The demographic that the bulk of traditional marketing is geared toward in today’s marketplace is citizens between the ages of sixteen and thirty-five, also known as millennial shoppers. These young adults are the driving force behind the retail economy, currently the largest consumer base and outpacing their predecessors by nearly 300% in some sectors. Retail merchandising is certainly focused on drawing in and engaging these shoppers in-store, but many brands are still playing catch-up with the lightning-fast rate at which today’s marketplace moves.
How Stores are Keeping Pace
Today’s retailing is done primarily in the way that millennials are most comfortable and familiar with – via current technology. Using smartphone and tablet apps, the online rewards program and the hybrid online/in-person shopping experience, retailers engage millennials where they are most often found, and that’s hooked to a screen. Sales and promotions are touted via emails and ads on mobile apps while interactive software improves the overall experience of in-store shoppers. This is very important to the buyers of this age group, as research shows that millennials are as concerned with enjoying the experience – whether online or face- to- face as they are with finding a great deal or a perfect product.
Numerous field reporting companies are employed to help brands track the way their consumer base shops, and better understand what they are looking for. This information is then used as input for retail merchandising software that assists in store execution – the practices and conducive technologies used by merchants to implement store programs such as advertising, sales cycle scheduling and creation of promotional material.
Every piece of this information works together to improve every aspect of the retail process, from manufacturing to taking home the goods. By putting the way their customers shop to work in bettering their store front, merchants can expect better profits and more satisfied consumers. After all, millennials love nothing more than a memorable experience.
What About the Children?
All this focus on the millennial shopper doesn’t mean that retailers have forgotten their younger counterpart, the Generation Z shopper. Using many of the same techniques as they apply toward tracking the spending habits and preferences of their older peers, keeping the teen and tween shopper engaged is a matter of understanding their behavior and utilizing retail store execution software to maximize their experience. While older generations are fond of online shopping, Generation Z consumers take enjoyment in live experiences, and are more likely to interact directly with various retail merchandising tools. Knowing this, brands can reach out in a more direct way to these young shoppers and tailor their in-store encounters to be both – more enjoyable and more profitable.
There are many ways in which today’s vendors are making efforts to give every buyer the best promotions, products and personal experiences. Whether they are taking to the internet to reel in the millennial or improving the facetime experiences of the younger generation, retailers want everyone happy. All they need to do is take the needs and interests of their target audience into consideration and implementing programs via successfully tested merchandising software. Using the insight of mobile retail software that puts this insight to work for the brand, vendors and retailers can continue to please the masses while the millennials can look forward to enjoying a market that keeps pace with the trends they set.