The Millennials Are Coming!

Retailer marketing today is all agog with the millennial generation; myriad articles and studies are being published with details on how to market to this oh-so valuable generational cohort. Projected to be larger than the “declining” boomers generation, the retail world is licking its collective chops as it lies in wait for the new targets to become productive and paying members of society. Seriously?

Obviously, that previous paragraph was written with the sarcasm needle hovering near the red zone. Yes, it’s true that the millennial generation will be larger than the boomers, as well as Gen X. It’s also a generation that grew up being digitally connected, so there’s an expectation that connectivity will be a big part of their daily lives, including shopping.

Here is the problem: trying to classify 78 million consumers as being predominantly anything is an exercise in futility. The one thing the baby boomer generation is famous for is breaking the mold, i.e., not accepting the status quo in anything they did. That was the result of a time and place that connected them, and it’s not likely to happen again, at least not soon.

The millennial generation shares one trait: they are relatively young, currently in their late teens to early 30s. Some are raising families; some still live with their parents. Many are struggling with high educational debt, with no jobs to show for it. These are all things that come with being that age. What they are not is a homogenous group in the way the boomers were (or at least have been depicted over the years).

Grouping an entire generation—as we have with boomers—and expecting it to behave in a singular fashion is foolhardy at best. It discounts much more impactful differences like gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, education, and so on. It frankly demeans the market by taking away a big part of what really makes it special—the simple fact of its diversity across all fronts.

For those of us who came of age in the boomer world, and who are members of that demographic, it’s natural to want to label each new batch of kids with similar traits and desires. But the simple fact is there will never be another generation like the boomers. In fact, the whole idea of generational identification and marketing is just “so 1960s.” We’re trying to force-fit a massive group into a neat little marketing package.

Beyond the fact that this isn’t possible, it’s also unproductive and unnecessary. Generational marketing made sense in a time of three channels and Must See TV. Today it’s all about targeting at the individual level, with customization and offers designed for specific people based on specific behaviors at specific times.

Data capture and analytics allow for much deeper insights into shopping behaviors, motivations and lifestyles. There is no reason to think about how to market to millennials, or any other group, including boomers, based on generational grouping. The new world is data-driven and anything but one-size-fits-all.

Yes, the millennials are coming. More correctly, they are already here. But they are 78 million individuals with virtually limitless differences that defy simple classification. We need to stop thinking about them as a group, and start addressing their needs as diverse and unpredictable consumers who will spend the next 40 years confounding our analyses. It’s humans nature.

The Millennials Are Coming!