Month: December 2010

” In the U.S., eight- to 24-year-olds are expected to spend $224 billion of their projected $348 billion annual income, according to Harris Interactive, a market research and consulting firm.”

An article in Maclean’s Magazine discussed about the issue of excessive consumer consumption in the generation of buyers. In the past decade, many companies emerged in the market targeting teenagers. The Ipod Phenomenon was a like a disease spreading to everyone around the globe. These marketing strategies used by many companies to target young consumers have caused a problem to their spending behaviour.

Social networking sites are emerging to be the popular advertising medium in the 21st century. And it’s because of these sites that many young consumers are hooked onto buying things without thinking about their financial situation.

Online marketing has become a huge phenomenon, but how ethical is this trend for advertising? Many young consumers suffer from debt because they are unconsciously reeled in the world of consumption.

Slice TV hosted a show called Princess, where a financial consultant works with young consumers manage their spendings.

I remember when I was little how I loved it when my mom visted Gap. I remember the store being filled with people especially during the Christmas season. Gap was a store that prospered and effectively grabbed the attention of their target market.

However, in the past couple years,  I noticed that Gap’s popularity have been declining. The Gap stores nowadays don’t possess that glow anymore where people aspired to associate themselves with the brand. According to an article, Gap is losing customers because they “struggle to position themselves with a clear identity.”

Gap was founded by Don Fisher in 1969 with a simple goal in mind. It was to create a store where people can buy basic clothing conveniently.

However, as the society evolved, Gap’s vision started to lose focus. The group of customers they used to target grew out of Gap and the new generation are more interested in new brands like American Eagle and Hollister.

Recently, in 2009 Gap attempted to regain customer loyalty by creating the sprize program. This may be a good tactic for Gap in the short run to keep the customers coming into the store. However, as a strategy it may not be as affective because the problem still hasn’t been addressed. A revision on their focus and target market would be more effective.