John Stanley

Do you have a picture of YOUR customer?

I was recently working with a retail client and was discussing their merchandise strategy with their display manager. I asked the person about two products on the same display and who would buy them. The display manager mentioned that one of the products would, in their view, be purchased by 65 year-old woman, whilst the product next to it would be purchased by a 25 year-old woman.

Was the display working? I’m afraid not. Why wasn't it working? Because the person building the display did not start with a picture of the consumer in mind.

Generational marketing
In recent months there have been number of articles in the press about generational marketing. What does this mean? It means that as a retailer you need to consider who to target. Is it Generation Y (15-25 year-olds), Generation X (25-35 year-olds), the Jones’ Generation (35-49 year-olds), Baby Boomers (50-65 year-olds), or Greying Tigers (over 65 years-old).

A flick through a glossy magazine will soon reveal that marketers are very defined on who their target is and present the pictorial or promotion accordingly. But, it’s more than marketers getting the message across, it’s display teams understanding the message and merchandising accordingly.

The challenges
This does present some challenges. Traditionally, merchandisers have presented products to consumers based on specific categories i.e. placing all of one series of products together. But is this the answer in the future?

Some retailers have an easy task. They have refined their retailing to already attract one specific age group and can merchandise accordingly. The real challenge occurs when you are a retailer who needs to attract customers from across a wide band of age groups.

If you fall into this latter category, then there is a real argument for splitting up product categories based on target age groups.

In the scenario mentioned at the beginning of this article, the merchandiser had built the display based on an overall product category. The result, in my opinion, was that all age groups were put off, because the display did not appeal to any specific age group.

The display manager would have had more success if she had built a display based on a specific age group.

One of my clients, a German gift company, now segments its product range based on age. Each segmented display is supported by a promotional board that features a person enjoying the product experience from the selected age group. The result is displays in store target selected age groups to specific areas in the store. This does mean that more space is required in store to “sell the picture” but the end result is increased sales per square metre.

Where do you start?
Start with the customer in mind, not the product. Have a defined age group in your mind when you’re building a display and then build the display with that age group in mind.

Let me give you a simple example based on my observations when it comes to signage on displays. Generation X (I prefer to call them IKEA Babies) know what the trends are and what is fashionable. If you sign a product to tell them what is new and trendy, they could feel you are talking down to them and this may resist purchasing.

The next generation up, the Jones’ Generation, want to be trendy and fashionable, but they need to be told what’s new. If you don’t tell them what’s new, they may never discover it.

The Baby Boomers tend to pick up trends later. Tell them it’s new and they will often wait while it’s accepted by the Jones’ Generation. Greying Tigers may resist new products completely as they look on the product as a new gadget which they don’t understand and that will quickly go out of fashion anyway.

Segmentation opportunities
Some retailers will go to considerable expense to get the formulae right. Wetherby’s in South Africa have divided their store into two. One half is targeted at Baby Boomers and the other half at Generation X. Both groups walk through the same entrance, but are then split into two, Baby Boomers turn left into the store, whilst Generation X turn right. Both sections of the store have their own coffee shop to ensure both consumer segments ‘linger longer’ in the comfort of their own generational group.

Become a maven of retail generational marketing
Encourage your retail team to become “mavens” or leaders of a trend. Make sure that the business subscribes to magazines that target each generational group you are targeting. Get the team to produce ‘storyboards’ on trends from those magazines that can help them build appropriate displays.

One display will not serve all, start with the customer in mind and build displays that a generation can relate to.

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