“Fact! Kids don’t have bills to pay. Fact! They don’t pay taxes. But they do babysit and hold minimum-wage jobs that earn them wads of cash.... But these kids today aren’t dumb. They’re not gonna buy just anything. That’s why the government has been planting small subliminal advertising suggestions in today’s rock music. The results? We can now get these kids to buy just about anything. We can have them chasing a new trend every week. And that is good for the economy.” —Eugene Levy, Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
 
Age: 14 to 31 (born between 1977 and 1994)
Biggest Economic Concern: Paying tuition
Biggest Political Concern: Economy and job market
Preferred Communication Channel: Text messaging via cell phone or smartphone
 
Only one year apart, my brother and I couldn’t be any more different when it comes to spending money. He refuses to buy clothing on sale because, according to him, if it’s on sale that means nobody had wanted it. I have no such qualms, immediately making a beeline for the clearance section upon entering any store. That stick-the-milk-in-the-back-of-the-store retail strategy is futile against this bargain hunter. My brother enjoys the latest and greatest; I’m currently using the hand-me-down Motorola Razr he no longer needed when he pounced on a new iPhone.
 
As different as the members of Generation Y are in our individual spending habits, there’s one thing we have in common—we all want to be treated as unique individuals. Popularly characterized as the most technologically adept group in history, it’s no secret that this generation has successfully differentiated itself from others simply because it has access to more information, not to mention the time to search for it. A February 2008 eMarketer study on United States Internet users reports that 91 percent of Gen Y is on the Web, comprising about 32 percent of the national total.
 
Read the entire DestinationCRM article.