NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Millennials make different considerations than their parents when deciding when, where and from whom to make retail purchases, according to research that will be released June 17 at the 4th annual Share.Like.Buy. Marketing + Millennials conference, presented by People StyleWatch.
“Because their lives have been shaped by 9/11, two wars and the Great Recession of 2008, Millennials are more pragmatic than their parents about retail purchases,” according to Jeff Fromm, Share.Like.Buy. founder and author of Marketing to Millennials. “They have the tools at their fingertips to find the best deal with ease, and they use them, whether shopping from home or in store.”
Millennials care what their social networks think about potential purchases – especially fashion purchases, Fromm notes. This led to the 2014 New York Share.Like.Buy. conference theme of youth, trends, retail and fashion.
The one-day conference will take place at the Time + Life building in New York City, home of Time Inc., one of the largest branded media companies in the world, and will feature exclusive research results from Time Inc.’s People StyleWatch on how millennial life stages deeply affect shopping habits for fashion and beauty. People StyleWatch will take a closer look at behavior variances among millennial moms as compared to young millennial women who aren’t moms, with specific findings regarding how these women leverage and combine online and offline shopping. People StyleWatch will also provide insights and recommendations on how brands can help her pull the trigger on purchases in both environments. Additional conference presentations will include Initiative’s global research on the “Re-set Generation,” and Piper Jaffray’s live teen panel on fashion and retail trends.
Fromm offered these five tips for marketing to Millennials:
1. Millennials are willing to share their information with retailers, which makes them great candidates for loyalty programs. But the loyalty programs must be simple, beneficial, and save them money.
2. Millennials like to know the story behind what they buy: where a product came from, how was it made, what makes it unique. Educate them.
3. Once you have gained their brand love, Millennials will be your biggest advocate. They will be an evangelist for you to their peers and other generations as well.
4. Millennials are always looking to save money. They earn less and they have families to feed. If you want them to trade up, you need to give them a compelling reason why.
5. Millennials don’t do all of their shopping online.
Share.Like.Buy. will present marketers from millennial brands including Columbia Records, Marmot, Sunglass Hut, Toyota and Urban Outfitters; leading millennial agencies such as MRY; authors for, and about, millennials; and best practices in cause marketing to millennials. Conference information and registration is at http://www.ShareLikeBuy.com.
People StyleWatch www.PeopleStyleWatch.com is dedicated to making fashion and beauty trends accessible, affordable and fun. First launched as a special newsstand extension of PEOPLE in 2002, People StyleWatch is published 11 times a year, with a guaranteed circulation of 825,000 and reaches 5.8 million readers each month.