Before joining the group, a senior surnamed Huang performed poorly at the manual tasks mobile phones require of users. But her eyes quickly widened and sparkled after a student introduced her to the "grabbing red envelopes" feature on Alipay.
"We study quickly, but forget more quickly," the 65-year-old said.
"What's more of a headache is remembering passwords. That's surely daunting for every old lady like me," Huang told the Global Times, adding that she hopes that more age-friendly digital products and services will soon emerge in the Chinese tech market.
For example, payment apps designed for aging hands and eyes. "The font size and design of mobile payment apps should consider us more, because we usually have to wear presbyopic glasses when using them. It's really embarrassing to make others wait behind me at the checkout counter because I can't see my small screen and all its complex menus," said Huang.
"It's too hard to get rid of years of consumer habits and ideas. But if you don't learn new stuff, you won't survive in such a modern world," she added.
Before going back to her personal training session, Huang laughed a little brighter. "Now I'm learning to overcome my fear of digital technology. I love to practice more and more because it is really a trend."
Emerging economy
While getting around in China with just a phone is a new lifestyle being enjoyed and taken well advantage of by young Chinese, how will China's 241 million seniors adapt to the nation's rapid digital disruption?
Chinese seniors are expected to exceed 255 million by 2020, which some local e-commerce giants see as a potential "silver economy," but only if they can successfully integrate the elderly with their latest technological advancements.
Hema Fresh, a new retail online chain, is one such business closely following China's silver economy.
The company's CEO, Hou Yi, told CCTV that how to serve China's elderly and bring them the convenience of internet consumption is one of their biggest questions as China enters an aging society.
"The new way of grocery shopping (e-commerce) has increasingly attracted people aged over 50, now accounting for 20 percent of our users. More and more elderly now enjoy having their goods delivered to their doorstep, so we will launch even more new services aimed at this age group," Hou said.
Hou is confident that more tech companies will embrace China's growing silver business market by creating a convenient consumption environment and a better mobile payment experience for seniors.
Liu Xiangyun, a 59-year-old retired female professor, told the Global Times that online grocery shopping has saved her vast amounts of time and energy. "Fresh stuff for the whole week can be heavy to carry, but using my phone I can complete all my shopping in only 10 minutes," Liu said.
C2C e-commerce
In January, Alibaba's popular C2C e-commerce site, Taobao, officially launched a new channel to win over the senior generation of online retail shoppers.
Prior to the channel's launch, Alibaba posted an ad announcing it would recruit "senior user researchers," preferably those with prior e-retail experience.
The new service enables senior users to link accounts with their spouses or adult children, which allows them to share purchases in private chat groups and make payments for each other through the "pay-for-me" option.
Senior parents with accounts linked to their adult children can now pay their bills simply by clicking on the phones even if their own online payment accounts are not associated with any credit cards.
"The service turns their adult children into a private hotline for elderly parents," Liu told the Global Times.
Liu's son, an engineer working in Beijing, told the Global Times that shopping online for elderly parents has helped improve his relationship with his mother, as it allows them to chat more often online and share their purchases and ideas.
PR staff at Alipay told the Global Times that their new aging-friendly app also helps prevent and alleviate the sense of isolation and loneliness that retirees often feel.
"The good news is that most of the elderly in our research seem enthusiastic about learning the new tech and reaping its benefits. It has even become a kind of social capital for veteran users," she said.
