Coverage By: Agata Seidel. Siedel is a digital marketing consultant with a background in fashion and beauty. Her work has been published with the Worth Global Style Network, The Business of Fashion, Viewpoint Magazine and the Lifesigns Network. Siedel resides in New York City, New York.

Luxury Lab and the L2 Think Tank held the Gen Y Consumer Forum on May 14th, 2010.

From the forum there was a clear trend amongst speakers that underlined these key points:

1. Gen Y are digitally connected, socially aware, care about their future and want to contribute to it.

Nineteen year old presenter Erin Shrode underlined key points to the luxury brands in the audience that her generation makes its consumption decisions based on the transparency of information gained online.  Gen Y is socially aware and wants to positively influence their own future, so if a brand does not fit and behave within her generation’s expectations and ideals, then they are quick to discard purchasing or endorsing such brands.  Erin stressed that for her generation status symbols come in the form of sustainable and socially aware products,  a concept such as being a teen and driving a hybrid car is part of their aspirational luxury.

2. Gen Y are tech savvy and knowledgeable and therefore influence older generations, new businesses and reforms

As Jane Buckingham the Youth Intelligencer and Founder of Trendera pointed out the difference with Generation Y as opposed to any other generation is how empowered this consumer segment is due to technology and the internet. Gen Y is savvy, has instant access to information and the ability to generate a multitude of social connections online that influence their purchasing making skills.  Brands need to realize that when they influencing one Gen Y customer they are actually indirectly influencing a multitude of others as well.

When it comes to seeking information online, nine out of ten Gen Y consumers research luxury brands online according to Sterling Lanier the president of research consultancy called Chatter.  Gen Y seeks luxury brands to provide stories alongside their products.  For them, it’s not about mindless conspicuous consumption but about the engagement and experience of the luxury product and brand. According to Lanier and his research “Gen Y prefer luxury brands that are not obvious to others just those in the know”.

Such information is integral to luxury brands pulling out of the economic slump. Not only because Gen Y is gearing up to become an economic force but thanks to their knowledgability they influence the spending of older generations. According to a recent report by Harris Interactive, 1 in every 3 consumer dollars spent in  the US is influenced by someone under the age of 18. Laura McEwan from Teen Vogue reiterated this point with her presentation on ‘Gen Y and the Dynamics of Influence’ that young women are influencing fashion and beauty trends for older women consumers and influencing their purchasing decisions.

3. Gen Y seeks substance and culture from the brands that they interact with, and if they don’t feel that adequacy from a company, they will go out and create it themselves

According to Scott Galloway who launched the forum event ‘Generation Next: Insight into Tomorrow’s Affluent Consumer’, Generation Y is the economic consumer segment that spans between 1977-1994, exceeds an annual spend of $150 billion and has a demanding mentality and outlook when it comes to brands and luxury.

Luxury Lab’s Generation Next forum showed that Gen Y is information and tech savvy, social, opinionated and influential.  This generation seeks transparency and brands that empower their social community and environmental values. But one thing was made clear when it comes to Gen Y if a brand does not align and provide what they are looking for they will go out and find somebody else who does, and if it doesn’t exist, they will go ahead and create it themselves.