Why Johnny Sandelson wants to invest in the perennials and not the millennials

Some believe this is the age of millennials. But as companies across the globe target millennial consumers, one retail chairman has set his sights in the opposite direction — the over-70s. “A lot has been said about millennials [but] I’m more interested in the perennials. I think that’s a generation that has been overlooked,” said Johnny Sandelson, chairman, Thomas Goode & Co.

“When we were young, people thought the elderly were going to be dead by the age of 75. Now the focus is on people [over 60-70 years] who feel healthy and ambitious to take up new hobbies and new tasks.”

This is why Sandelson believes that the age debate should also shift from millennials to perennials. “If you’re born now, you have a 30 per cent chance of living to a 100. So, the age debate is really about the elderly not the youth.”