Gen Y Threatens To Rewrite All The Retail Rules
Written by Evan SchumanSeptember 25th, 2008
Gen Y, a loose term for younger shoppers ranging in age from about 14 through 28, is a demographic that most retailers are unprepared for. That's partially because this is the first segment that has never not known of the Internet and also because most retail executives have such a radically different worldview.
In addition, many Gen Y shoppers have never known—or believed they had—any privacy, so they are dramatically more willing to give up or sell personal data in exchange for something they see as having value. Their attention span is short, their multi-tasking skills are high and many find the idea of paying for software quaint and old-fashioned. They can prioritize how they pay (Paypal's popular) over how much they pay as well as how they want to interact with businesses--in as many ways as possible: text on their phones, IM on their laptops, posts for them on MySpace, video pitches on YouTube and avatars in SecondLife.
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One Comment | Read Gen Y Threatens To Rewrite All The Retail Rules
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Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
-Ed
September 25th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
There’s also the factor of not paying for things, espicially electronic media such as music, movies and books. Getting through this is a tough sell for every party involved.
Great article!