Three Millennial Social Trends and the Retail IT Response

Back in September 2013, I wrote a TechBytes column about how millennials aren’t that different from prior young generations in their interests and needs. I have since realized there are a few unique millennial social trends which reflect specific generational consumer attributes. Using leading-edge technology, retailers can effectively meet the generational needs of this increasingly important customer demographic.



Rock is Dead

When The Who sang “rock is dead” in their 1974 song “Long Live Rock,” that era’s young people got the irony. This era’s young people would shrug their shoulders and say “no kidding.” Millennial consumers are largely abandoning the rock n roll favored by Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, with electronic dance music (EDM) coming to the fore. If rock n roll is all about doing your own thing, EDM is all about creating a community.



This trend reflects the fact that despite their strong desire for individual choice, millennials are also highly communal, reflected by their heavy usage of social and mobile technology. It’s not enough for retailers to respond by having a mobile and social presence. Retailers need to offer a true communal customer experience.



This can include features like social shopping, where millennials’ friends virtually join them in shopping online, in stores and even in dressing rooms; live online customer forums; and in-store interactive displays that allow customers to view and reply to other shoppers’ social commentary in real time.



The More You Drive, the Less Intelligent You Are

The slogan from the early 1980s underground film “Repo Man” may not literally describe how millennials view automobiles, but they are participating in driving and owning cars at much lower rates than previous generations. High school and college kids see technological gadgets as more of a status symbol than cars, and older millennials are often content to use public transportation, bikes or shared ride services.



This trend away from cars reflects millennials’ increased focus on virtual as opposed to physical interaction, which extends to working remotely rather than commuting. Add in millennials’ tendency to cluster in urban areas where a car isn’t a necessity, and you have a group of consumers less willing or able to drive to a suburban strip mall.



Retailers thus need to provide millennials with comprehensive omnichannel delivery services and options, including having a friend (who may have a car) pick up your online order, near-real-time delivery of perishable or emergency items, and convenient features like automatic reordering of regular purchases or ordering via photo or bar-code scan. Also, lockers that facilitate pickup of e-commerce orders in locations like universities or urban shopping centers can help meet the needs of millennials’ non-automotive lifestyles.



Kinder, Gentler Consumers

As mentioned in a recent column, millennials as a group show much more concern when shopping about issues such as environmental sustainability, ethical worker treatment, healthy ingredients, etc., than preceding generations. Retailers should consider facilitating this kinder, gentler approach to consumerism with technology.



Consumers can have access to detailed sustainability and product information through bar-code scan or beacon activation. A retailer’s social media page could include direct video chat with factory workers or farmers creating products. Millennials grew up in the “Information Age,” and will buy from retailers that let them make informed purchase decisions.