Millennials are a truly notorious tech-driven and tech-oriented generation. They have grown up in the age of the internet; have access to a wide variety of digital devices such as Smartphones, and are deeply immersed in social media. Millennials do almost everything that they can online, and the platform is currently one of their most preferred places for shopping.
However, would you be surprised to know that millennials actually shop more at physical stores than other generations like baby boomers and Generation X? According to a 2016 report by PWC on shopper’s behavior, it was noted that millennial customers buy more at physical stores than any other generation.
Well, this is a quite surprising fact considering that one would expect millennials to be more inclined towards online purchases than physical store shopping. But of course, that doesn’t mean online shopping isn’t popular with millennials. Over 40% of the members of this age group shop online every month, a good indicator that you need an e-commerce store no matter how successful your physical store is.
So, if a huge number of the customers to expect at your online or physical store are millennials, how can you pull them towards your business? How can you get them to visit your store more and more? How can you make them feel at home or comfortable in their ‘own world?’ Can you make your store a lead conversion tool?
It’s not very difficult to influence millennial shoppers if you understand their habits, likes and dislikes when it comes to shopping. The key is to engage and adapt to their lifestyle as much as possible. Unlike other shopper generations, millennials have distinct shopping habits and a different, ever-changing lifestyle. They move with trends and are hugely influenced by social media or their peers in schools and workplaces.
Most millennials love it when they see that a brand shows real interest in them. You can play this to your advantage by engaging and influencing them along the way. For example, connect with them through selfies. Encourage millennials to take selfies with your products or store. Their social network is yours for the promoting. Communicate with them through the channels they stalk. They love it when brands ask for their opinions.
Engage them with ads and promotions through social media platforms and emails. Many millennials learn about new brands and their products/services through sponsored ads on platforms like Facebook. In addition, 68% of millennials said promotional emails affect their purchase decisions.
Play the “industry leader” card. Show millennials that your store is unique and why it’s the best in your industry. Make the store fun to shop, social, and most of all authentic. You will win the hearts of many members in this generation. There are many tactics you can use to influence millennials, but first, make sure you understand their shopping habits and common tastes and preferences.
Millennials love personalization! It hits at the core of their “own world.” This age group is dedicated to attaining uniqueness and independence, and personalization is one way of achieving this goal. If you’re stumped on how to attract millennials to your store, try and customize everything to make each customer feel recognized. It’s all about making it seem like your business knows and identifies with them at a personal level.
One fantastic way to do this is by personalizing products. Coca-Cola did a literal version of this in the ‘Share a Coke campaign’ back in 2014. The company printed names of people on Coca-Cola bottles and ran a very successful share campaign. Reports show an increase in sales for the first time in more than 20 years. Learn how to attract millennials to your store by personalizing for their style. Many times, your goal is to showcase furniture that shops better than Ikea. Take that into consideration when buying new collections. With the growing popularity of Joanna Gaines, maybe add Magnolia Home to your store.
You should also personalize customer accounts on your online store. Address customers with their first or full names when they log in to your store to make them feel acknowledged. Also, refer to them by their names when sending out promotional emails. For example, make the email opening to have a greeting such as “Hi, Cornell. We hope you are doing fine”. Such a cordial greeting with a personal touch to it can go a long in pulling millennials to your store.
For your physical store, make the environment conducive for millennials to engage in social media while shopping. A good way to achieve this is by providing free Wi-Fi. Over 80% of millennials admit to using their mobile devices while shopping in stores to research products, compare prices and even share great new findings (such as new exciting products, promotions, offers, etc.) with their social media fraternity. Providing free Wi-Fi will drive them to your store as they can conveniently do everything they want on their phones while shopping.
You can also bring social media to the store by giving discounts to customers who buy and share or refer your brand on internet sharing platforms. Plus, you can create displays or signage of popular products or trends on social media at your store.
For your online store, provide share buttons to well-known social media sites so that millennials can share what they like with their followers directly from your e-commerce page. Also, create a comment section on your page where users can chat and provide reviews about your store.
Millennials are a digital generation and as such love everything tech-related. Utilize any tech available at your disposal to make operations seamless in your online and physical stores. For physical stores, for example, install or have systems that make payments easy. Remember, millennials prefer to use online or mobile money payment methods instead of cash and plastic money. Today they even use cryptocurrencies to pay for purchases. A simple point-of-sale system can drive millennials to your store in favor of a competitor who is lacking behind in similar tech.
Adopt digital marketing fully. Have a presentable and regularly updated website, e-commerce store, social media page, and more. Offer digital coupons instead of printed ones. Millennials love digital loyalty programs that feature discounts tailor-made to their tastes and preferences.
Develop an e-commerce app to bring your store even closer to millennials. With an app, they have your store in the palm of their hands 90% of the time.
