Ziba Insights: Gen Y is Creating its Own Service Economy

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Topic: Insights

In late 2012, we gathered Ziba’s lead designers, researchers and creative directors together to look back at the year’s most important insights — the crucial discoveries about how consumers behave, technologies change and markets shift. Throughout 2013, we’re sharing one of them each month, through the words and images of the Zibites who know them best.

An entire generation of young people has access to something unprecedented in history: a complete ecosystem of services provided by people their own age. When a startup run by three recent college grads can take on a century-old multinational, it transforms markets. Sometimes this means an age-group split, like AirBnB vs VRBO, or Etsy vs eBay. And sometimes it means a Gen Y company like Facebook can leverage its enthusiastic peer group, then grow to rule the world.

Take younger competitors seriously, and learn from them.

Gen Y is defined by optimism, social engagement and digital fluency, and these are attributes that can attract older customers as well. The key is to act as an enabler, not a controller: give them a flexible platform and they’ll not only give you their business, they’ll bring Mom and Dad along too.