Future Kids: The Responsible Consumers of Tomorrow

They may be dwindling in number but businesses are vying for their custom like never before: children. Demographic change may be the words on everyone’s lips but children and teenagers are one of the most important target groups around. They often hold sway over purchasing decisions in the family and will in future be a force to be reckoned with as responsible consumer protagonists.

Birth rates are falling and society is threatened by an ageing population. Businesses are adapting to this by tapping into the key so-called "best-ager" target group with its high purchasing power and by focusing on their needs and demands. At the same time, children must also be recognised and suitably courted as consumers, too. This is because never before has a future generation of children been so affected by changes in society. The current mega trends of globalisation, individualisation, mobility and not least the role of women plus the issue of ecological and ethical lifestyles all impact the younger generation enormously.

Children not only cost money they also spend it. Today they may only be spending money on mobile phones, computer games, magazines or toys. However, strategies are also aimed at the future because children will grow up. Studies show that when a brand has already been firmly planted in a child’s mind that brand will still be popular with and bought by the child later on. Add to this children’s impact on their parents’ purchasing decisions. A current study by consumer researchers at Vienna University has shown that parents are in fact only aware of half the impulse purchases they make at supermarkets at the instigation of their children. About ten items per week are placed in the trolley by mum or dad because the children want these items. And this influence is by far no longer merely limited to yoghurt, chocolate and fruit juice but stretches as far as to car, computer, mobile phone shopping etc. as well as to choice of holiday destination.

Mini Moralists

A current study carried out by Germany’s future institute Zukunftsinstitut (www.zukunftsinstitut.de) defines "the secret wishes and real needs of consumers of the future". The study deals with the growing influence already exerted by children on consumption and culture. A key finding of the study is that children’s consumer wishes now extend to almost all spheres of life - and that in future they will influence their parents’ purchasing decisions even more strongly.

Indeed, it appears that our children’s generation will present society and businesses with a huge set of values and moral concepts. They will want to change many things for the better and are growing into extremely critical consumers. An example given here is the "Plant for the Planet" initiative whereby 7 to 10 year olds and their school friends planted one million trees. Since autumn 2009 this initiative has become international. Also with toys these "mini moralists" will demand different criteria than those demanded in the past. An example of this is the "Green Dollarhouse": a doll’s house from the US company Plantoys featuring a solar energy unit, a wind turbine and a rainwater collector.

Cool Girls - Pretty in Pink

The kids of today form their own ideas about their future lives from an early age. For instance, girls are currently developing a very new female self-confidence: for them it goes without saying to like football and "Hello Kitty" products to an equal extent. For this new generation of girls it is no longer a contradiction to love ponies and pink dresses while leaving space for protests and girl power. "Tough girl products" have a future for these kids as today being a girl is quite simply cool.

Toy manufacturers are increasingly realising that it is no longer the toys but only the packaging that is gender-specific. According to the study, boys and girls should already be able to know who the toy is aimed at from the packaging - regardless of its content - even before they in fact know what sex they themselves belong to. Therefore, one and the same item could be presented in a knight or fairy-themed pack and it would meet with equal enthusiasm from both sexes.

Grown-Up Children

Conversely, the target-group and age-specific marketing of products will become increasingly difficult: the group of "playful grown-ups" is growing to the same extent as that of children who "think like adults". For instance, nowadays we take seeing best-agers on snowboards for granted while teenagers set off to sail around the world single-handed. Cuddly toys for grown ups and leisure fun for young and old alike mean markets are growing together and borders are blurring.

This not only leads to a breakdown in traditional perceptions of pensioners but also in the image of children, conventional boy vs. girl gender roles and the ideal of the nuclear family. Children of the future will be far more mature and independent than they were just a few years ago.

Primarily, manufacturers in all sectors must first decide whether they want to appeal to children or grown-ups. These two groups may sometimes be worlds apart although their needs are often not so very different: creativity, education, health, safety, and aesthetics are also important key concepts for kids. Children should also not be underestimated in terms of their awareness of ethnics and justice: if a product fails to keep its promise the kids will communicate this information mercilessly. And not just on the school playground but now also as easy as ‘ABC’ on social networks around the globe.