AAPL and Echo Boomers An Important Demographic For E-tailers
22 Jul, 15:56 ET
By Desiree J. Hanford
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Call them echo boomers, call them Generation Y, callthem millennials.
No matter the label, people born between the late 1970s and the late 1990s are particularly important to online retailers.
As the back-to-school shopping season gets under way, online retailers are again focused on the echo boomers. Over the long term, echo boomers will play a large part in determining whether so-called e-tailers succeed because they are the first generation to be introduced to computers at a young age and are comfortable using them.
"E-tailers will either become very viable, major players, or they'll still be on the fringe with market share of 10%, 15%, 20% at best," said Britt Beemer, founder of market research firm America's Research Group Ltd.
E-tailers can make excuses for other generations, but not echo boomers, he said. The sheer number of echo boomers, so dubbed because many of their parents are baby boomers, bears out their importance. More than 83 million people were born between 1977 and 1997, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The number born between 1946 and 1964, called baby boomers, totaled about 75 million.
Like adolescents and young adults of every generation, echo boomers influence peers in buying decisions. But their clout extends to their parents, which even some of their older siblings didn't have at that age.
"The idea that parents and kids collaboratively buy things, and the more important the item to the family, the more likely that's to happen, that's a new phenomenon," said Neil Howe, an author who has written books about echo boomers and other generations.
Echo boomers have been described as confident, team-oriented, special, conventional and pressured. They're also technologically savvy, having grown up in households where computers and cellphones were agiven. "They actually go online to be with each other, like we used to use going over to each other's houses to be with each other," said Melissa Payner, chief executive of online brand apparel retailer Bluefly Inc. (BFLY). "It's a different kind of life."
Marketing to them, consequently, is also different than targeting their parents and older siblings. For example, echo boomers respond to special offers sent through e-mail, and they are more word-of-mouth oriented than others, so they rely heavily on their friends' opinions, Payner said. Blogs combine the Internet with word of mouth, and so Bluefly has a blog called "Flypaper" where users can talk about fashion and design.
Bluefly, Gap, Apple Try To Connect
Echo boomers like products that connect them with each other, and they like to interact with products and to customize and mix and match them, author Howe said.
With denim hot right now, Bluefly will have a denim promotion in August timed for back-to-school sales. Young consumers have three or four pairs of brand-name jeans that typically cost at least $100, Payner said. E-tailers and brick-and-mortar retailers with Web sites need to give them something, such as a service, to draw them into a site and keep their attention. Gap Inc. (GPS) does a good job of doing just that, said Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst for sales and market research firm NPD Group Inc. For example, younger consumers might shop for a swimsuit because they know they will also get a submersible watch that tells them how far they are under water when they wear it while swimming.
"It's like a happy meal," Cohen said. "It's putting entertainment and merchandise in the same message."
Young consumers want high-quality products that are convenient, save time and are efficient, Howe said. While other consumers also focus on quality and convenience, echo boomers are especially aware of these qualities and eagerly
share their opinions with peers, market observers said.
Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL) iPod is a good example of what echo boomers want. Retailers need to keep in mind that echo boomers' ease with technology means they can find information quickly and so they can "smell hype a mile away," said Barbara Caplan, a partner with research and consulting firm Yankelovich Partners Inc.
By Desiree J. Hanford, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135;
desiree.hanford@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-22-05 1556ET
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