<\/p>\n

I was moderating a fireside chat at the National Retail Federation conference with Liz Thompson from Southeastern Grocers recently. \u00a0We were chatting about her company\u2019s efforts to reengage employees as a means of furthering SEG\u2019s corporate transformation. Along the way, we briefly discussed how the use of bite-sized training exercises appealed to younger employees. It was at this point that I made the comment that contrary to popular thinking I believed Millennials don\u2019t suffer from shortened attention spans. \u00a0Rather, they simply have a much higher sensitivity to things that are boring.<\/span><\/p>\n

The quote was captured by my fellow analyst Andrew Busby and circulated on Twitter<\/a> and within a few minutes was already prompting responses ranging from those who concurred to those who expressed disgust at the mere notion that anyone in the retail industry should feel obligated to tailor the way we do business to such an \u201centitled\u201d and accommodated generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

It all got me thinking about the broader idea around Millennials and the current state of retail.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the most basic level one can\u2019t deny that Millennials are a post-internet generation that has inherited a retail landscape that was built in and for a pre-internet world. There are far too many stores in existence and the vast majority of them have absolutely no experiential value – they\u2019re merely well-lit warehouses. And yet we somehow expect the most visually stimulated, connected and socially integrated generation in the history of the planet to enjoy shopping in them? <\/span><\/p>\n

We roll our eyes when Millennials suggest that experiences mean more to them than products \u2013 as if to suggest one day they\u2019ll mature to appreciate banality of material possessions. \u00a0Yet, we seemingly forget that this is a generation that has literally documented every meaningful event in their lives online. Experiences are their outward expression to the world of who they are. Experiences are their social currency.<\/span><\/p>\n

For my generation, social currency was measured by the car you drove to school or the house you lived in. \u00a0For Millennials, social currency is comprised by where they are, who they\u2019re with and what they\u2019re doing. And yet we scoff when they say they\u2019d like stores that are Instagram-able and social in nature, when in truth it\u2019s what we all want and what the industry desperately needs \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re incredulous at their reticence to work in the retail industry, speculating that it must be for lack of work ethic. \u00a0We forget that when they look at this industry they see a ladder of mobility stripped of its rungs by technology \u2013 middle management barely exists today. \u00a0They see people their parents\u2019 age in C-level positions, refusing to retire until their 401K\u2019s recuperate from a financial meltdown that also happened to hobble Millennial incomes. \u00a0And until such time, these same executives refuse to take even the slimmest risk of disrupting the companies they run for fear of jeopardizing their payout. They see woefully underpaid front-line workers having to work two and three jobs just to survive. \u00a0Is it any wonder many beat a path to tech hubs for employment?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well Millennials, I\u2019m here to say formally that it\u2019s not your fault. \u00a0The broken-down retail industry we see in front of us is not your doing. \u00a0You didn\u2019t conceive it. You didn\u2019t build it. And you haven\u2019t caused its demise. <\/span><\/p>\n

But one thing is real and true. \u00a0We need you to fix it. We need the best and brightest of you to take a chance on this ailing industry and reimagine how great it <\/span>could<\/span><\/i> be. \u00a0We need your innate social proclivity, your tech savvy and your desire to do business in a way that preserves the planet. \u00a0We need your energy, creativity and willingness to risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

And most importantly, we need you <\/span>now<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was moderating a fireside chat at the National Retail Federation conference with Liz Thompson from Southeastern Grocers recently. \u00a0We were chatting about her company\u2019s efforts [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[366,361],"tags":[46,356,24],"class_list":["post-5508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consumer-behavior","category-marketing-and-branding","tag-marketing","tag-millennials","tag-retail"],"yoast_head":"\n