Tips For Retailers On Digitally Connecting With Millennials

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Approximately 80 million Americans fall into the Millennial demographic. In the U.S., they annually spend around $600 billion. Studies project that Millennials will account for 1/3 of retail spending by 2020, The first generation to be completely digitally based, they are easily becoming the most powerful demographic due to their influence on trend setting.

Above all else, Millennials are concerned with the appearance of living life to the fullest. For them, constant connection to social media means constant judgment. Social media is less about keeping in touch with friends and more about documenting noteworthy experiences through text and pictures. They feel pressured to invest unceasing time and energy into their Internet Egos. In posting selfies, statuses, and viral content they seek approval and admiration. They will often mimic the most ‘liked’ users in their network to achieve it.

Sixty-three percent of Millennials rely on social media to keep informed on their favorite brands, meaning that retailers do not need to pour large amounts of money into advertising.   An eye-catching Instagram can hit a thousand "likes" in minutes. Facebook pages let users post comments to their walls and pictures.

Millennials value flexibility, intelligence, and acceptance and are experts at adapting to face drastic change.  For them, boredom is punishment, and the demand for more is not on the basis for attraction, but also essential to keeping their focus.  With attention spans that are conditioned to last for mere seconds, millennials rely on relentless stimulation.

Millennials are 2.5 times more likely to embrace technology earlier than older generations, switch their attention 27 times per hour to various media platforms, and are 77 percent more likely to be influenced by in-store kiosks when making brand decisions. 

Leading retailers must tap into this need.  According to “Like, Friend, Tweet: Top Retailers Digitally Connect with Millennials”, many have turned to digital signage companies to remedy the lack of interest in static marketing among millennials.  By adopting digital signage, retailers can run multiple, ever-changing campaigns featuring video, music, and user interaction.  Consumer trends show that these digital signs can boost audience retention rates as high as 200%. 

The study presents five ways to use digital signage in retail.  They are:

• Promotion alerts:  Customers can be immediately alerted to specials upon entering the store, and promotions can be instantaneously changed.
• Social media: Retailers use automatic integrations on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to showcase their latest social updates on their screens, interact with customers, and gain followers.  The hashtag helps incorporate customer-made-content into digital signage campaigns. 
• Informative interaction: This allows customers to interface with catalogs to find products, testimonials, and endorsements, and previews.
• Suggestion Box:  Digital campaigns can link to online suggestion boxes, allowing surveys to be completed in-store, and the results can be directly integrated into store signage displaying customer satisfaction statistics.
• Way-finding: Directories are integrated with up-to-date information that allows customers to easily locate departments within the store.

Digital signage is no longer limited to slide shows and videos. Software allows users to implement interactive campaigns. Using touchscreen hardware, consumers can interface with social media sites while shopping. Companies can drive viral campaigns that allow shoppers to take selfies in the store, upload them to social media sites, and hashtag the name of the campaign.