Socialize Online But Shop In-Store

There is a “Generation I,” and though it has been raised on the Internet it likes to shop in stores. This from MarketResearch.com, a business intelligence marketplace serving the Fortune 1000, and the study they've released called “Marketing to the Internet Generation.”

According to study results, this group of Americans (ages 2-24) report digital spending of $619 million in 1999, but estimated to reach $14 billion by 2004. And they're driven by the availability of at-home Internet access, and by the increasing popularity of “e-wallet” Web sites that enable younger shoppers without credit cards to buy online.

But these tweens and teens evidently still prefer bricks-and-mortar stores to e-tailers. According to Ruth Washton, one of the study's authors, “It's true that online tweens and teens make heavy use of the Internet to keep in touch with their friends and do homework assignments. But they still look to the mall as the place to shop because the mall is where they meet and hang out with their friends.”