Are retailers guilty of ‘millennial fixation fatigue’?
Inside Retail’s Millennial Masterclass drew a full house on Friday, with more than 150 delegates attending – but one speaker warned the audience not to ignore the next generation to follow.
Philip Wiggenraad, head of research at Tofugear, (pictured below) introduced Hong Kong to the concept of what he calls “millennial fixation fatigue” in his closing address.
“In all seriousness, if ‘millennial’ is just code for young people, surely we need to be looking at GenZ as well? This group is stronger in numbers and will shape retail over the next decade. And their habits will filter down to older demographics as well.”
Other speakers at the Millennial Masterclass, included Ashley Galina, founder of social media agency Alarice and resources and training company ChoZan, who explained how millennials engage with brands through social media and who they listen to; millennial coach Fyiona Yong, (pictured below) on how the millennial employee experience impacts on customers along with perceptions and misconceptions about the group; and Pieter Paul Wittgen, former COO and co-founder of Grana and now CEO and co-founder of Olasso, who talked about how retailers can deliver exceptional customer engagement to the demographic, both online and offline.
A live, unscripted forum of millennials, moderated by Tofugear’s Tiffany Lung, provided some surprising – and not so surprising – revelations for retailers, among them:
- Instagram is now a preferred social media medium over Facebook.
- Millennials don’t want to use iPads in stores – they already have their own devices.
- Free in-store wi-fi is an expectation of customers, not an option for retailers to offer.
- Most millennials will share varying amounts of personal information with retailers to access discounts, special events, or even get wifi access.
- Few said they were prepared to review products or brands – even though they admit to reading reviews themselves.
Technology on display
As well as the presentations, live displays were conducted by the event’s gold sponsor Tofugear and bronze sponsor Lenovo.
Tofugear’s connected retail solutions demonstration included a smart mirror and a make-up counter, while Lenovo invited delegates to try out Solo, the world-first standalone Daydream VR headset.
John Chan, BDM at silver sponsor Axis Communications, spoke on the importance of music to entice millennials to linger in store longer and potentially spend more.
Strategic partner KPMG hosted the event and Anson Bailey, head of consumer & retail, Asia Pacific, delivered the opening presentation providing a demographic overview of millennials and explaining research about their consumer behaviour.
Fellow strategic HKTDC worked with Inside Retail to promote the event.
- Inside Retail Hong Kong will provide further coverage of selected presentations in the next edition of our quarterly magazine, due out in early June. To subscribe to the print or digital editions, visit our online store.
