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Retailing_Comes_of_Age
| Retailing Comes of Age
Have you been to buy any dog food lately? Do you remember the
days when you just picked it up in the supermarket and kept
walking?
Walk into any pet “box store” today and it’s a whole new
experience. Prior to purchasing today’s canine’s lunch, you need
to know the age and size of your dog. If you don’t know these
two critical facts, the shopping experience could be a very
frustrating one. In a store I recently visited in the UK, the
actual merchandising was based on the age of the dog.
Generational marketing has hit the pet store.
Generational Marketing! Generational marketing is big business,
the days of targeting lifestyle groups is being replaced by
setting your store up to market to a specific age group. Toy
retailers and some bookstores have been into generational
marketing for many years, as has the fashion industry, but this
concept of marketing is now spreading across all retail sectors.
So how do you split up your merchandising to attract specific
age groups? Firstly, what groups are out there that you need to
be aware of?
Generational Marketing- The Main Groups Researchers are now
splitting the community into very specific age groups for
marketing purposes.
Generation Y This group are today’s teenagers and those in their
very early twenties. They are very specific in their purchasing
decisions and need to perceive a retail business and its product
range as “cool.” It is difficult to integrate the desires of
this group into most retail stores and as a result, in many
retail sectors, companies have set up specific stores just to
attract this target group.
Music, mood, colour and style are all very specific to this
group to ensure they have the right retail experience.
Generation X, the IKEA Babies This mid twenties to mid thirties
age group is a big “power house” when it comes to buying. IKEA,
the Swedish furniture lifestyle company built a global business
targeting this group and as a result, their founder is now the
richest man in the world.
IKEA babies are happy to spend for value. Their idea of value is
that it is a lifestyle statement that literally comes in a box.
They can take it home and create an instant statement. They are
looking for lifestyle fashion statements and expect the retailer
they frequent to be in tune with the latest fashion colours,
styles and trends.
This computer literate group expects quality customer service.
Talk down to them and you’ll probably lose them for life.
The Jones Generation This 35 to 49 year old age group is a busy
lot, they want an experience when they go shopping, but are time
poor and if you waste their time you’ll be crossed off their
visit list.
They are experimenters; they are shopping for new and exciting
ideas and quickly get bored with retailers who, in their view,
are not keeping them entertained with new ideas and new ways of
putting old products together.
Present the right products to them and they are prepared to Do
It themselves (D.I.Y) A recent survey in the UK in the home
improvement sector indicated they are still prepared to spend
large amounts of money on the D.I.Y sector.
The Baby Boomers They are in their fifties. They still have a
major impact on retailing as indicated by the large amount of
Ray Charles’ music being purchased on his untimely death.
This sector has money, but no time. They are in the D.I.M (Do It
for Me) sector and have driven new business sectors in landscape
design, rent a “hubby” and chefs preparing meals in their homes.
They have driven the organic food movement and the “slow”
movement.
They are prepared to pay for someone to remove stress, yet also
still want to be involved and are prepared to pay to indulge in
the fun part of the task and to purchase the fashion statements.
Greying Tigers This final group are the over 60’s. Researchers,
a few years ago suggested that this group would be an affluent,
stay at home sector and as a result gardening and entertainment
would boom,
The home improvement industries have reaped the rewards of this
growing group but not to the extent they thought.
This group of greying tigers is not staying at home. The cruise
industry, golf courses, theatre, restaurants and general travel
industry have all grown rapidly by targeting this adventurous
group.
They are the most price sensitive and nostalgic sector of the
population, but give them a comfortable experience and they will
be loyal.
Your Challenge The real challenge with generational marketing is
that you need to create excitement and sanctuary for all these
groups, often in the same building. It’s not easy, especially
when you try and mix Greying Tigers with the IKEA babies, but
get it right and business should blossom.
Ten Generational Marketing Retail Tips
1.Change the music style during the day to attract different age
groups into your store at specific times of the day. 2.Have
Generation X style workshops on a specific day of the week to
attract that age group. 3.Have a “discount” day for Greying
Tigers on one day a week. You may want to promote this via old
peoples’ homes. 4.Use colour theming throughout the store to
distinguish different zones by the use of colour. 5.Provide
children’s activity days on a specific day of the week to
attract the Jones Generation. 6.Display products in different
combinations to attract different age groups eg: D.I.Y Package
D.I.M Package D.I.W Packages (Do It With Me) 7.Promote services
from your store to attract Baby Boomers. This may be a window
cleaning service in a curtain category or a landscape design
service in a garden centre. 8.Read the magazines that are
targeted to the different age groups, so you’re aware of what
they are being exposed to. 9.Make sure printed signs are in
bigger print when targeting Greying Tigers. 10.Keep changing;
your consumers are.
About the author:
John Stanley is a conference speaker and retail consultant with
over 20 years experience in 15 countries. John works with
retailers around the world assisting them with their
merchandising, staff and management training, customer flow,
customer service and image. If you would like to receive John’s
monthly newsletter please visit www.johnstanley.cc or email us
on newsletter@johnstanley.cc.
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