We've all heard of the "boomers," the "busters," the "x-ers" and "y-ers" - but what in the world are the "tweens"? The "tweens" are a new segment of young teen consumers that marketers have identified and marked as a multi-billion-dollar opportunity.

Marketers routinely divide markets into small homogeneous groups of notable size and purchasing power. Boomers for example-Americans around aged 55 and up-are an example of a huge population group with immense purchase power. Tweens, while a smaller group of the population, represent an emerging market on the other side of the age spectrum.

Marketers identify groups like the boomers and tweens to find a way promote to and serve the needs of those particular consumers. They aim for those segments whose preferences match a firm's brands and product lines, and often develop brand new product lines to have products to offer to identifiable market segments.