In a recent article at what it refers to as a “walking dollar bill“, Forbes examines the role that “hipsters” are playing in the current economy.
After generations of different counterculture movements, the current incarnation of the hipster is so influential not because they share a common taste in music or style necessarily like punks, beatniks, or followers of grunge music from the 90´s. What unites them, and what is making them so important for brands, retailers, and players in the global economy is that they are really defined and characterized by their penchant for consumption.
In a brief look through the blogosphere, this fact can be scene by the number of blogs dedicated to typical “hipster” products including limited edition nike sneakers and retro clothes. Hipsters of today relate to each other through the common passion for a favorite designer rather than a favorite writer or musician. As a result of this, they are buying at level much greater than the previous movements.
“One must look no further than the retail sector for proof of the purchasing power of the hipster, more or less a subset of the Millennial generation (those born between 1978 and 1998). While retailers geared toward consumers under 45–the Gap , Abercrombie & Fitch and Express–have struggled in the past year to increase sales, hipster-centric clothing outlet Urban Outfitters has reported record results. The retailer sells several private brands as well as secondary labels from quintessential left-of-mainstream designers such as Steven Alan, Charlotte Ronson and Grey Ant. Urban Outfitters is less khakis and t-shirts and more buffalo-check blouses and magic-marker-color denim.”
But hipsters have something else that makes them attractive to marketers: greater numbers. Luxury marketing consultant Pam Danzinger says that Millennials in general–and hipsters especially–will be one of the next big consumer demographic targets.
As children of Baby Boomers, the number of people–with money to burn–born as Millennials is 70 million and growing. That’s much larger than Generation X, which includes about 46 million Americans. Gen Xers’ spending power–which amounts to about $125 billion annually–can’t compare with that of the Boomers, who boast an estimated buying power of $2 trillion a year with a population of 79 million, according to Mind Comet, an Orlando-based market research and consulting firm.
In essence, the generation of hipsters are not only spending their own money, but they are still spending the money of their parents. This buzz of activity however is not confined merely to the retail world. Hotels have been increasingly touched by the hipster movement. Hotels like the Ace Hotel, the Jane Hotel, of the Lux 11 (on the budget end of the spectrum), and the Schrager, Balazs, and Thompson hotels of the world (on the high-end part of the scale). The attraction for these hotels are their emphasis on the hip and hipster lifestyle that includes essentially all things related to the so called “creative” industries including art, fashion, and music. This marks an opportunity and sort of a wake-up call for hotel investors eager to get on the next bandwagon. Forget 4 Seasons, thinking hipster chic.
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