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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMillennials Are Becoming A Huge Problem For Retailers
Millennials are the next generation of consumers.
But the young generation's shopping habits could present some huge issues for retailers, industry expert Robin Lewis writes on his blog.
"Every store in the world is literally in millennials pockets; they can hang out with their friends, sip lattes and shop onlineall at the same time," Lewis writes.
As a result of the massive selection, many millennials are indecisive about purchases.
About 50% of millennials browse and research items they never intend on buying, Lewis writes, citing a study by The Intelligence Group.
The generation is also driving a decline in mall traffic.
"Why spend all the time and effort traveling to, and traipsing through, big, old, largely boring malls with a limited number of cool stores that dont offer any great experience in the first place?" Lewis asks.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-are-a-huge-problem-for-retailers-2014-4
Iris
(15,657 posts)They are like ghost towns and feel almost pre-historic
Rhiannon12866
(205,416 posts)I was totally astonished, only two food vendors left there, remember the days when it used to be packed with people. Where do those who work at the mall even eat?
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Annapolis Mall and Arundel Mills Mall are crowded beyond belief. Good luck getting a parking space after 1000 on a Saturday morning.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)Yours is not representative of the country.
Blue_Adept
(6,399 posts)And the majority of what's in each one are clothing stores. Which yes, do appeal to a number of people, but that can go only so far.
I only end up at the local mall if I need to go to the bank and speak with a person instead of an ATM. There's nothing in the mall that appeals to me to go and see. It's all clothing and some food stuffs and jewelry. It's hugely limiting in what can go there since the rents and costs of operating in a mall are so high that you can't get good niche stores or local places going in there. It's all chain stores that you can get in any mall across the country.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Furniture, drapes, rugs, and a variety of household furnishings. But all either at non-mall stores or on line. Some of the stuff was from big-box stores at strip malls, but these are not what most mean by malls.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)at the degree to which my behavior parallels that of the millenials.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)Haven't been to a mall in a long time...
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Hardly buy anything except maybe toothpaste without reading online reviews. Have an unbecoming lust for technotoys (iPhone, iPad Mini, Macbook Air, etc.) .
Lugnut
(9,791 posts)I'd much rather window shop online and order if I need something. I probably help to keep the USPS and UPS solvent.
IronLionZion
(45,447 posts)are actually being purchased more often by senior citizens. This has been the case with many small cars and SUVs, as well other stuff that is designed to be "cool" and "functional" and "affordable. There are more similarities than either group is willing to admit.
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)Spirochete
(5,264 posts)and I'm 60. Good grief!
Rex
(65,616 posts)That was in the 80s and 90s.
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)Stores (when I was young) were run by and staffed by OLD people who looked down their noses at young people...and the merchandise was skewed to older folks.
When discount stores & malls started out, they provided places for young people to work and shop..
That era is over now..
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)DebJ
(7,699 posts)wickerwoman
(5,662 posts)I shop online because I generally can't afford to impulse buy, replace a shoddy product or pay more than the absolute minimum.
I use online reviews to find the highest quality product I can afford and then generally order in through a price comparison website.
Plus fifty years ago when you went into a brick-and-mortar store the staff knew the products in and out and could make recommendations. Now they just hire high-school and college kids, pay them minimum wage, teach them pressure-sales tactics instead of what the products actually do and then fire them before they have enough experience to justify a higher wage.
sendero
(28,552 posts).... because that is the real problem.
hatrack
(59,587 posts)Nail, head, meet.
Javaman
(62,530 posts)IDemo
(16,926 posts)I've been there maybe 3 times in the past 10 years, and I'm pushing 60.
Response to FarCenter (Original post)
Mosby This message was self-deleted by its author.
arikara
(5,562 posts)same old boring stores with the same old cheap made in China stuff. And I'm sick of stuff.
DebJ
(7,699 posts)stuff as possible. Maybe because our parents have either passed on or moved to smaller housing and
we've all had our fill of cleaning up 'stuff' from that experience.
arikara
(5,562 posts)We bought some really good stuff at garage sales thinking we'd be able to resell it and make a bit towards our retirement. But nobody wants it anymore, not even good stuff. I've been decorating the garden with some of it.
DebJ
(7,699 posts)arikara
(5,562 posts)we have a similar locally based one that we have decent luck with. I haven't done it in awhile but we are going to make an effort to do some clearing out very soon.
catchnrelease
(1,945 posts)In the past year I've helped my mom go through all of her 'stuff' before she sells her home and moves in with my brother. While she was/is not a pack rat or hoarder, she seems to have kept every piece of paper that she felt might be important. Like the receipt from the hospital when I was born....I am almost 64!!!! And before that I helped go through all of my best friends' belongings after she passed away unexpectedly and she WAS a pack rat. It took months.
So this year I'm jettisoning as much of my crap as I can, both so that I don't have so much sitting around and so my daughter doesn't have to do it later. I'm cured of collecting I think!
DebJ
(7,699 posts)over the past month. But more than half of it is for a sister, my son, my daughter, my other sister,
my grand daughter and grandson, and some to be mailed to Mom and Dad at their new location
at my sister's house.
Can't wait until it gets out of there! My Dad WAS a hoarder, a 30x30 foot by 1.5 story garage and
a standing height crawl space under the entire length of a 3 bedroom home and a small office
full of stuff... junk mail from 20000 .... Before him, I cleaned up after my grandma when grandpa
died and she had to move ... she had every TV guide ever printed up to 1973, and empty bottles of
all kinds of stuff, empty cans, you name it. Took months of weekends to dispose of it.
Not fun.
After I recover, and catch up on all my regular house stuff that went to heck the past month while
driving 8 hours round trip out of state for a month every weekend to clear my Dad's stuff (like filing
my taxes), I'm spending the summer tossing much of what little I have myself. Shouldn't take more than
two days.
catchnrelease
(1,945 posts)I also had boxes of things sitting in my living room, garage and store room that were to be taken to the assistance league thrift store, veterans, blankets/towels for the animal shelter, waiting to be picked up by my daughter and on and on. I am looking forward to it all to be gone and what's mine to be culled and organized.
One thing that is both frustrating and funny is both my Mom and my late friend's Mom both thought so many of the things they had were valuable because they were old. These items MUST be worth money because they have been sitting around for 40 years. There were some cool things but worth like $20 bucks on ebay if that.
Or not even old--my Mom was sure her box full of bowling and golf trophies must be worth money from the recycling place because they had plastic, brass plaques (which were aluminum and worth nothing as scrap) etc. To make her happy I hauled it all to the place where it would have been worth less than $3.00 and I would have had to go back the next day to get that. (Don't ask me why they had that rule, I didn't get it.) Mom was disappointed that I didn't come back with some good $$$ for all that junk!
flygal
(3,231 posts)I'm slightly obsessed with it as I'm going through it with my folks. I love a lot of their stuff but we are minimalists. We move a lot and I love having a light load.
here's an article from a couple years ago that explains it very well. This should really be a thread in it's own.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-25/business/ct-met-stuffkeepers-20121125_1_boomers-heirlooms-generation
Cindi Copeland can't bear the thought of parting with the cedar hope chest her grandmother received as an engagement gift in the 1930s. She even held on to the $100 moth insurance certificate, which expired more than 75 years ago.
She cherishes the Blue Garland china her mother acquired with grocery stamps, though it has never made its way from the china cabinet to the dining room table. And she's just as fond of the nearly 1,000 slides from her grandfather's vacation in Europe a half-century ago.
IronLionZion
(45,447 posts)When friends ask me if I want to go to the mall, I tell them why would I want to spend my hard earned money on more stuff that I don't need? I have more than enough stuff.
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)Researching that item they never intend to buy is the new "Looking through the window at stuff you know you'll never be able to afford".
You can't buy shit with money you don't have. Fix the job market and we'll start buying.
a kennedy
(29,669 posts)We live from retirement check to retirement check, and EVERYTHING is going up, LP gas, petrol gas, electricity, cable, and our small retirement check stays the same. We just don't have any extra money. We used to eat out at least twice a week a few years ago, now we're lucky if we eat out once every other week. Just don't have the money.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I order stuff online and usually it comes within two days (one of the recent exceptions was a textbook that is imported that I have to wait a week for). The other major place I buy stuff is Costco.
greymattermom
(5,754 posts)My millennial daughters both shop at the Goodwill. In some upscale regions of town, like Buckhead in the Atlanta area, they have very high end clothing for $5 apiece, barely worn. If you're working part time without benefits, this is your store. They show off their new outfits at work and brag about thrift store shopping. And, they look fantastic.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)are over.
The retail businesses of the 1970s were built on disposable (intentionally ugly) fashion and disposable goods. As many upthread have cited, incomes are way down relative to prices and the internet has opened up peer-reviews of every product category.
The linked article also mentions that Millenials are more socially and environmentally conscious and more likely to avoid brands and good which don't match up with their values. Again, people of all ages are doing this more but it is most noticeable with Millennials. Chipotle plays to this very directly in their ads like this one:
For better or worse, the standard of living in the USA peaked in 1968. We are 46 years post-peak and now more spiritually focused; less "worldly goods" focused. So yes, people want a "memorable experience" and more retailers should figure out how to deliver it.
chrisa
(4,524 posts)Most of the stuff in them is marked up, and you can get it cheaper online. It's more 'something to do.'