Seniors take cue from QR codes, embrace technology

A 75-year-old consumer uses WeChat Pay QR code to pay for a beverage at a convenience store in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Oct 27, 2017. Elderly emerge as boom market for mobile payment firms, digital economy players For more than a decade, Ma Wansheng ran a small food stand in a night market in Lanzhou, capital city of Northwest China's Gansu province, providing local snacks for people working overtime or hitting the bar. "China's demographic dividend is disappearing," Wang Bin, co-founder and president of the venture and technology-focused media platform iyiou, said during a recent annual innovation conference in Beijing, adding that seniors can be relied upon as a reliable market. Higher incomes, and China's consumption upgrade, are also allowing people to increasingly surround themselves with new products and services to improve their lives, like smartphones, wearable health tech, air purifiers, or water filters. "I would ask more young people to help the old people learn to use digital products, which will help create a high-quality companionship," said Si Xiao, president of the TRI.