The Millennial Shopper: Who are they, what do they expect and what do retailers need to prepare for in 2017?

Retail Technology 2017. Rethinking the Millennial Shopper

The digital savvy, bargain buying and transient Millennial shoppers are often a hot topic amongst retailers. But how unique are these new breed of always online and connected consumers and what can we be expected to deliver them in 2017?

So far this year we’ve seen a drive for speed, integrated cloud technology and a lot of continuous change as retailers clamber to rethink how they do things and realign their software systems to meet the new, demanding and digital consumer.

Global market research conducted by Accenture this year of the shopping behaviours of 6,000 consumers, of which 1,707 were Millennials, across eight countries looked at the customer experience capabilities of 60 retailers worldwide to meet this hot and challenging customer group.

 Rethinking The Millennial Shopper

Say the word Millennial and most of us will immediately conjure up the image of financially dependent teens and young adults in their 20s and 30s. The reality is, many of these Millennial’s actually have careers, children and own their own homes. Are we actually thinking of this all-important consumer group in the right way?

Already a force that cannot to be ignored in the retail landscape, the big deal should be their buying power by 2020 when we can probably realistically expect this core group to represent 30% of total retail sales.

As we pass the half way point of 2016 with 2017 only five months away, what is it we need to be considering for next year and beyond to 2020? One consideration is reflecting what similarities the two important consumer groups of Millennials and Baby Boomers share.

With a reputation for only ever seeing things through a digital lens, Millennials actually have a few important things in common with their predecessors: Baby Boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) and Generation X (1965 to 1979).

The Accenture research revealed that:

• More than half (55 percent) of the survey respondents, in all three demographics, said that they seek out “the cheapest return option.”
• Forty-one percent of all three groups said they practice “showrooming”—examining merchandise at a nearby retail store and then shopping for it online to find the lowest price—more often than they did a year ago. This shift is due, in part, to the current high penetration levels of smartphones, which can enable customers to search for an item easily, even while in a store.
• Thirty-six percent of those surveyed from all three generations said they will go online to buy from a retailer’s website if they want a product when the company’s stores are closed.
• On average, 89 percent said having access to real-time product availability information would influence their shopping choices in terms of which stores they would frequent.

Three Key Deliverables For Retail Technology 2017

We’ve been talking with our enterprise retail customers and our independents to start thinking about where all our priorities need to be in 2017.

Mobile Matters – According to Forrester Research, 4.8 billion people globally will be using smartphone by the end of 2016. The mobile device is the central bridge between the physical and digital worlds, especially for the Millennial shopper. Success will depend on a retailer’s ability to enhance the instore customer experience through mobile devices and enabled through enhanced technology and cloud platforms.

From extended instore product information including augmented reality, QR, digital screens, touch screen online catalogues and mobile PoS for queue busting and a more personalised shopping experience, bricks & mortar retailers will increasingly need to bring the online experience instore through mobile devices and to bridge their online channels. And it is not just about the instore customer experience.

Many brands such as Neal’s Yard Remedies and Musto, are harnessing cloud EPoS and retail management systems together with mobile PoS to extend their brand experience and engagement through pop-up shops as part of their brand strategies. Mobile and EPoS must go beyond transaction and extend into all forms of customer engagement and brand experience.

Fast, Simple & Personal – Without doubt we live in a world of instantaneous expectations, impatience and need for speed. From point of sale transactions, delivery and returns through to fast product information, we can expect to see customers increasingly value the ability to buy, deliver and collect quickly, easily and through experience a seamless journey across any channel.

Retailers who ensure their retail management systems and EPoS frameworks have the synchronization, real time and universal data exchanges and built in applications to ensure an omni-channel experience and cross system accuracy to avoid errors and delays in delivery, collection and general transactions and orders will be the winners.

From Multi-Channel To Omni-Experience – The last few years has seen many retailers battle with the challenge to patch up or review old and disparate IT systems to enable the sales and service process to transcend across multi-channels online and instore. 2017 will be the year for many retailers to now focus on the actual customer omni-experience. We can expect to see the rolling out of more Cloud EPoS and retail management platforms to give retailers the real time streaming of data across every touch and service point from till, shopping cart, e-Bay, loyalty and promotions, stock holding, merchandising, merchandising, delivery and return through to Click and Collect and e-Receipts.

Customer Experience Is The Key To Success

 Success in 2017 will come down to a retailer’s ability to give the Millennial shopper the personalised, quick, easy and seamless multi-channel shopping experience they desire and demand.

According to Gartner, 89% of market leaders, 2017 customer experience will be the primary basis for competitor differentiation. It is clear that retailers who will succeed in the post Brexit and Millennial retail world will be those that quickly respond to customer’s demands, integrating instore technology, mobile, cloud, analytics and social media into one unified and intelligent platform to boost customer engagement and experience.

A list of helpful e-Guides for ideas and insights can be found out http://www.retailstore.co.uk/brochures-and-guides/