Features

May 25, 2009 – How to tap into Gen Y’s $200 billion buying power

By Karin Gelschus
Associate Editor
The 75 million offspring of Baby Boomers are growing up and have substantial — to say the least — buying power.
Making up slightly more than a quarter of the population, Gen Y (born 1980-current) has a buying power of $170-$200 billion annually, says Leah Reynolds of Deloitte, a consulting company for a number of different industries, including automotive, retail and insurance.
With that amount of buying power and a national survey revealing that many people in Gen Y are ready to purchase a vehicle, there’s a huge pie powersports dealers could get a piece of.
A large part of Gen Y’s buying power is directed toward purchasing a vehicle. A Deloitte national survey of 1,000 respondents conducted in September 2008 revealed that three-fourths of Gen Y is somewhat likely to buy or lease a vehicle within the next two years.
However, getting Gen Y’s business can be tricky because they don’t like being told what to like or what to do.
“Understand that Gen Y is an experience culture. They want to experience the world for themselves and pass their own judgment,” Bea Fields, president of Bea Fields Companies Inc., a leadership coaching, consulting and training firm, said in her article “Marketing to Gen Y: What you can’t afford not to know.”
In her article, Fields said, “Gen Y does not care about what you have to say unless you have been endorsed by their friends. They care about what their community says, and they take each other and their network’s recommendations very seriously.”
It is possible, however, to win them over. Fields says that can be done by finding out what they like along with recognizing what is important to them and how that plays into their buying decisions. Here are some additional tips on this new buying group.

Where to reach Gen Y
• Concerts (Gen Y loves live music.)
• Extreme sporting events (skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX)
• Movies (mainstream as well as art-house)
• Hiking events (They love the outdoors)
• Video games and video game competitions (Cyber Athlete Professional League, GameCaster, Global Gaming League)
• Mashups (Weather Bonk, Where’s Tim Hibbard, Y! Mash, Sims on Stage)
• Social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, del.icio.us, DIGG)
• Tattoo parlors (36 percent of them have at least one tattoo)
Source: Bea Fields, president of Bea Fields
Compnies Inc., a consulting and training firm

Factors to play up
The 2008 Automotive Gen Y survey looked at Gen Y and their views on automobiles as well as the factors that play into their buying decisions, many of which are applicable to the motorcycle industry. The survey of 1,000 people was split nearly evenly of men and women. Just under half of the respondents were 17-21 years old, with one-third 22-24 and one-fifth 25 or older. The sample was designed to match the regional distribution of the U.S. population. It was conducted by Deloitte Development, a provider of audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management and tax services.
Here are some of the survey’s findings:
• Environmentally conscious: 80 percent of respondents said they’re willing to pay more for a car that is environmentally friendly. Sixty-two percent also viewed vehicles produced in an environmentally friendly factory as a determining factor in their buying decision.
• Cost effective: About 91 percent said affordability was an important factor in their purchase choice for a vehicle. Forty percent said it was the most important factor.
• Gas mileage: Ninety-two percent of respondents said gas mileage was an important factor in their buying decision, which was the factor with the most votes.
• Style: Forty-four percent of respondents said exterior styling was the most important factor in selecting a vehicle.
Source: 2008 Automotive Gen Y Survey ?

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