Exclusive new research from Kalixa Group, a next generation payment company, has shown that the silver surfer generation, Britain’s tech savvy senior citizens, are leaving the younger generations in their wake when it comes to confident online shopping.

Retailers and analysts have known for sometime about how seniors are embracing online retail, but this research shows, for the first time, just how confident they are when it comes to shopping online.

The three key takeaways from the research are:
1) 58% of 66-88 year olds shop online, almost as much as the national average of 59%
2) 34.5% of 66-88 year olds are confident in the security of shopping online, way more than the national average of 29%
3) Silver surfers are far less likely to have frustrations with online shopping. Over one third (34%) of all shoppers surveyed are frustrated by having to register a new account. But for the silver surfers, only 21.5% find this a chore. And while 32% of us find remembering passwords a pain, only 22% of the silver surfers find this a problem.

So, does this mean that, we will notice an absence of senior citizens on the high street this Christmas?

Ed Chandler, CEO of Kalixa, believes this might be the case:

“The smart shopper will want to avoid the queues and cold weather that’s forecast this Christmas and there’s no better way to do this than shopping online. It can take away a lot of the seasonal stress and leads to a more relaxing and enjoyable festive holiday.

The extent to which our senior citizens have embraced the digital shopping revolution is quite breath-taking, not just in terms of numbers, but in terms of the sheer confidence they have in shopping online. It’s important that retailers grasp what this means. Armed with this knowledge about the silver surfers, I’d expect retailers targeting older generations to make sure browsing and buying online is optimised. If they don’t, they are missing out on engaging with one of the most net savvy demographics.”

To download a copy of the Payment Generation Gap report, please visit: www.kalixa.com/download