Gen Y forces retailers to keep up with technology, new stuff

— -- The next time you see a member of Generation Y, show some appreciation.

In Gen BuY: How Tweens, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail, Kit Yarrow and Jayne O'Donnell say today's teens, tweens and twentysomethings "were the least likely to cut back spending after the onset of the 2008 recession."

What's more, Yarrow (a consumer researcher and chair of the Golden Gate University psychology department) and O'Donnell (USA TODAY's retail reporter) say the 84 million Generation Yers born from 1978 through 2000 are so influential they've changed shopping for all consumers. They call Gen Y "the taste-makers, influencers, and most enthusiastic buyers of today," who will become "the mature, high-income purchasers of the future."

Because of Gen Y, we have:

•More creative, technically advanced websites (50% of retailers redesigned their sites last year).

•A wide availability of online customer reviews (Gen Y writes half of them).

•A faster stream of product introductions (Gen Y gets bored fast).

•Bigger, more comfortable dressing rooms (Gen Yers like to bring in friends to review outfits).

Generalizing about any group this size is risky. And making broad declarations about this generation is especially dicey, because they pride themselves on being unique. Some Gen Yers loathe brands that others in their cohort love. Some prefer thrift-store finds to name brands. But the authors have done their homework. They surveyed 2,000 Americans, conducted 11 focus groups, interviewed hundreds of Gen Yers, spoke with retail executives and spent lots of time in malls.

They found that Gen Y not only decides what they'll wear but often what their parents and grandparents will wear. The authors cite a Denver high school senior who persuaded her 70-year-old grandmother to get Uggs and her 93-year-old great-grandmother to shop at Chico's while teaching her 50-year-old mother to text pictures so they could "keep each other in the retail loop."