Don Tapscott discusses the “net” generation

Don Tapscott began his keynote this morning with a tall order: convincing the audience that the “net generation” (ie: the generation ranging from those in their early teens to late 20s) will be the most powerful force affecting retail for the next decade. By the time his keynote had ended, I’d venture to guess that most people in the room had begin to agree with him.

Without divulging my birthdate–other than saying it’s going to be a big one this year–let’s just say that I’m barely included in that “net generation” of influencers. While I couldn’t relate to all of Don’s examples (I was not a child prodigy, didn’t have the Internet as a teen, and don’t have Facebook friends on seven continents), I could relate to some of the expectations and preferences of this generation. Don gave an incredibly insightful glimpse into what retail’s newest consumers want and think.

During his presentation, Don gave some insights from his new book, “Grown Up Digital,” which will be published at the end of October. He talked about today’s “net” generation and gave an overview of what makes them different than any other generation we’ve seen before. Here were some of his thoughts:

• They want to customize everything. Whether it’s designing their own t-shirts on Threadless.com or selecting which widgets to put on their desktop, this group wants to do things their own way.
• They have “amazing BS detectors.” They can tell when you’re not telling the truth or when you’re trying to pull one over on them. A retailer that got caught writing its own “customer” reviews would be virtually disowned by these people.
• They want you to be honest, transparent, and considerate. Also, they’re big on sustainability.
• They want to collaborate and have relationships.
• They want to have fun. In fact, 58% of them say that having fun with a product or service is just as important as what that thing actually does. If you employ any of these people, realize that they also want to have fun at work.
• They want speed. Don mentioned that one ”net generation” person he knows is getting ready to quit his job. Why? Because he said it “takes forever for anything to happen around here.”
• They want innovation.

Understanding this generation is just the beginning of determining how to leverage them. For schools and universities, for retailers, and for the government, this generation may very well shake things more than many of us can even fathom.