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Generation Who?
How to market to young and old |
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Written by Michelle Brisebois
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When it comes to acting our age, flowers are quite a personal statement. Floral occasions are plentiful when one is young. There’s graduation (several of them), prom, the courtship, the wedding, anniversaries and the welcoming of new babies. Targeting that 19- to 35-year-old group is good business, but it may also pose a bit of a quandary in terms of your retailing tone and manner. If you go after the youth segment, do you risk alienating the older consumers you already have?
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People of different ages have unique shopping styles and preferences. Who does your shop appeal to? How can you reach out to a new market?
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There are two aspects to consider when targeting the different age groups. First, you must look at your retail experience and evaluate whether it provides an easy shopping experience for your target group. Next, you’ll need to evaluate your products and services to understand if they appeal to your target. Flowers follow fashion, which is a very personal statement of style. When it comes to the retail experience, being clear about whom you’re targeting is the best compass. Kelley Doris, Director Communications for Retail Design firm Perennial Inc., a Toronto-based strategic creative company, stresses a focused approach. “Ultimately, retailers need to understand the basic tenet of ‘you can’t be all things to all people.’ Although Apple seems to have mastered the ability to reach customers of all ages and walks of life, most retailers need to know who their main consumer is, and tailor their offering to them as best they can. There are few worse things than a retailer who’s lost focus,” says Doris. For Tanya List and partner Amy Saleh of the Pink Twig in Toronto, creating a trendy storefront made sense given their location. Their store is decked out in wicker furniture, wood floors and their signature pink and brown colour combo. “Our neighbourhood is full of young professionals and young families so making the store appeal to that target was sensible,” says List. If your target market has a variety of age groups you need to cater to, strive for a democratic approach with a clean, contemporary look and feel. Think Martha Stewart and you’ll no doubt straddle the segments successfully.
You may wish to segment your communications strategy as well. To effectively target Generation Y, keep in mind that they have a wider range of methods they employ to get information. It’s not necessarily only about Twitter and Facebook although these tools offer easy, inexpensive ways to reach young consumers. “There’s also a kind of misconception re: Twitter. Everyone assumes that teens are the biggest users of this tool, but in reality, they don’t like the idea of everyone knowing their business all the time, and they don’t necessarily want to know anyone else’s business minute by minute either. That being said, they do love “instant” – IM (instant messaging), texting are huge amongst this demographic…If a retailer can harness the power of these two tools, they’re probably way ahead,” advises Doris. If you can get your customers cell numbers as they come in your store, consider sending out a text as a trial that tells them to come in within the next 24 hours and show the text message at the checkout for a complimentary flower or discount. It’s great PR, and the word of mouth will be well worth the cost of the flowers. No printing and mailing required! Baby boomers use smartphones a lot, too, so ensuring your website is configured to be easily viewed on a smartphone is a good investment. Traditional print advertising may be appropriate for home décor, Mother’s Day and celebration of life services, which target baby boomers more so than the younger generation.
Finding the right product mix to target different age groups may require a bit of juggling. The youth-oriented floral occasions are more about trends and fashion where the occasions targeting consumers later in life are more about emotion. With this in mind, keeping on top of the fashion trends is a key part of targeting the youth sector. “The TV show Sex and the City has been a big influence on floral trends. When we go out ourselves we always wear flowers in our hair. Flowers can adorn a purse too. Floral wristlets are big for proms and we’ve even done some pieces where the flowers wind their way down the arm as a real statement piece,” shares List. Doris of Perennial Inc. advises “Their (younger consumers) aspirations haven’t changed: to look older, to look cooler, to fit in while simultaneously asserting their individuality. The only thing that’s different is that fashion awareness begins at an earlier age. They draw their inspirations from celebrities as well as their peers via the Internet. Individualization comes from ‘remixing’ (their term) outfits – buying store-bought items and putting their own spin on them by altering them or pairing them with vintage/unexpected pieces.” Purples and lime greens are mentioned by Pink Twig as very popular combinations for proms and weddings with feathers often being used in arrangements as well.
In the final analysis, finding the floral heartstring in both generations may be easier than we realize. As often happens with fashion, what’s old is new again. “Big, bold flowers like peonies and gladiolas are very popular with the younger set right now and they come in such a wide range of wonderful colours. We’re even taking a bunch of carnations and bundling them tightly together to look like one big bloom,” says List. It’s definitely a case of red carpet meets grandma’s garden – common ground indeed.
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