新編大學(xué)英語第一冊(cè)u(píng)nit6 Text A: Consumer Behavior of Young People

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UNIT 6 IN-CLASS READING; New College English (I)

Consumer Behavior of Young People

1 Marketers are interested in understanding what products will sell well in the youth market. It is also important to appreciate the influence that young people have on the purchases of others, such as parents. In fact, sometimes marketers are more interested in young people's influence on other buyers than in their role as the main purchasers of certain items.

2 How do youths spend their incomes? Both female and male teenagers spend most of their money on clothes, CDs, stereo equipment, entertainment, and travel. Young women spend most on cosmetics, followed by clothes and jewelry. Young men spend the most on sporting goods, cameras, CDs, stereo equipment, bicycles, shoes, jeans, musical instruments, and electronic games.

3 As members of a highly consumption-oriented society, teenagers have become increasingly aware of new products and brands. They are natural "triers" and spend hours shopping for themselves.

4 In addition to their direct impact on the marketplace, youths have a secondary influence on many of the products and brands their parents choose. For example, research reveals that three out of four teens influence their parents' purchasing decisions. For major purchases, teens' highest influence occurs in the first stage of the decision-making process and is strongest for aesthetic considerations such as style, color, and make of the product but weakest for decisions such as where and when to purchase and how much money to spend.

Apple computer's research showed that teens are influencing family decisions about buying computers. As a result, one of its recent model introductions used contemporary hit radio and computer magazines popular with young people to encourage teens to convince their parents to buy the new product.

5 With the large growth in the number of families of two working parents, youths are doing more of the food shopping and other shopping for parents. For example, one study found that 80 percent of teenagers were "heavily involved" in family food shopping.

Kraft recognized the importance of teenage grocery shopping and is advertising in music television programs, in teen magazines, and on contemporary hit radio, emphasizing recipes containing Kraft products. Along with the ad campaign, Kraft also produced an educational kit on "Food Buymanship" which is given to home-economics teachers to distribute to teenagers in school.

6 Thus, it is clear that this market also occupies an important position in terms of its secondary influence on parents' buying decisions.

7 Another factor emphasizing the market importance of the youth is that this is the time when brand loyalties may be formed that could last well into adulthood. For example, a brand-loyalty study done by seventeen magazine found that at least 30 percent of adult women were using the same brands they first chose as teenagers. Translated into total market figures, the findings would mean, for instance, that 6,760,000 women still are using the same brand of cosmetics and 8,900,000 still are eating the same kind of packaged cheese that they first bought.

8 During the process of making their buying decision, to what extent are teens influenced by parents, friends, sales clerks, media, or other sources? For many product decisions, friends are the most significant influence. Nevertheless, parents are still an important factor affecting many buying decisions. The important point is that although peer pressure is quite strong, family influences are also significant. Thus, the marketer should know which group, parents or peers, has the most influence at any given time so they can plan their marketing strategies properly.

9 Teenagers often spend hours shopping, especially on weekends. The fact that they are doing more shopping may result in their spending more money in stores they go to. In addition, youths often have a great deal of authority in store-selection decisions, which means that stores must attract them with an effective appeal. Although the popular belief is that young people buy products impulsively and are less rational than the market as a whole, surveys indicate that most respondents aged 14 to 25 compare prices and brands before buying. Research on adolescent shopping behavior has produced the following tentative conclusions:

Adolescents tend to rely more on personal sources for information on sophisticated products such as computers, and most on media for information on more ordinary products such as clothing or cosmetics.

At the product-evaluation stage of the decision process, price and brand name are perceived as the most important criteria, with a relatively low influence coming from parents and peers.

As teenagers mature, they use more sources of consumer information prior to decision making, rely more on friends and less on parents for information and advice in buying, and prefer to purchase products without parental supervision.