Consider Teen Peer Dependency over Respect

Certain of your customers, compared to the others, will shop in your store more frequently, spend more on each trip, and recommend your store more strongly. Researchers at University of Southern Mississippi and Florida State University find that these three behaviors tend to go together in what the researchers name “super consumers.” Super consumers are materialistic, defined as a consumer placing unusually high importance on acquiring and owning material items.
     Researchers at Diego Portales University in Chile and Swinburne University of Technology in Australia were interested in materialism among teenagers. A quantitative analysis found that group dynamics are at play when teens consult with each other about shopping. Since group dynamics get complicated, the findings are not straightforward: When a teen feels dependent on their group for self-identity, materialism is higher. However, among teens who wait for others to approve of specific purchases, materialism is lower. A general allegiance to the peer group had no observable influence on materialism.
     The implication is that when you have a group of teens shopping with you together, your sales total will be greater if you encourage conformity instead of divergence in purchases. But I suggest you stay aware that this could work differently in your neighborhood. The study sample consisted entirely of Brazilian 7th through 12th graders, and there’s research evidence that teens in different parts of the world have different value systems.
      Your teen consumers might be viewed as segmented by purchase prompts:

• Thrills & Chills having fun and spending freely. Offer these teens adventure and luxury. 
• Quiet Achievers courting approval from adults. Give them reasons for making purchases they can take home with them. 
• Bootstrappers rehearsing for their future as adults. Before closing the sale, educate them about the product category. 
• Upholders supporting traditional cultural values. If selling innovative items, describe the ways in which the new is a logical extension of the old. 
• World Savers wanting to share what they have with others. They’ll respond well to promotions in which a portion of the purchase price is donated to a charity. 
• Resigners, limiting their expectations from products they buy. Place more emphasis on protecting against losses than on enriching their current situation. 

     Few individual teens will be purely one of the six. Still, you’ll find a different mix in different cultures.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more: 
Isolate Loneliness & Materialism
Segment the Teen Market by World View