Hot Topic: The Rise of the Milliennials
by Christina Lee on December 17th, 2008
While the New Year may usually bring a new start, businesses may find last year’s efforts trailing close behind – at least, those working to close generation gaps in their customer service and marketing efforts.
Born between the mid-1970s and 2000, the millennials have grown up surrounded by many forms of technology and media. A year ago, they were simply labeled as anti-corporate menaces, as they prioritized their own needs and self-worth above the workplace. But now, marketers had no choice but to acknowledge them as the next breed of consumers, as they take note of every behaviorism.
And while businesses know better than to ignore the millennials, they have yet to provide a full-fledged sales effort. Of the 164 business executives that The Economist polled in September, 54 percent said they did not have a plan to target, attract, or retain millienials as customers.
Such businesses may want to devise new plans that consider a few key characteristics of the milliennials:
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They possess a great amount of spending power. About 80 million millennials born between 1982 and 2001 reside in the United States alone, outnumbering baby boomers, according to The Economist. Between them all, they possess billions of dollars in income.
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They crave a community-based experience. More than two-thirds of the executives surveyed by The Economist found that millenials purchase based on peer recommendations and customer reviews. These executives also observed that milliennials appreciate companies that use their Twitters as an open forum, not just for sheer promotion.
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They don’t just want instant gratification – they expect it. O’Neal Smitherman, Ball State University’s vice president for information technology, explained this to USA Today: “In the world today, we have the potential to know and to be able to access any kind of information that has ever existed. While you may not want to have all that information every minute, you do want to be able to access it whenever you need. If you happen to be riding on the campus shuttle bus, you can’t afford to be out of touch.”