Millennials: it’s certainly one of the buzziest of the recent buzz words to infiltrate the business world’s discourse. While the term is certainly overused (which is sort of how it goes with buzz words), and somewhat nebulously defined and/or understood, millennialism, whatever this may be, is certainly one of the most crucial subjects a business such as a real estate firm must consider when planning where to invest or develop. For the sake of this article, let’s refer to millennials as the generation born after Generation X (the standard definition), the members of this cohort ranging in age from 18-34.
Why is everyone making such a big to-do over millennials? Because, despite the generation’s crushing collective student debt and low-paying barista jobs, members of this group are becoming the most economically crucial age range as previous generations, particularly the baby boomers, retire and become less active consumers (no longer buying houses, new cars, etc.). The business world isn’t so much interested in millennials as it is interested in millennials’ money (or, let’s face it, their bitcoins and virtual wallets). In real estate, one of the sectors that discusses millennials the most is the retail real estate field.
Retailers’ survival, it seems, depends on their ability to lure millennials into their stores. Retail landlords and investors, in turn, must understand the needs and wants and various habits of the millennial generation in order to support their tenants–and, perhaps more importantly, curate a tenant mix that is attractive to this generation.
Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates recently released a very illuminating study on millennials, their workplace preferences, and their retail needs. More importantly, the study weighs millennials’ attitudes against those of generation X and the baby boomer generation to see how these three generations are similar and different. You can read some of the findings at CBC’s site, which includes a fancy infographic (millennials love infographics, apparently).
Some of the sentiments expressed through this study may be surprising for some. Discussing this study, GlobeSt. reports,
The most technology-savvy generation in the workforce, Millennials nonetheless are not quite as wedded to living their lives online as conventional wisdom might suggest. Even as e-commerce becomes increasingly formidable, the majority of Millennials would rather shop at a store.
The article goes on to report this bit of news: whether members of the Millennial generation or baby boomers, retail customers prefer to buy merchandise in a traditional, brick-and-mortar store if the prices of traditional versus online are comparable. They may research the product online, but if it’s cheaper to buy in-store, that’s what they’ll do. People are motivated by price more than digital convenience, it seems. On a related note, both millennial and baby boomer shoppers like to inspect a product in a store before buying it online (for less money), in many cases.
The study reinforces a number of notions about millennial shoppers, such as their attraction to experiential retail spots like the Apple Store and Williams-Sonoma, says GlobeSt. Likewise, so-called omnichannel retail structures (there’s another popular buzz word for you), which combine traditional retail with online shopping, in one way or another, seems to be crucial for many successful retailers.
Many people have pointed out that it’s rather unhelpful to isolate a group of people within a particular age range–as many people do when they speak of millennials–since there will naturally be a great deal of variation within this broad segment of the population. Some analysts and commentators and business people believe it’s more useful to talk about millennials as a “psycographic” rather than demographic cohort–a group united by similar habits and interests rather than simple age. In this way, we can say that a person in his 80s might be considered a millennial if he shops online, is cost conscious, environmentally conscious, and possesses many of those other millennial traits.
What’s better than attracting young people to your store? Attracting their parents, too
