“The economy has scared me a bit, so I’ve cut back on spending all of my money. Instead, I have saved about 40% of it, so I’ll have something to fall back on later.” – 17-year-old girl from New York.
With the economy tanking, how will that impact the spending behavior of kids, teens, twenty-somethings?
Even though it is in the inherent nature of teens to do the opposite of what their parents tell them, they will likely follow step and spend less this holiday season. They really have no choice – for two reasons.
First, since their parents may be cutting back on allowance to conserve cash, young consumers are likely to have less to spend. Second, young consumers who usually have regular income from a job are likely to be earning less, if anything at all. When companies cut back on employment, jobs for teens and young adults are often the first to go.
That said, the downturn should not freeze spending entirely this holiday season. In fact, young consumers will continue to spend on their favorite items – technology is still at the top of the list. Young consumers will place an even greater premium on value and they are likely to allocate fewer of their precious dollars to others and focus more on themselves. The question that remains, however, is what happens once they have quickly gone through their savings? This will be the first time that a generation who has grown up in the economic boom years, will have to answer this question.