Millennials have been credited with upending entire industries, and retail is no exception. Here's what retailers need to know about attracting and retaining consumers from a maturing generation of digital shoppers.
No. 1: Retailers Must Be Digital and Corporeal
The concept of omnichannel is simple—be where your customers are, whether that's online or at a brick-and-mortar location. But bridging the gap between digital and physical is easier said than done. Retailers that figure it out will be rewarded, however. A September 2018 poll conducted by Roth Capital Partners found that nearly two-thirds of US millennials used some mix of digital and in-store to research and then make a purchase. Similarly, research from Alliance Data revealed that more than half of millennials surveyed also used a mix of online and in-store channels to shop for products across a wide variety of categories, including clothing, beauty items and even furniture.