What Teens Want?

Aybey Boran

What Teens Want

Market segmentation is important for the companies, because they don’t need every one to buy their product in the country or in the world. They need a large segment of the market to be willing and able to buy their product. There is only way that they can see how they adapt their marketing mix in a national or global market depend on the segment they target in that market.

Nowadays, companies and retailers are increasingly targeting the teens. First question is, whether companies have to think the teens as a global segment or not. Global segment is transnational consumer segments based on lifestyle or demographics such as age and social class rather than on nationality. According to this definition, teens have to be considered as a global segment.

Today’s teenager is a force in consumer spending, part of a highly influential consumer market. One in three high school seniors carry a credit card. As a group they earn 63% of their income independently from parents and spend it on brands they know and trust in USA. Their only online purchase $1.5 billion each year in USA. Most Teens have a significant amount of money to spend. American children’s unprecedented spending power holds considerable appeal for marketers. Older children, ages 12 to 19, spent more than $94 billion of their own money every year and younger children, ages 8 to 12, spent $11.9 billion of their own money every year.

Top 10 Countries: Average Weekly Teen Spending

1. Norway $49.70

2. Sweden $41.70

3. Brazil $41.30

4. Argentina $40.50

5. Hong Kong $38.00

6. United States $37.60

7. Denmark $37.40

8. Singapore $34.10

9. Greece $32.90

10. France $31.30

Apart from their spending power, teens are an important market for other reasons. Teens set trends, both for their peers and for younger children who emulate them. By winning the business of a teen, a company may be able to create a lifelong loyal customer.

Teenagers in Asia are certainly influenced by Western media. Japan is seen as the fashion centre for many Asian teenagers, like Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore in particular. And trends often start there, as they do for world wide trends - take the Pokeman and Hello Kitty. Asian teens influenced by a complex mix of East Asian, Western and their own cultures. Add to that the greater influence of familial ties on Asian youth, though the "independence" trait evident in Western youth is fast taking hold, and Asian teens are a very different market altogether.

Why are brand names so important to street kids in Brazil? Because in an age of information overload, teens want assurance that they are making the right judgments that will enhance their identity. A brand says a lot about whom they are and where they stand in life. Teens love brands because, brands delight, brands provide a badge of identity, brands are enablers, brands are passports to global culture.