Many of the products being newly created are geared towards those with expendable income. Multi-use cell phones and mp3 players, portable DVD and video game consoles, along with the ever-improving video game consoles like the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 systems are all geared towards those with expendable income. In any region of the world, there is no demographic with a higher amount of expendable income than teenagers.

Usually living with their parents, having few bills (if any), and working part time means that those in the 13-19 age group bring more money in than they have to turn out. This means more money can be spent on frivolous items that are entirely unnecessary but nice to have. Teens love new trends and fads, so when a new product or piece of technology is released in the retail market they are right there to spend their hard earned dollars on a fourth iPod or special edition video game.

The teenage demographic also offers research and marketing firms the most vast collection of thoughts and opinions that can be thought of. There are many ways teenagers can be grouped for survey results – by age, gender, locale, main interest, family income, job, school, etc. This means that their responses can be sorted multiple times, offering an even more detailed look into what products will interest what teenage demographic.

Manufacturing companies give research and marketing firms specific demographics to target when soliciting surveys about specific products and services. Usually, they have a target demographic for the product they want feedback on and ask the firm to find out what sub-groups of that demographic would be most likely to purchase that product.

Teens are the driving force behind much of the retail industry, making their thoughts and opinions on a wide variety of products and services highly coveted by manufacturing companies. Without the revenue generated by the expendable income held by teens and young adults, the retail market we know today would be a portion of it’s current size.

With this knowledge, teens should be encouraged to put forth their opinions. By participating in paid surveys, teens can earn extra cash and be sure to make a difference in the kind of products available on the market.