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Teens rule the market
To date, producers have been striving to satisfy parents who they believe are the people who decide for their families on whether to purchase a product or not. Now, the new target is teenagers, who have a large say in what their parents buy for them and allowances to wage greater purchasing power.
A recent survey conducted by I.A.M Marketing Research has recorded a common complaint from parents that nowadays, they cannot make decisions relating to the purchase of shoes or school bags for their children without consulting them.
Teens have better consumer knowledge that their parents in some fields. For example, parents have to consult with their children about which computers they should purchase. Meanwhile, children tell their parents that the computers must be “strong” enough for them to play games.
Teenagers seem to have their own world and want to use their knowledge to help make decisions. Many families’ budgets nowadays include expenses for the teen members of the families.
I.A.M Marketing Research raised a question in September 2009 to polled teens about how much money they spend weekly on going and out and partying with friends. The company found that 19 percent of teenagers spend less than 50,000 dong, 23 percent spend 50-100,000 dong, while 17 percent spend more than 300,000 dong a week.
The average spending of every teenager estimated at 70,000 dong a week, meaning that one million teenagers aged 13-19 in HCM City will spend 300 billion dong a month, a large sum of money that producers should not ignore.
Having realized the demand from the teen demographic, businessmen have begun targeting them. Early efforts have resulted in the appearance of a lot of milk-tea shops and also snack food shops (yoghurt, ice cream and fruit juice) geared towards teenagers.
The teen-friendly atmosphere makes the shops become the rendezvous of teenagers to meet friends and show themselves.
A 18-year old teenager offered: “I feel comfortable in the shops. I can shout in the shops and I don’t fear bothering someone.”
Teenagers are obvious potential clients for producers. However, they have been warned that it is not easy to meet the demands of easy-to-please clients.
The teens, though being open and eager for new things, can tire of something very quickly. Therefore, the “life cycle” of products and services will short. Producers will have to update regularly and diversify products regularly to meet the demands of teen consumers.
Experts believe that there are three elements that producers need to have when targeting teenager clients: 1- speed (they need to attract clients quickly); 2- sensitivity (they need to anticipate the next trend); and 3- smart investment (investment at medium level is advised because of short life cycles).
vietnamnet, tbktsg
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