personal contact: Provide a phone number so your users can contact you directly. If your texts are simple and your error messages are clear, they will probably rarely call, but simply having the option to do so builds trust.
Conclusion: Activate a rapidly growing, underestimated target group.
Best agers are still an underestimated target group in e-commerce.
As you’ve seen, their numbers are growing rapidly. This is partly due to the aging population, but also because older people are becoming increasingly tech-savvy – soon they’ll be familiar with trends like 67!
Those who present themselves early enough as a trustworthy online shop that takes their needs regarding digital accessibility seriously will gain a future target group that is quite loyal and can also spend a lot of money.
The over-50s are to the German economy what AI is to the American economy!
