Six Generations at Retail

For the first time in history, there are six living generations in America. How you approach this challenge—or opportunity, depending on your outlook—could factor heavily in your brand’s success—because this simple new reality is a major marketing game-changer.

It all starts, of course, with knowing your generations—how they are similar and how they are different.

The GI Generation, the oldest generation (a.k.a. Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation”), was formed in the era of Henry Ford’s assembly-line revolution. They believe that you can buy anything you want as long as you follow the rules. And you shouldn’t be buying more than you need anyway.

The Silent Generation is sandwiched between the GIs and the Boomers—so how could they be anything but silent? They were taught the notion of delayed gratification and believe in layaway plans; they adhere to the retail strategy of living small in the present while planning to live large (or larger) in the future. Patience and acceptance are the defining traits of this group. They also follow the rules and are “textbook” consumers.

Baby Boomer retail strategies were formed in shopping malls, so for them, life and shopping are a smorgasbord of possibilities and entitlements. Boomers are impatient and don’t see the wisdom in waiting for—or putting off—anything. Acquisition is the prime imperative for Boomers, as “he who dies with the most toys wins.”

Generation X was the first generation to leverage control through technology. The VCR taught them that they could manage time and deploy it to their preferences and intentions. Gen-Xers value individual control more than any previous generation. As consumers, they focus on savoring the textures, nuances, and aromas of the products and services they purchase.

For Millennials, virtual reality and “real” reality are interchangeable and create a state of “virtuality.” They are devoted cyber consumers, but they prefer to complete their research by shopping in person—to touch and experience the merchandise—before making a purchase; if they don’t, then the likelihood of returns skyrockets. (Liberal return policies are an effective way to entice Millennials to shop at a particular online store.) Having come of age in a recessionary period, they are proving to be strategic shoppers, spending money on what matters most and making it up elsewhere; paying $700 for an iPad while sporting thrift shop couture is not uncommon for a Millennial.

America’s youngest generation, with more than $150 billion in spending power—even though none of them was over eight years of age in 2010—is known as the Homeland Generation. They are growing up in the age of touch-screen gadgets and technology. As a result, Homelands will expect to experience retail intimately, regardless of time and distance. More importantly, they will be empowered to create fusion experiences, where the options presented to them will be re-aligned, creating personalized mash-ups of shopping, products, and brands that even marketers, with all of their resources, talents, and skills, could not design for them.