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ONLINE MARKETING
Move over, Boomers, Generation Y is flexing their financial muscle in a way that will change the landscape of traditional marketing.
Why Marketing with Gen Y in mind is smart
CONSIDER THESE FACTS: recent marketing studies stress to retailers that to be successful tomorrow, they had better understand "Generation Y," those who have grown up in the digital age. Born roughly between 1980 and 2000, they are known as Generation Y, Echo Boomers, or Millennials. They are about one-quarter of all Americans. Generation Y encompasses over 60 million people, and they represent the first generation to grow up online. This compares to Generation X of 27 million, and the Baby Boomer generation of 72 million. Gen Y are the "Connexity Kids" and they have the purchasing power to build brands or break them. In order to market to these consumers, you have to go where they are, and they are online.
Gen Y is more diverse:
- 1 in 3 is non-Caucasian)
- 1 in 4 lives in a single-parent household
- 3 in 4 have working mothers
- They know someone who is gay.
Generation Y is digitally sophisticated:
- Freshmen entering college own approximately 23 electronic devices.
- About nine out of 10 teens have a home computer, while half have Internet access.
- More than 50% of teens 12 to 17 own a mobile phone. That's more than 12 million.
- A quarter of all 18- to 24-year-olds have Internet-enabled phones.
- About 16% pf US internet households watch their TV broadcasts online.
- By 2011, there will be 200 million broadband Internet users and 91% will engage in viewing online videos.
- Around half of teenagers 15-19 years old who, in the last three months shopped for clothes, recall using search rather than TV ads and fashion websites to find what they want in accessories, clothing, jewelry and shoes.
- 68% said they used the web to find upcoming fashion trends and learn about unfamiliar brands.
- 61% claimed using Yahoo search to find their online fashion info.
- While television viewing remained the same from last year to this year at 8 hours and 14 minutes per day, the DVRs count in households more than doubled.
Gen Y is economically influential
- Gen Y’s leading edge has already graduated from College
- 1 in 9 high school students have a credit card co-signed by a parent
- They average $100 a week in disposable income
- They spend a stunning $150 billion a year
- They influence aother $50 billion in family purchases, bumping the total to $200 billion.
They desire and value community
- Lots of Gen Y choices come from viral marketing — another name for peer-to-peer recommendations.
- Traditional values and parental approval are important to them, more so than for Gen X before them.
- 91% of today's teens value companies and products that support good causes.
- 89% of teens would be likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause.
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Most important, though, is the rise of the Internet, which has sped up the fashion life cycle by letting kids everywhere find out about even the most obscure trends as they emerge. It is the Gen Y medium of choice, just as network TV was for boomers.