Millennials are getting dissed left, right and center in the media as of late. The Homeland Generation (aka Generation Z) are also starting to get flouted by various retail and entertainment industry speculators.
Does this up-and-coming group of future workers, business owners and investors in the future of the planet deserve all the fuss?
They just might, at least if you make your living in traditional retail. You know, where you sell stuff that people want to buy and own outright?
Rent and Trade Instead of Buying
Debt-ridden Millennials that have made their come-uppance following The Great Depression 2.0, circa 2007, appear to be changing our entire economy it seems. Many don’t want to own things and are showing a preference for renting what they want instead. Those who do not rent are choosing to keep more cash in the bank by trading things they no longer want for the things they do.
Journalist Jilian Mincer of Reuters, who frequently writes about our youth and their impact on society recently stated in one of her articles that:
“Battered by student loan debt and the Great Recession, Millennials place less emphasis on owning and more on sharing, bartering and trading to access coveted goods. “These behaviors have propelled businesses such as car rental service Zipcar, taxi service Uber and home rental site Airbnb.”
As if that weren’t a big enough hit to car dealerships, cab owners and the hotel industry, now the sharing and trading trend is set to change the apparel and clothing industry forever. Apparently this is where Gen Z is sticking a wrench into these particular gears in the retail machine.
The Homelander Shift
Millennials spent the majority of their incomes and allowance money on clothing just a few short years ago when they were teens. Teeny-bopping Homelanders spend the brunt of theirs and their parent’s available cash on Starbucks, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Olive Garden (and the obesity epidemic continues unfettered into the foreseeable future!)
These kids are going to be using rental and bartering businesses like Bag Borrow or Steal, and Rent the Runway to wear the latest in accessories and fashion that’s hip and happening, so they can spend more on fast food and over-priced caffeinated beverages. Meaning each of these respective industries — and the retail outlets that move the merchandise — are set for a massive economic hit if this rental trend stays the course.
Rent the Runway is an interesting concept for fashion-savvy girls who want to wear the latest from Milan without dropping hundreds at a time. If this fresh startup explodes, there’s going to be anarchy on the runways of Paris and New York!
Don’t get me started on how Spotify has furthered the stranglehold on musicians who are now forced to tour 300 days a year just to make a buck, since nobody wants to pay for full-length albums (CD’s or digital) anymore, and so use this rather cheap monthly service as a legal way to get access to loads of music that would have cost thousands of dollars to acquire just a decade or more ago…
More Discerning Buyers
Last, Millennials and Homelanders have more access to real product and service reviews than any who came before them. They can be more discriminating about what they spend their money on, find better deals on name brands by purchasing similar-quality items that are made by the same Asian manufacturers who make mobile electronics for the big names.
A great example of how reviews affect buying decisions is something that occurred in my life just the other day:
I (a Gen X’er), was looking for a great deal on an action cam capable of shooting at 1080p30 — namely looking at the GoPro Hero — when I found out about a cool new $100 cam capable of 1080p60 called the Xiaomi Yi (only the $500 GoPro Hero4 can go beyond 30fps.) The Yi and all its raving quality reviews made for the obvious choice over spending hundreds more on a name brand. Back in the days of magazine and television-only advertising, I and other consumers would have been at the mercy of big name brands, with large advertising budgets and much higher price points for products made for pennies-on-the-dollar compared to profits.
What do you think? Where is our retail economy going next?
Main image by Simon & His Camera
