Featured Author

: Kiran Aditham
Managing Editor
Kiran Aditham is a Business Management grad from the University of Central Florida, Aditham earned his stripes as a freelance writer in music/arts publishing.

Got Fashionistas? Yahoo Schools E-Retailers on the Value of Trendsetting Teens

Written on: January 27th 2006
Author: by Kiran Aditham |
Feed: XML Feed

So what does this all mean to you, the marketer? Rinaldo spells it out. “Now more than ever, retailers looking to reach and influence teens outside of their stores need to effectively incorporate search into their overall marketing strategies,” she says. “Online campaigns are not just about purchasing anymore — brand awareness, communication and information should also be considered important goals.”

Still, there are obstacles when it comes to successfully reaching teens online. One of the more notable Yahoo findings in this study claims that though the online channel is a major influencer among teen trendsetters, most of their purchases are still made offline due to lack of credit card ownership. “Most teens don’t have a credit card,” Rinaldo says. “We did get some cute responses from them, and one said, ‘my mom doesn’t want to mess with [online purchasing] unless it’s something I can only get online.’ Others said, ‘I have to use my mom’s credit card to do that’, or ‘I can buy this at the department store with my own money.’ [Offline] gives them the freedom to do it themselves, as some simply can’t get access to their parent’s credit card.”

Rinaldo adds, “Visitors are going online first, then coming into stores. Teens are going to be even more likely to do that because of the credit card issue. Our study found that only 37% have made a purchase of apparel online, but roughly 70% make their purchases at the stores.”

But portals like Thisit.com and Abercrombie & Fitch’s microsite for teens, Hollisterco.com, have a better chance of turning young heads online. While eBay and Amazon command millions to their sites (over 5 and 3 million a month, respectively, according to winter 2005 comScore stats), Macy’s and Abercrombie have not only kept a teenager’s attention with interactive video and unique site navigation, but they’ve also created a sense of community amongst their buyers- something Rinaldo says is crucial to this medium’s development.

Having taken a break from the appropriately-timed Shop.org conference in New York, the Yahoo exec explains that attendees are learning from the company’s study, and e-retailers are surprising Yahoo in the process. “We showed [the findings] to specialty retailers and department stores that have an emphasis on teens, and we got a lot of heads nodding,” she says. “But one of our clients, a department store with a separate site for teens, says it’s [actually] not about selling. It’s not about online ROI either. It’s about an experience and creating a community associated with our brand. They’re really well along in recognizing how teens are doing. I’m not sure that everybody is as sophisticated as that in their message.”

Even though the advent of broadband has wrought slick new branding options including rich media — a boon to marketers reaching almost any demographic — conquering the teen market is still an upward battle. While fashionistas might help steer a brand in the right direction, Diane Rinaldo says that for less-sophisticated teens and marketers, interactive video and its ilk will take time to learn and implement. “One of our key recommendations for marketers is not forcing teens to change, or try forcing them to buy online. We should be marketing to them to match their behavior. So when it comes to search marketing and landing pages on the retail and manufacturer’s side, that’s where you can take something like this survey and put it into action.”

She adds that a marketer and agency needn’t throw in all their chips at once, as aggressive marketing might ultimately backfire with teens. “Sometimes the message is too hardcore about buying online. Maybe you need to back off a little and get the most relevant and custom information for them, from the search title and description all the way to the landing page. The most important thing with these consumers [is] they want individualized information that becomes really relevant.”
“So you should be where they want to be, when they want to be there.”