• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, May 26, 2006

According to The Kids Market in the U.S., a new report from Packaged Facts, preschoolers aged 3 to 5, younger kids aged 6 to 8, and tweens aged 9 to 11a compact consumer group that's nearly 36 million kids strongcontinue to pack a punch in purchasing power, which in 2005 was estimated to be $18 billion,

The report projects the kids market will experience substantial growth during the next four years, reaching $21.4 billion in disposable income by 2010.

Concurrently, families spend more than $115 billion on kids in key consumer areas, such as food, clothing, personal-care items, entertainment, and reading materials. Almost half of this total expenditure on kids, $58.3 billion, is devoted to food purchases. By Packaged Facts estimates, annual expenditures by families on consumer goods for kids will reach approximately $143 billion by 2010.

Besides "tricky" marketing to this big-money demographic because of distinct tastes, buying habits, levels of influence over purchasing decisions, and influences, such as race, education level of parents, and household income, there are wider-ranging kid issues that have focused on the business and societal risks related to kid marketing.

Don Montuori, the publisher of Packaged Facts, concludes that "... marketers would be wise to adapt to the rapidly evolving consumer attitudes and habits of today's media-saturated kidsand their familiesby going beyond what's politically correct..."

For additional information from Packaged Facts, please go here.