Look no further than your teenage kids.

Forrester Research recently studied the Internet use and buying patterns of 10,000 16- to 22-year-olds. Their spending power poses a force to be reckoned with. Strategic marketing calls for understanding what makes today's teens tick.
But there's a second very good reason to pick their brains. They've grown up in the frenetic, fast-paced, hyper-stimulating world that older Americans have had to adapt to. It has equipped them with the very qualities—flexibility, quick decision-making, and a willingness to gamble and learn from mistakes—that spell success in the uncharted territory of the information age. Colony isn't recommending hiring a CEO right out of high school. But from this group, today's CEOs can learn some very important lessons.
What's at stake? By the year 2003, anywhere from 500 million to one billion people will be online, and seventy-five percent of 16- to 22-year-olds who go online buy online. Forrester predicts that online sales of $170 billion in 1999 will jump to $3.2 trillion in 2003. More liberal estimates forecast $10 trillion—in a mere four years.
It's a myth, says Colony, that e-commerce is maturing. The truth: "We are sitting around campfires in loincloths chewing on bones." Today's "faint vibrations" are mere tastes of the "true tectonic movements" to come. "If you're a retailer," he advises, "you should be offering e-mail access at your point of sale. That's how you're going to pull these young consumers into your world." Viral marketing by e-mail also works wonders. "But it should be highly targeted and highly relevant," he cautions, "or you're spamming and pissing off your young consumers."