If you’re like me, and from what I’m reading you are, you’re in stores shopping for back to school, spending some of that stimulus check and trying to make up for what you haven’t been spending your money on for the last six months (that’s if you reside in the U.S.) or are just in the stores now because it’s that time of year.

Nonetheless, most, if not all of us, are still looking for that crystal ball to shine the light on where the next fortunes, improvements and or significant changes will take place for the forseeable future.

For 2008 and 2009 and beyond, number one on my radar as well as others will be the U.S. Presidential Elections. It may or may not make a difference, but then that is the 64 thousand dollar question, isn’t it?

Following that, my other big number question is who will be spending the money, where and on what? These are the kinds of questions I like to ask and then to answer as well. Fortunately the info I get provides those answers, and believe it or not, it’s been a fairly consistent set of answers to the questions over time.

Take for instance: Boomers alone account for 78 million people in the US and control more than 83% of consumer spending. Some 40% of the US population is over 45, with 50% market growth projected in the next 15 years. Boomer spending is expected to surpass $4.6 trillion by 2015.

So given that these are the numbers that have been being touted by most research companies over the years for at least the last decade, why is it that so many manufacturers, publishers, companies with services in general, and trade associations keep searching for that eternally damned fountain of youth? Which by my count is fickle, not too reliable in terms of numbers, and right now are the ones hurting the most.

It’s funny, but I find that many if not all companies have in fact and indeed geared their marketing and their product programs toward the youth market, ignoring the above set of numbers re Boomer spending, and therefore have all ended up in the predicament the market is in, hurting as well.

Just an observation. But a good one. The latest research to surface re the teen market is that while kids and parents are shopping earlier for back to school, their purse strings are loosest in the electronics isle (big surprise there…NOT), while holding the line on basics. Maybe that’s why back to school programs in the retailers this year look so dismal, and focus primarily on school supplies. In the majors who hold the greatest share of the BTS/BTC market, Target, Wal-Mart & Bed Bath Beyond, I’ve had to look hard to find what would have been considered a strong BTS/BTC program statement in years past. This BTS/BTC year, I’ve had to look around to grasp what if any statement had been made. That’s different.

With Back to School and Back to College being a fairly large segment for me as an industry this is saying a mouthful though hardly suprising. But, that said, like investment portfolios it’s wisest to be diversified. All the companies I have done consulting for have a nice back to school business (that is, yes, a moving target in terms of revenue) as well as their core businesses which hopefully right now are being focused on international markets in some vein.

For more on this topic, contact me about kimbro’s “International Markets Now” report for the latest findings on where to be for what….if that alone doesn’t suffice, I can answer the how also.

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