India is home to over 600 million millennials, which is almost twice the entire population of the US. Considering all of these millennials were born in the digital age, and have dynamic and frequent relationships with digital platforms and high-feature smartphones, marketing in India is scrambling to keep up with their demands. Marketers in India, even the ones that are lagging, clearly see how millennials are shaping consumer behavior and demand.
In a recently conducted Millennials Loyalty Survey in urban India, 72 percent of millennials said they research prices and features on behalf of their families, 63 percent use their mobile device for search and information, 41 percent seek opinions through digital and mobile before purchase, and 64 percent are responsible for recommending the brand purchase. Though only 32 percent pay for the product themselves.
A wakeup call for traditional marketers who view their consumers only through the prism of transactions. And an insight to capitalize on for those who realize that relevant interactions with millennials, in both digital and physical worlds, are vital to developing genuine, protracted and profitable relationships with them.
But wait, there is more to this story. Though e-commerce, of which millennials are early adopters, is expected to contribute a seemingly paltry 8 percent of overall retail spend by 2020, ‘digitally influenced’ purchases are today already five times the e-commerce market. And is expected to keep growing.
Couple these BCG reported trends with Aimia’s consumer insights and the writing is on the wall for marketers. Get ready to play a whole new game, or be left behind. Axis Bank and Taj Hotels, two large and innovative consumer facing businesses in India, are doing just this in how they engage customers based on not just value, but their needs and behaviors.
Brands need to have a millennial strategy for catering to this new generation of ‘always-on’ consumers and influencers. Ones that come with higher expectations, have a vast choice of brands before them, and do not make time for brands that are mediocre in product or marketing relevance.
Marketers must re-look at social and consumer behavior, consider how to maximize relevant interactions with consumers outside of the traditional purchase funnel, and be available and top of mind when a purchase is finally triggered. Fundamentally, marketers need to think younger, be more personalized, and optimize the use of digital channels if they are to serve tomorrow’s trillion-dollar demographic.