Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine tweens' (8-12 year-olds) satisfaction with and loyalty to their mobile phones and the relationship between these.

Design/methodology/approach – Based on literature studies, hypotheses about tweens' satisfaction with and loyalty to their mobile phones are developed. A survey in Denmark forms the empirical basis for the study, and the hypotheses are tested and discussed.

Findings – The results indicate that tweens are far more satisfied with their mobile phones than adults are and that the mobile phones fulfill children's expectations to a much higher degree. Still, brands are not able to turn tweens into loyal customers who will recommend their mobile phones to friends. Tweens' loyalty is lower than what is experienced for adults and the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty is very weak.

Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to the mobile phone market. The low degree of loyalty in this market may not necessarily be the case in other markets. However, it is believed that many of the arguments share such generic characteristics that they are transferable to other product areas. Another limitation is that this study is based on a survey in Greater Copenhagen in Denmark. Therefore, the results can be influenced by a city effect.

Practical implications – The paper presents findings, which are useful for mobile phone marketers' marketing strategy and promotional plans towards tweens.

Originality/value – The study combines tweens, mobile phones, and customer satisfaction and loyalty theory. Findings on this combination have not been published previously. However, the combination is important due to the growing mobile phone penetration among tweens and the fast development of mobile phones and telecommunication services.