Selling to Millennials – Is Gen Y Taking Over Black Friday Shopping?

The ‘New’ Black Friday is catching on with Millennials as reported by Marketing Daily. The majority of Millennials (18-24 according to MD) plan to purchase most of their gifts in stores as opposed to online. However, 58% of baby boomers are planning on using the Internet to get their holiday shopping done. So why the shift?

The shift of shoppers on black friday is due to the overwhelming amount of marketing that has been targeted at the Millennial generation, combined with the launch of devices tuned to the Gen Y crowd. According to Accenture; shopping on black friday is predominantly getting a younger crowd with close to 70% of shoppers below 45.

Speaking with a client this week (fortune 500 energy drink company), they are anticipating a 18% spike in sales the week before black friday and throughout the holiday season. With the majority of their customer base consisting of that 18-28 year old demographic, they are the wind sock for Millennial spending habits.

The Millennial generation is responsible for 600 Billion in spending each year in the United States. What are you doing to earn their dollar?

Here are 3 tips that you can use to drive Millennials into your store this holiday season:

1) Millennials like to browse – Don’t cluster everything together for convenient shopping during the holidays. Spread your deals throughout the store to encourage a spirit of browsing or as Millennials see it “treasure hunting”.

2) Center your promotions around unique items – Items that are hot on sites like etsy.com are a great way to bring unique items that are trending with the Gen Y Internet crowd.

3) Become very active on Instagram, Pinterest (where applicable) and Twitter – When black friday hits, everyone looks to the Internet to tell them where the hottest deals are and what the best present of the year will be. Tap into this online conversation using Social School to drive traffic to your website and in to your storefront.

As leaders, where do you anticipate the wind blowing? Do you think that there will be more of a push towards Internet shopping as the Millennial generation takes on more responsibility, or do you feel that the tangibility aspect that most of Gen Y feel is important take preference over the convenience of the Internet?