Cover Story


Going for the grey pound


Granite Transformations’ CEO, Danny Hanlon, explains why his franchise targets its products at the increasingly lucrative over-50s market


INVESTMENT LEVEL: £25,000


that, thanks to healthier, more active lifestyles and the retirement age becoming increasingly older, people are staying younger for longer. For most people, old age is now considered to begin at 80, almost 20 years later than previous generations thought, while more than one in five believe you can reach 90 before you are actually considered old.


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This chimes with statistical evidence indicating that the grey pound,


recent Daily Mail news headline declared: ‘You aren’t old until you’re 80!’ This report revealed


representing money spent by the over-50s, now accounts for almost 50 per cent of consumer spending. This age group holds over 80 per cent of the nation’s wealth, 60 per cent of its savings and more than 47 per cent of UK household consumer expenditure. Such figures turn on its head the received wisdom that those between 21 and 34 years old have the largest disposable income and are the audience toward whom consumer advertisers and retail franchises should devote their attention and marketing spend. In contrast, the Granite Transformations franchise model has long targeted the over-50s and this is the demographic category that delivers our core customers,


24 | Businessfranchise.com | July/August 2014


both in the UK and around the world. Our basic brand proposition of affordable kitchen and bathroom makeovers appeals strongly to more mature homeowners, who want to enhance their properties without the characteristic dust, debris, disruption and expense of a total rebuild. Our core customers appreciate the quality of our granite, quartz and recycled glass work surfaces and grasp immediately how our ‘top that fits on top’ can remodel their décor, whilst retaining the familiar working layout. Add in made-to-measure timber and vinyl cabinet doors and elegant glass mosaic splashbacks and it’s a look they favour, at a price they can afford. The over-50s are also most responsive to good


Investment: £20k-£50k


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