Macy's announced last week that it is going to close 100 of its stores. What is interesting about the chain shuttering the doors on almost 15% of its locations is that in such a dramatically shifting shopping world you would expect the amount to be more, well, dramatic.
Many analysts and journalists point the finger at Amazon and the rapid adoption of online shopping. True. But also as Millennials reach adulthood and represent the elusive 18-34 cohort that retailers covet, consumer wants and needs reflect significant changes. Today 50% of Millennials want to shop at a store that specializes in a specific style or type of product. Fifteen years ago that figure was just 36%. That's a 40% increase, and dramatic.
So its harder then ever now to be all things to all people. And yet a mistake almost every brand makes is to make Millennials a priority. All of them and all at once. Yet every marketer knows that being the same age doesn't make people the same, and that is true for this generation as well. A more cogent strategy is to appeal to more then your fair share of Millennials and in a way that your current best customers can also embrace.
We recently helped a decades-old women's footwear and retail brand navigate these dramatic times. After years and years of success, the brand and the experience had become irrelevant in this new age of shopping and growth had stalled. We worked to understand why women choose different shoe brands and identified a group that included both their most valuable customers and also more then their fair share of Millennials. This is just another industry where we have learned that what drives people and unites them is their attitudes toward the world, not how old they are.
The brand leaders knew it was time to make dramatic changes to their entire experience from product design to store design and location to communications. But deciding how to change to be relevant is a daunting task in our landscape today. In fact they had spent years trying to figure out the best path forward until our approach gave them the confidence to move ahead. This type of transformation will lead to dramatic success and we are looking forward to charting their growth for decades to come.
