Connecting with Millennials
The generation born between the early 1980s and the year 2000 — labeled millennials — has captured the collective attention of retail marketers. And not just because there are more than 80 million of them, although that’s a factor. This group craves access, not necessarily ownership, and they have a real affinity for technology, which is shaping the retail space.
Chain Store Age talked with Michael Puline, senior VP leasing, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, for DLC Management Corp., about how to connect with this influential generation from a shopping center owner’s perspective.
What are the five top ways to connect with millennials?
If you look at the successful companies and brand experiences that millennials grew up with — such as Apple, Starbucks and Forever 21 — you can get a small glimpse into this group’s expectations. My top five “connecting principles” would be:
1. Convenience: It needs to be fast for millennials. They want technology to save them time and effort. It must work for them, not for you (the brand).
2. Simplicity: Gone are superfluous things that don’t add real value.
3. Value: It needs to be affordable and within their general reach. That’s not to say they won’t sacrifice for something they really want — they will! But, it needs to have an inherent perceived value.
4. Fashionable: It needs to look good and be cool. If you don’t have the “it” factor, it’s not high on their “must-have” list. And that’s for everything they touch, whether it’s a shopping destination, a restaurant or a retail brand.
5. Experiential: Experience is something that has been talked a lot about over the last 10 years, especially for retail real estate. The truth is that experience has always been important. It’s just that people now are more focused on creating the environment in which people want to buy versus have to buy. Millennials have primarily grown up in “the want,” so experience is oftentimes even more important to them.
Do you believe millennials’ digital nature will impact brick-and-mortar retail?
Absolutely. The digital world is being overlaid on top of the physical world. We will always have retail stores and malls, but our interaction and experience with them will be radically changed — they will look different and we will shop and eat at them differently.
I visited China recently and was absolutely amazed at how advanced their digital/physical interaction is, especially compared with other countries. I was eating at a restaurant in a mall when an announcement was made over the loud speaker instructing diners to log into their WeChat Group (similar to our Facebook) where eight winners, selected at random, would be announced and those diners would receive a discount on their meal. I didn’t win, but it was amazing to see hundreds of people using the same social media app in a restaurant simultaneously, connected both physically and digitally.
Your portfolio focuses on grocery-anchored centers. Are grocers evolving marketing strategies toward millennials?
We are seeing it with all of our retailers, grocers included. Look at all of the capital they have invested over the last 10 years in technology, value and convenience. Their business is being transformed, and the ones that are adapting are winning. A few good examples are Cartwheel by Target, Kroger offering digital coupons and even stores accepting Apple/Samsung Pay directly from smartphones.
How is DLC connecting with millennials?
DLC is connecting with millennials by adding a significant number of them as team members, especially over the last five years. If you want to connect with millennials, you need them to be an active part of your organization. What’s more, you need to put them on teams and projects where they can utilize their strengths.
We have seen tremendous positive outcomes from our millennial team members as they helped champion and implement several technological changes over this past year, in particular. A good example is our recent CRM upgrade. We had a committee of about a dozen people internally working collectively for over a year. The millennials on the team helped enormously by pushing the conversation from what we want now to what we want next.
At our properties, it’s often our millennial leasing folks who have pushed to create significant positive changes at our properties. Last year a millennial team member added our first Zipcar, and it was so successful that we have now already expanded it. They can help champion new and innovative marketing practices to target a younger demographic. If you want to connect with millennials, you need them on your team.