Inevitably, with the worldwide expansion of the Internet, the way that we buy and sell products now primarily deals in e-commerce. E-commerce statistics confirm the explosive pace at which this industry has developed worldwide. E-commerce is, has been, and will continuing to be, a growing market with more than 1 billion online buyers and 40 percent of worldwide internet users having bought products or goods online via computer, mobile or other device. And of course these numbers will only grow, but how will the e-commerce world look in a few years? What are factors shaping this massive marketplace and how do millennials fit into that equation?
Marketing to Millennials
Millennials are setting the pace as the largest cross section of consumers today. These consumers expect convenience, transparency and personalization. Growing up with social media, this group of consumers has very different expectations with the shopping experience and level of interaction with brands. Just consider the fact that you can buy everything from electronic bidet toilet seats to a car, all online. Heck, you can even grocery shop online, which leaves marketers in a unique position to put themselves in front of millennials to garner their purchase.
One way many marketers approach this group of consumers is through retargeting, a cookie-based technology that uses code to anonymously "follow" targeted audience over the web. Retargeting, or remarketing, is ideal for many reasons that include more precise targeting and cost effective branding. In fact, "72 percent of millennial shoppers are favorable to retargeting." Because this group of consumers is inundated with online advertising every time they log on to their computers or mobile devices, retargeting can help marketers get their brands in front of bounced traffic after they leave the website. As a rule though, this strategy is most effective when part of a larger digital strategy involving other forms of content marketing, AdWords and other methods.
Jobs Boom in E-Commerce Industry
As a result of multiple factors, one being the influx of millennial shoppers, the e-commerce sector is getting a big pay raise this year in 2015. In fact, "moving to the booming ecommerce sector will get the best pay boost" with companies from major sectors like IT, consumer goods and retail seeing salary raises from 35 to 50 percent, "with stock options often taking the total increase to more than 100 percent."
So in this case, not only are millennials setting the pace for e-commerce marketing, they are also infiltrating the marketplace and creating unique job growth where there hasn't been one. This is of course also very beneficial for millennials themselves as they enter the job market or change careers. And with that said, millennials are also different employees, with a more "social mindset" preferring to work in teams and more accustomed to working with technology. As employees of e-commerce businesses, millennials will also change the future of e-commerce and help to make it more adaptable to target audiences of that business.
The millennials boom has affected multiple aspects of the U.S. economy and the way we do business, but it is going to be quite interesting to watch the e-commerce atmosphere grow and morph to the millennials who are a part of these companies, and buying from these companies.