A new generation of digital natives = Both opportunities and challenges
Meeting Nisha – An opportunity to rediscover college freshmen
It was by sheer coincidence that I had an opportunity to meet Nisha and her family this past week. I had recently completed a series of IMS Retail University workshops in Delhi, India. At the conclusion of the workshop, one of the participants excitedly announced that he had a niece that was coming all the way to Nebraska to enroll in the University. It is not uncommon to have international students enroll at the University of Nebraska, but it was extraordinary to meet the extended family in India before her arrival.
Being a former university professor, I jumped at the chance to meet Nisha and her family when she arrived. My daughters have long since graduated from college, and two are now or will be mothers. Suffice it to say, I've not been around undergraduate classrooms in the digital age. It should not have been a surprise, but Nisha and her Indian family arrived "fully loaded" with digital gadgets. They immediately plugged into digital college schedules, email, etc. Also not surprising, they could share all of this immediately with family and friends back in India on a "real time" basis. Who knows how long it would have taken me to send a print photo of my undergrad classes to India when I was teaching?
The college freshman today has not known a world without the internet
Nisha got me thinking and exploring the world of today's college freshman. They have never known a world without the internet. They grew up on Google and Wikipedia. For the most part they don't read newspapers, at least in print. They don't own music CDs … they grew up in the age of MP3 players. In short, today's college students and recent grads are absolute "digital natives". They've always had access to instant information and communication. They expect it, and are never more than an arm's length away from their digital portal.
Today's college students are much more likely to carry tablets than notebook computers. More importantly, they absolutely live with their smartphone as their anytime, everywhere portal. Some research indicates that college students spend 22 hours a day with their smartphones. To put that in perspective, my millennial daughters barely had a cell phone as college undergrads. A recent poll indicates that iPhone users, regardless of age, would give up a lot before they would give up their smartphone!
Meet Jeff Fromm, Co-author of the book: Marketing to Millennials
While speaking at the recent RCE Executive Summit, I had a chance to meet Jeff Fromm from Barkley in Kansas City. In short, Marketing to Millennials is an eye-opening book, and should be a required read for all retailers. While much has been written about the baby boomers and their current spending power, it is the millennials that will fuel the future growth of retail. In the words of Fromm:
The numbers cannot be ignored: eighty million Millennials wielding $200 billion in buying power are entering their peak earning and spending years. Companies that think winning their business is a simple matter of creating a Twitter account and applying outdated notions of "cool" to their advertising are due for a rude awakening.
Much of retail today, in fact most of the current store design is based on marketing to Generation Xers. Simply put, my generation did not grow up with the internet. Product information was primarily obtained from catalogs, brochures and ads. People went to stores because that was both the showroom and primary point of purchase.
Millennials are digital natives that expect to be part of the process
I won't try to summarize all of the key differences of millennials here. I would refer you to Fromm's book. Suffice it to say that young people falling to the millennial category (ages 19-34) think digital first. Digital has literally transformed their lifestyles … and their values. To quote Mike Swenson, another millennial expert from Barkley, millennials have unique perspectives, which drive different behaviors.
"While Boomers and Gen-X'ers took their causes and protests to the street, we see Millennials trying to make a difference in their own way. Millennials are finding ways to do good in their everyday lives by taking advantage of brands that align with their values."
What does all this mean for retailers? Gen Xers tend to be consumers who search for products that offer them value. Millennials are far more active and engaged. By virtue of being digital natives, millennials want to be part of the process including:
-
Millennials want to co-create the products and services that you sell.
-
Millennials want to co-create the customer journey or the customer experience.
-
Millennials want to co-create the marketing – which goes beyond social media.
Twerking & Snapchat à Signs of the times … and digital slavery?
Ok, has anybody out there not heard about "twerking"? Even I, the Gen Xer, have repeatedly run across this phenomena. I'm so old that I remember that Elvis Presley's swiveling hips were not shown for fear of scandal on the Ed Sullivan show (most popular black and white TV show at the time). Every generation has its youth pushing the limits: Elvis, the twist, twerking. If any of you Xers missed twerking, or if any of you millennials missed Elvis and the twist, I refer you to your search engine of choice, or the millions of pages of Wikipedia.
What is different today is the instant ways on communication from many, almost unlimited channels of media. Twerking reportedly has 10 to 20 times more "hits" and twitter trends than any of the major critical international news topics on the current crises. You would be very hard pressed to speak to any millennials today and not find them able to pull up numerous sources, as well as their favorite YouTube videos on the subject.
Today's always on generation has grown up with instant access, they don't wait for an Ed Sullivan or even music awards show. In fact, Facebook is now too slow for many millennials. They are turning to Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat for instant and visual communication. Parents, if you do not know what these are, you need to investigate what your children have on their phones … now!
Do digital natives have the advantage, or pay the price as digital slaves?
There is no question that my millennials run circles around me in terms of instant communication. Instant digital access has created the opportunity for transparency, and proactive engagement.
But, the "always on" group also pays the price of the "digital twitch". When that buzz, beep or chrip on their smartphone goes off, they simply cannot bear not to look at their smartphone to see the latest. In is not just the millennials. I see "digital slavery" in most all of my business meetings and workshops. Even if their phones are on silent, people can't help but glance at that small screen repeatedly.
So this week's mashup brought me to the question: Do I need to become more digitally connected like a millennial, or am I becoming a digital slave?
I encourage you to take two minutes to view this YouTube before you decide. Apparently 20 million+ viewers found the question of "digital balance" in their lives an intriguing dilemma.
To receive more information and sound bites from IMS follow IMS Results Count on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.
Sources:
- TechBeats.com: How to Stop Being A Digital Slave… Tips To Take a Break From Your Internet Addiction, Abdullah Akbar; July 4, 2013
- RetailCustomerExperience: Idea brands will win big with Millennials, Here's how to attract them, Jeff Fromm; September 5, 2013
- Morning News Beat: Lost & Found, Kevin Coupe; September 6, 2013
- Digital Slave Image: Ambro; Freedigitalphotos.net
- College Student Image: Scott Chan; Freedigitalphotos.net
Certainly a thought-provoking topic and video...and, maybe a little scary. Thanks for mash!
Posted by: Jacqueline | September 28, 2013 at 09:45 AM