E-commerce: Reaching the Next Generation of Shoppers
By Allan Pulga
The face of the shopping public is changing. In markets once dominated by members of the baby-boom generation, a new primary consumer group has emerged: young people.
Commonly referred to as the “echo” generation, these children of the post-war baby-boomers are spending increasing amounts of money on goods and services. They’re also spending a lot of time on the Internet. With these trends of youth spending and web-surfing retailers have a massive opportunity to sell to the next generation of shoppers.
The problem is: retailers haven’t effectively answered the call. A recent report by Boston-based Forrester Research concluded that retail marketers have a lot of work to do, in terms of capturing the loyalty of the next generation of spenders via the Web.
And cellular retailers need to take notice too. These young people are keen on gizmos.
The Forrester study, as reported by in an article of E-Commerce Times, says marketers must focus on better appealing to the 73 million people under the age of 18 in the U.S.
Carrie A. Johnson, the Forrester analyst who wrote the report, says a generation gap is the main reason for the disconnection between the E-marketers and today’s youth. “Those marketers are more ‘American bandstand’ than ‘American Idol,’ making it hard to understand this connected, gadget-grabbing group,” she wrote.
The report says E-commerce is a huge way to reach this growing demographic because young people are always online. Forrester split young shoppers into two age groups – under 18 and 18-21 – and although the older group has more spending money ($193 versus $76), the two groups are both constantly plugged in.
“The majority of both groups have broadband at home and go online daily,” the report said. “The online behavior of older teens illustrates that this is a generation that has hardly known life without the Web.”
Young consumers, according to the study, are generally disinterested in traditional media; they are three times more likely to use Google to find local businesses than online yellow pages or the like.
Forrester also reported that these young online shoppers bring a new dimension to word-of-mouth advertising, as they use tools like ‘e-mail a friend’ links on retail sites, wish lists and instant messaging when shopping to get purchasing help from friends.
Naturally, these Internet-savvy shoppers are avid search engine users, reports E-Commerce Times, which justifies the use of search engine marketing by retailers hoping to reach this age group.
Whatever the marketing approach, it’s clear that in order for today’s retailers to cash in on the spenders of tomorrow, the Internet is the best avenue on which to do it. So, get wired or get left behind – these kids are ready to do some shopping.