The consumer markets that I have chosen is the generation of the Millennials. I’m myself part of this generation so I can share my experience of shopping and how my way to shop is influence by technology. It will be interesting also to show the differences, if there any, with US Millennials.
First of all Millennial is an American term because in France and Europe we say Generation Y to define the people who were born between 1980 and the 2000s. After some research I realized that the delineation was different from one source to another but to simplify we are talking about the last 20 years of the 20th century. Every time I found articles about millennial there were couple words attached to it: workplace, technology and culture. Their environment and what is happening in the world at this specific period affect every generation.
Technology is one the most affective one for millennial with an electronic extend and social network world. This generation is the most ethnically diverse generation and in fact the most tolerant of difference. I can relate through that because I m a millennial myself and since I was born in 1995 I saw this extreme evolution of technology and social media. This evolution told us that we could make our dream come true and everybody had the same chance to make whatever you could be. I’m from the south of France, small countryside village, I remember that I was the first student going to the US from my city. Everybody didn’t really understood and realize that you could go on the other side of the world make your dream come true. In an way we have been help by technology and also our parents were more open minded about that. Also this optimist generation is the first one since the silent generation that is expected to be less economically successful than the last ones.
Obviously every generation have their proper needs and wants in term of shopping fashion products. This is the most important generation for most of the brand that have a chosen them in target market. Sometimes the brand could be surprise to attract generation that they didn’t think about before but most of the time it is really well define. To explain you how important this generation is, according to Richard Kestenbaum who is a contributor: “Millennials are 80 million in the US and spend 600$ billion annually and that’s 28% of all daily person consumer spending”. Those people are now between 20 and 35 years old and are coming into or either are into professional society. Millennials live and shop in the moment, often making purchases and dealing with the repercussions later. According to Business Time “Interestingly, Millennials are 52 percent more likely than any other generation to report making impulse purchases simply to pamper themselves”. Even thought the fast way of purchasing they put a lot of values in to the product in terms of quality and where it comes from. The millennials are very careful about nature and the global environment in general, that’s why they are more likely to buy green products. Doesn’t matter for them if it’s a big maison, luxury house, mass market or small store around the corner all that matters to them is the operation on how brand make the clothes.
Moreover, what does Millennials are looking in terms of fashion product? I m going to take the example of J-Crew: a brand that has Millennials for their target market. The Target Market of the J. Crew brand is men and women who are in the professional field such as upper middle class individuals, who want to the Ralph Lauren look at a lower price range with a more modern fashion style. Fashion is a way to express yourself with but also to show your social status. J-Crew is the perfect balance for that, again it is a multi brand and they offer assortment for women, men and children apparel etc. When you enter in a J-Crew store is more about a lifestyle chic and pretty fashion. Without showing off, with a sober style they are also known for their quality and construction of clothes.
Even though this generation is often seen as attached to technology surprising they don’t buy that much online. However women may still shop more fashion compare to men who buy more hard goods. Also online is difficult to know how the product will look on you and sizes are not always the size for each brands. However according to E Marketer report “Two-thirds of millennials prefer digital shopping over shopping in physical stores. In fact, they often like to combine the two, using their mobile phones to research while they’re instore”. If we think about it younger millennial have more time to go shopping in a store than older millennial that are already working hard and may be more efficient for them to buy online. In addition to that millennials are often very active on social media and like to show their experience in store. For example they like to go shopping in luxury store for different reason: the experience, quality of the products, shopping same items as their favorite artist or celebrities etc. In addition to that social media is a good way to build a strong relationships between the brand their customers. For example I wanted a J-Crew sweatshirt for this winter but they were sold out in my size! To let me know when they will received it again they have my contacts and will send me an email so I can come purchase the product.
In the other hand millennials from the United States really care about two things in their favorite brand. The first one is if the brand treats or pay its workers fairly. The second one will be if the brand is environmentally friendly. Like Patagonia is doing it perfectly, according to review of the best companies for employees more than 94% Patagonia employees are happy with the workplace. In fact every employee have the time and the right to work outdoors and can manage to do their sports also. In the other hand I remember American Apparel that use to recruit only illegal immigrant by giving them a job and they were producing their clothes downtown Los Angeles. Many brands are taking celebrities that reflect their brand DNA/spirit and become their brand ambassador. It’s very important because they influence directly the millennial by social media and have the responsibilities to be the image of the brand. For example Emma Watson spotted multiple time with J-Crew clothes and many other. We all know that Emma Watson is one of the most well known feminist and care a lot about charity project also.
In conclusion, Millennials are more careful on how the products are made and in which condition for the workers. If the brand is making green product and have an excellent workplace it will definitely influence their shopping decisions. Also what type of celebrities and influencers are wearing this brand is important so they can relate too. In fact we must not judge them as a superficial generation because of the social media but more as a humanity spirit.