Gen X Ignored: Retailers Miss High-Spending Demographic

Resources

Resources & Recommendations

Books

• "My Life is a Lie" by Michael Green - This Substack post argues that a family of four in America needs significantly more than the official federal poverty line to cover necessities.

Research & Studies

• Black Friday Retail Sales Report (Mastercard SpendingPulse) - This report indicated that retail sales on Black Friday, excluding cars, jumped 4.1%, outpacing the previous year's growth.
• Online Shopping Growth on Black Friday (Adobe Analytics) - This report found that Americans spent $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, a 9.1% increase from the year before.
• Youth Shopping Habits Report (AT&T Business) - This report stated that 40% of Gen Z and 32% of millennials planned to do most of their shopping on or around Black Friday.
• Gen Z Holiday Spending Intentions (Deloitte) - This report found that Gen Z shoppers expected to cut holiday spending by an average of 34%.
• Gen Z Holiday Spending Plans (PwC) - This report indicated that Gen Z plans to spend 23% less this holiday season.

People Mentioned

• Michael Green (Wall Street portfolio manager and writer) - Author of the Substack post "My Life is a Lie" that argues the actual cost of living for a family of four is much higher than the official poverty line.
• Michael Burry - Referenced for taking a public anti-AI stance.
• Jim Chanos - Referenced for taking a public anti-AI stance.
• Emmanuel Cau (Barclay's strategist) - Quoted for his market mantra: "don't fight the Fed and don't fight AI."
• Luigi Mangione - Accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, whose court hearings and online fundraising campaign were discussed.
• Brian Thompson (United Healthcare CEO) - The victim mentioned in the context of Luigi Mangione's trial.
• Lane Kiffin (Old Miss coach) - Mentioned for jumping ship to rival school LSU, causing coaching drama in college football.

Organizations & Institutions

• Morning Brew - The organization that produces the podcast and the "Marketing Brew" article.
• Morning Brew Daily - The podcast itself, mentioned for its live holiday extravaganza.
• United Healthcare - The company of the CEO, Brian Thompson, whose alleged killer was discussed.
• Old Miss - The college football team whose coach, Lane Kiffin, left for a rival school.
• LSU - The rival college football school that hired Lane Kiffin.

Websites & Online Resources

• Marketing Brew (marketingbrew.com/amazonads) - Mentioned as the place to read an article about how Amazon Ads can help reach customers.
• Substack - The platform where Michael Green's article "My Life is a Lie" was published.
• Vanta (vanta.com/morningbrew) - Mentioned as a tool for automating compliance and continuously monitoring programs for businesses, offering a discount to listeners.
• WooCommerce (woo.com/cost) - Mentioned as an e-commerce platform that gives control over costs and avoids platform fees.

Other Resources

• Whamageddon - An annual contest where players try to avoid hearing the song "Last Christmas" by Wham from December 1st through Christmas Eve.
• "Last Christmas" by Wham - The song central to the Whamageddon contest.
• Google's AI-powered hurricane model (DeepMind Weather Lab) - A new AI model that accurately predicted hurricane tracks and intensity, outperforming traditional forecasting methods this hurricane season.
• US government's flagship Global Forecast System (GFS) - A traditional physics-based hurricane forecasting model that performed poorly compared to Google's AI model.
• College Football Playoff - The upcoming playoff that will come into view with the penultimate rankings.
• World Cup - The upcoming soccer tournament whose draw will take place on Friday.