Much has been written about the demise of America’s brick-and-mortar retail institutions due to the expansion of e-commerce and mobile technology. With slowing population growth, the future of retail sales will depend largely on increased individual spending, much of which will come from the demographic cohort known as Millennials.
Some relevant facts about this group:
- Millennials are multi-channel shoppers, but, according to a 2016 Accenture study, in-store shopping remains the preferred channel for 82% of this group.
- Millennials are increasingly choosing urban life for the more attractive career and lifestyle opportunities the city affords.
- Millennials are brand conscious, favoring concept shops that offer a curated experience.
- Millennials are catalog readers. Nearly three-quarters of Millennials who receive catalogs consider them to be useful for learning about products and over 92% in this group use catalogs to get ideas about things that interest them.
The challenge for marketers is to redefine the role of the brick-and-mortar store in the multi-channel age to adapt to this generation’s unique lifestyle preferences.
Some key expectations and preferences that characterize this group include:
- Purchase experience as important as the purchase. They expect every step in the process to be seamless and smooth.
- Convenience, flexibility and immediacy. On-demand services like Uber have conditioned this generation to expect these three in every experience.
- Free shipping. 75% of Millennials say they will switch to a retailer that offers free shipping.
- Click-and-collect. A growing number of urban buyers prefer to order online and pick up or return goods in store. Up to 20% of consumers who return an online purchase to the store make an additional purchase.
- Store as showroom. This growing concept allows customers to view merchandise, engage with sales staff and place orders that are then shipped from a central location… think Bonobo’s Guideshops.
Ultimately, Millenials want a unique shopping experience regardless of the channel and they will pay on average 31.6% more for it according to Timetrade’s 2016 Retail Report. Retailers who can consistently deliver such an experience will survive and prosper.
Have you created a differentiated purchase experience that separates your brand from your competition? Is your brand message resonating with this key demographic? Are you consistently delivering that message across all customer touch points?
If you’re looking to answer these questions, we can help. For the kinds of customer insights that drive effective, strategic brand communication and get results, give Chris Hayes a call at 913-236-2415 or email chrish@jschmid.com
Tags: chris hayes, Customer Behavior, Customer Experience, ecommerce, millenials