Self-service tills are driving older shoppers away, high street study shows

The UK high street is causing its own downfall by excluding elderly shoppers, a study has found.

According to new research by the Centre for Future Studies a rise in e-commerce, hi-tech payment methods and shops' reluctance to invest in seating are driving older customers away from shops.

The result is that retailers who are not elderly-friendly are losing out financially and could be missing out on annual spending £4.5bn in total, it said.

It warned that if current trends continue, between 2020 and 2030 half of the UK’s existing shop premises will have disappeared.  

Over the period 100,000 stores will close, it said, leaving just 120,000 shops. 

Dr Frank Shaw, Centre for Future Studies

By contrast, in 1950 there were 600,000 stores in the UK, in 2012 there were 290,000 and just 220,000 will survive by 2020. In addition, by 2030 e-commerce will account for around 40 per cent of all UK retail sales.

But shops could reverse their fortune, it argues, by creating a more welcoming environment for elderly people.

A quarter of older shoppers feel put off by self-service tills, it found, while six in ten wish there were more seats in shops. 

By accommodating older shoppers, retailers might also be going some way towards helping the UK's loneliness epidemic, as many people venture out to the high street to escape being alone at home.  

If rates of loneliness among older people are not reduced, predicted demographic change alone will drive up the numbers of lonely older people in the UK by 40 per cent by 2030, the report said. 

Jane Ashcroft, chief executive of Anchor, the care company, said: “Going shopping is something most of us take for granted and yet many thousands of older people feel excluded from our high streets. This is an issue not to be overlooked, as it increases older people’s isolation and loneliness, in turn affecting health and well-being.

"We must value older people - everyone should have the chance to live life to the fullest, regardless of age.”

Dr Frank Shaw, from the Centre for Future Studies, said: “Baby boomers are an economic force to be reckoned with. As they enter older age, their refusal to retire quietly is an opportunity to reinvigorate the high street, transforming it into a diverse, prosperous, and age-friendly environment.

"The alternative, £4.5bn annual losses and the death of the high street, will be devastating not just for older people but for everyone.”