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Finance

What's the deal with the student deals?

Students are given discounts on technology left, right and center. Does the student buyer benefit, or is there another reason for targeting this market?
Written by Zack Whittaker, Contributor
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There's a simple answer, and that's very. But to pad out a four-hundred word article, I'm somewhat obliged to throw in a little detail.

The more I look around for products or services, items or promotions, I see students as a massive centralised market. Whoever knew that a relatively small demographic of people aged roughly 18-25 are so popular with the techno-geeks?

The technology industry seems to focus on students as a major source of income. Whether it is down to the general naivity or the spend-thrifty occurrences of students, I cannot be sure. Perhaps it is a mixture of the both, but there's definitely a combination.

It always comes down to money.

International students and out-of-state students pay vast sums of money to be in the places that they are. For the fact that they can be educated outside of their own state or their own country shows they have wealth and to some extent power, but that's not it either.

It comes down to the fact that most students, such as myself, are idiots.

Students and those in my generation are mostly broke the vast majority of the time. Whenever they have a spare bit of cash from their part-time job, they can't save their pennies. The first thing they jump to are materialistic items which they can use to further self-promote themselves as the technologically advanced and up to date student. No matter how old you get, you still want to be part of the small group of people with the latest kit.

Or do we blame the parents of the poor, scrounging students? I'd say this would be a safer bet.

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Parents take advantage of offers because of the relief it offers them when their children are so far away. How an Apple Mac or a new phone can dissolve the ever growing worry from a parent, to ensure that their child is being looked after educationally, is something I will probably not understand until I have children of my own.

The cheaper the deal, the more they buy. The more they buy, the bigger the profits. The bigger the profits, the cheaper the products, and so the cycle continues. At the end of it, the student is the key to the whole process.

To take a tip from the affluent marketer. If you are to market a product, try and find a student angle because no doubt, the penniless student will grab at it as an impulse purchase, or the worried parent will buy it on their behalf as a comfort transaction.

Do you benefit from student discounts? Are you a parent and spend more on technology than yourself? Have your say.

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