The Age of the Customer Matters

How do you manage customers of various age groups? Customer experience solutions expert, Qminder, has a little insight to share…

Millennials are the talk of the year with more brands opening up new specialized concept stores to satisfy this market niche. Its not really news that the 19 to 29 year olds differ from their older counterparts but what does it really mean for physical retail stores?

25-year-old prefers personal touch, 35-year-old convenience

The 25 year old millennials look to technology to collect information online but hopes for personal touch in making the actual sale in comparison to the 35 year old that prefers online shopping more if possible.

“Gen-X and Boomer shoppers may buy online more, but Young People (a.k.a Millenials) actually use interactive technologies more for utilitarian/information gathering purposes and entertainment” - Wayfind.

Retailers need to ask themselves how to satisfy shoppers emotional experience both offline and online. This has created an interesting mixture of apparel, food and other retail brands opening flagship stores that compete with activities specifically catered for leisure times.

Online benefits demanded from offline shopping

Online shopping has set standards that have, for better or worse, spoiled the consumer to take for granted seamless service and fast delivery without needing to pay extra price for it. Bridging the gap between comfy and fast online purchasing with the real world’s ruggedness (in the real world we are humans after all) is a challenge to be overcome in the upcoming years.

Physical locations aren’t anymore about “brick” and “mortar” but also about the technology seamlessly integrated into consumption. Stores themselves need to continue the communication that has been happening online when consumer steps into the store.

Qminder helps physical locations make consumer experience more personal and gives customer insight through a simple cloud based queue management system.