It's about all of five minutes since I last wrote about marketing to Millennial shoppers, but yet another report has come out on the subject, and I just can’t stop myself.  

 

This one is from Adroit Digital (“the industry’s leading shopper-powered performance marketing technology company”) and looks at the issue of whether Millennials really shop differently online from Gen X and Boomers.

 

Surveys of Millennial shopping habits – and attitudes toward Millennial shoppers themselves – seem to fall into two camps: Millennials are a different and more desirable breed than any other generation and should be courted and treated as special. The other side is to more or less shrug the shoulders and admit that Millennials are pretty much the same as every other shopper.

 

This report falls on the side of the latter category, asserting that Millennial’s online shopping habits and responses to digital advertising are similar to those of other generations.

 

The biggest takeaway from the survey is that advertisers and agencies need to stop thinking of Millennials as a separate and protected category. “They will need to reach beyond stereotypes to explore the nuances of the Millennial generation, particularly as more of them enter the workforce and buying power increases, to see if they actually warrant completely disparate marketing strategies compared with other generations of shoppers,” the survey asserts.

 

“The key will be to stay nimble to account for both the similarities and differences between Millennials and other generations of shoppers.”

 

It also points out the folly of treating Millennials – or indeed any generation of shoppers as a unified front, instead, it says logically, “marketers might have better success if they tune in to differences within the generations, such as gender and other demographics.

 

So, what were some of the results of this, admittedly limited, survey? One key takeaway was that both Millennials and those 35 and older do the majority of their browsing in-store – 57 percent and 61 percent, respectively.

 

If you are looking to start a social media campaign, one stat worth taking into account is that women – no matter of which generation – are more likely to say that they are not influenced by social media. Twenty-one percent of women aged 18-34 said they were immune to the pull of social media, with just 11 percent of men saying they were able to resist. For those 35+, this number increased to 37 percent for women, with just a percentage increase to 12 percent for men.

 

Jewelers take note – the survey found that shoppers, no matter their age (and despite their claims at not being easily influenced) are likely to change their plans to visit a particular retailer if they are away from home and receive an ad on their mobile device for a local deal or discount in the area – 73 percent for the younger generation and 71 percent for their older compatriots.

 

Jewelers should also consider how their retail site is set up. The majority of both Millennials and those 35+ agree that one-click purchasing makes a difference in their likelihood to buy something: 68 percent and 69 percent, respectively. Given this information, the survey concludes, retail merchants should more heavily promote this functionality (and as someone who is easily tempted by Amazon’s 1-Click function, I concur!).

 

The full report is available here.

 

Have a fabulous weekend.