Understanding and Serving The 65+ Market In Your Town

If your town’s visitor data shows a high proportion of people aged 65 and over, that’s not just a statistic - it’s an opportunity. The over-65 demographic is growing, living longer, and travelling more. Many are retired, with time and disposable income to spend -particularly on local experiences, food, and shopping.

Understanding this demographic can help you shape your offer to increase footfall, boost loyalty, and grow revenue. Here’s how.

1. Understand the Customer: What Matters to 65+ Visitors?

People over 65 are a diverse group, but there are some common preferences:

• Comfort and convenience: Clear signage, seating, accessible entrances, and clean toilets matter.
• Personal service: Friendly, helpful staff can make a big difference.
• Value, not cheapness:  They’re often willing to spend if they feel they’re getting quality and good service.
• Nostalgia and familiarity: Traditional food, local history, and independent shops can be a big draw.
• Pace: A slower, more relaxed environment is often preferred to rushed or noisy settings.

2. Make It Easy to Visit and Stay Longer

Simple changes can encourage longer visits and return trips:

• Offer seating: Inside and out. Somewhere to rest makes people more likely to stay longer and spend more.
• Accessible spaces: Wheelchair-friendly layouts, easy access, and large print signs help make everyone feel welcome.
• Toilet access:  Make sure visitors know where facilities are. If you offer customer toilets, advertise it.

3. Tailor Your Product and Experience

Ask yourself: how can your offer appeal more to this group?

• Food & drink:  Consider serving traditional dishes, smaller portion options, or set lunch deals. Tea and coffee service should feel like a treat, not an afterthought.
• Retail: Stock quality items that might appeal to older shoppers: local crafts, gifts for grandchildren, cards, or practical clothing.
• Events & promotions:  Consider midweek events, loyalty schemes, or workshops (e.g. craft sessions, gardening talks) that encourage regular visits.

4. Be Dog-Friendly

For many over-65s, dogs are part of the family, and many won’t visit places where their pets aren’t welcome. Being dog-friendly can help you attract more of this audience and encourage longer visits.

• Display a welcome sign:  A simple ‘dogs welcome’ notice can give people the confidence to come in.
• Provide water bowls:  Easy, low-cost, and appreciated.
• Offer dog treats: A small gesture that leaves a lasting impression.
• Consider a doggy menu: A small selection of dog-safe snacks (like sausages, dog ice cream, or pupcakes) can be a memorable touch and many owners are happy to pay a little extra for their pet to be part of the experience.
• Allow dogs in specific areas: Even a couple of dog-friendly tables can make a difference.
• Promote it: Mention it on your website, Facebook page, or in listings. People actively search for dog-friendly places.

Pet-friendliness doesn’t just improve the experience, it can also lead to great reviews and loyal, repeat visitors.

5. Communicate Effectively

• Online presence matters: Many over-65s use the internet daily and prefer Facebook over other social media. Keep your website and Facebook page up to date with opening hours, photos, and offers, and consider posting adverts to local Facebook community groups.
• Print is still powerful: Flyers in local hotels, community centres, or doctor’s surgeries can work well. Don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth either.
• Be welcoming: Train staff to be patient, clear, and helpful. A warm welcome is often what brings people back.

6. Think Beyond Your Doorstep

• Work with others: Collaborate with local attractions, coach tour operators, or other businesses to create joined-up experiences.
• Tap into loyalty: The over-65s are often more loyal than younger demographics. Build relationships, remember faces, offer small gestures of thanks, and encourage repeat custom.

In Summary

A town with a high proportion of 65+ visitors isn’t in decline - it’s holding a valuable advantage. This group can bring steady, reliable footfall and are often advocates for the places they love. By making small, thoughtful changes, your business can become a go-to destination for this growing and loyal audience.

Background on the BT Active Intelligence Platform 

The Smart Towns team have a license to access the BT Active Intelligence Platform and have permission to share data insights with high street businesses.  

 It is a location insights platform powered by Mobile Network Data taken from 24million EE mobile phone devices. This data is then aggregated and anonymised to provide trends around population movement and demographics for any area of the UK.  

 The platform then provides us with the below data in a visual and user-oriented way;  

• Footfall data: allows you to view seasonal trends, peak days and times and how long people are spending in the high street.  
• Customer insights: the breakdown of people within the selected locations by demographics, such as age, gender and spending power.  
• Catchment insights: find out where your town centre visitors are travelling from.  

How is age and gender data collected?

Source: BT Active Intelligence Knowledge Base.

Overview

The Age and Gender chart displays the number of visitors to an area of interest segmented by age-bands (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and 65+) and gender (Male/Female).

Methodology

Age-bands and gender information come from EE's subscriber information and are self-reported. Age-bands are calculated from Date of Birth information and as such are live. 

International users are excluded from these charts as we do not receive age or gender information. 

Using the Age and Gender chart

The Age and Gender chart shows the distribution of footfall by age band and gender. If you hover over each segment, you can see the following information in the tooltip:

• Volume of visitors in the selected age/gender segment
• % of visitors in this segment out of total visitors
• Total volume of visitors

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