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silver surfer
The Silver Surfer
TM was a fictional hero with unusual powers who appeared in many comic books and cartoons, travelling around the universe on a surfboard. The noun silver surfer is a humorous reference to this
character and also to the fact that older people who surf (= use) the Internet
often have grey or silver-coloured hair. People are now living far longer than they did in
the past and older people form an increasingly large percentage of the
population. As a section of society, they are relatively rich as they no longer have young children
to provide for and, in many cases, have already managed to pay back
the loan on their house. Not surprisingly, many companies are
competing to attract this group, which is sometimes referred to as the grey/gray
or silver market: Grey/gray is also sometimes used
as an adjective relating to this part of the population:
US advertisers are competing for the
gray dollar (= the
money that older people can spend on goods).
silver 
surfer noun [C]
(informal) an older person who spends a lot of time using the Internet,
usually used about people over the age of 50: I’m a silver surfer and
I’ve just designed my first website! 
Mother has become a silver
surfer and is discovering the wonders of the Internet. Retail sales
were helped by increased spending from silver surfers shopping
online. Silver Surfers Week is a national event aimed at
encouraging the over 50s to use the Internet.
The potential of the silver market in Japan is not only
based on the number of elderly people, but also on their spending
power. For
the first time in history, our grey market is increasing and our
youth market is declining. An increase in
life span causes an increase in grey
power (= the economic and political power
of older people)
Grey consumers are
becoming key markets for an increasing number of
companies.
Silver surfer is just one of the terms in the new Oxford Business English Dictionary for learners of English. Why not check it out? It explains more than 30,000 words, phrases and meanings, covering all the main specialist areas such as Finance, Marketing and Human Resources, as well as more general areas such as meetings and giving presentations. It is also full of practical help and advice for doing business in English, with special notes on grammar and vocabulary and 15 study pages on topics such as writing business letters and emails. There is also a CD-ROM, which has the full dictionary, practical exercises and a special Topics browser that lets you look at all the words in the business area you are interested in.