Credit – http://www.millennialmarketing.com/
Millennials, the generation of people born between 1977 and 2000, have received a bad reputation over the years. However, online retailers would do well to look past this for the good of their bottom line. Millennials have an estimated spending power of $200 billion on a direct basis. On an indirect basis, thanks in large part because they have a strong influence in regards to their parents, they have spending power of approximately $500 billion.
With this in mind, e-tailers will definitely want to include millennials in their target demographic. However, it’s vital to target them appropriately. This starts with knowing a few things about them. A compilation of online resources has generated a few interesting statistics that will definitely help.
Older people can be a little more reluctant to use technology, especially when it comes to shopping online. This certainly isn’t the case when it comes to millennials. In fact, roughly 40% of men would shop for all of their needs and wants online if they possibly could, while about 33% of women would do the same. There is plenty of evidence to back that up as roughly 86% of the generation shopped for something online within the past 12 months in the United Kingdom.
No matter what you’re selling, it’s vital to have a website. Simply having one built for computer screens isn’t enough anymore. Mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones provide convenient access to the internet on the go.
Although over 50% of the generation still used a PC or laptop to conduct their online shopping, the tide is quickly turning. 42% of them used a mobile device to shop, with 17% of them using a tablet.
In the past, the recommendations of friends and family weighed heavily on the minds of consumers. This prompted retailers to do all they could to get good recommendations. This isn’t the case with millennials. The most important thing that matters to them when it comes to making a decision is the opinions of others found on the website they’re potentially going to shop on. They don’t hold the recommendations of people close to them in as high regard as complete strangers.
This means two important things. If you’re selling something online, then you will need to provide social proof right on your website as to how good your products or services are. Great products or services will do enough to generate their own reviews from real customers.
When it comes to selling merchandise online, it’s quite common for companies to sell stuff that they don’t exactly have in stock at the moment. Doing so helps to reduce costs as those companies don’t have to pay as much for storage costs. However, this can backfire when it comes to bringing millennials to the website to shop.
One of the most important factors that influences their decisions is the availability of the merchandise that they’re shopping for. Online retailers would do well to provide real-time availability of their merchandise. An astounding 89% of millennials stated that this availability stat would influence where they chose to shop.
With all of the emerging technology that’s being released, it makes sense that the younger generation would enjoy it more. They don’t typically partake in activities that don’t require the use of said technology as much. There are plenty of things for them to do on the internet.
This is why the generation spends such a considerable amount of time playing around on the internet. According to accumulated statistics, 45% of millennials stated that they spend over an hour every single day browsing the internet.
This time doesn’t just involve entertainment either. They spend a considerable amount of time looking at retail-oriented website. This is certainly great news for online retailers looking to attract them to their websites.
Technology has certainly changed the landscape of how many companies do business. Thanks to the power of the internet, companies can easily expand their reach even well beyond their country’s borders.
It is important that retailers pay attention to the needs and desires of the millennial generation thanks to the fact that they spend so much time and money on the internet. Designing a mobile-ready website with real-time product availability and plenty of social proof will go a long way towards attracting a new generation of customers.
To see some interesting statistics pertaining to online shopping habits of millennials, see the below infographic prepared by eReviews.
