MANY ARTICLES HITTING newsstands today are pushing blame on millennials for everything from the decline in sales of paper napkins, to poor numbers at movie theaters, to even the decrease in market share for Budweiser and Coors.
As jewelers, we are very familiar with the decline in jewelry sales — most notably diamonds. It seems that every month, there is a new report blaming millennials for the number of failing jewelry stores, the shrinkage of diamond districts, and even the shift in the trend away from “two months’ salary.”
Follow market history trends and you will start to see a pattern. When a “generation” of people begin to reach their 30s, they go from being cautious savers to consumers and spenders. Baby boomers hit that apex in the 1980s, and the country was hog-wild with money. Generation X hit their apex in the early 2000s, and housing markets and retail sales were booming. Now we are approaching the apex for millennials (2020 is the tipping point) — and they are a bigger generation than baby boomers and gen-Xers combined. Are you on the precipice for success when they hit the age of consumerism?
Being on the threshold between gen-X and millennials, I can tell you how offended I feel when millennials say it is everyone else’s fault they cannot afford to buy a house because they are up to their eyeballs in student loan debt. I am also offended when everyone else says millennials are a bunch of entitled babies who can’t toe the line. Blaming millennials clearly hasn’t been the answer because stores continue to close, diamond vendors are dropping like flies, and the millennials still aren’t walking into the jewelry stores that remain … except that they are! Many businesses just see them as the enemy rather than the opportunity.
Want to know how to sell to millennials? Get online and tell them your story. Take photos of your store, your team, your jewelry, your customers. Make the posts informational, fun, educational, and truthful. Put a few dollars into boosting your posts on Facebook and Instagram to people 23-35. Show them what makes you unique and how your expertise is worth the extra spend on a purchase. Stick with it, and they will start to come through your doors.
When they do walk in, be open-minded, then ask for (and respect) their budget. They will research what you tell them and probably not commit on the first visit. If you have patience, you will discover they are vehemently loyal when they make the decision to trust you as long as you give them a reason to. Take care of one millennial, and their friends will know in a heartbeat because social media works. Soon you will have a steady flow of the next generation of consumers breathing life back into your business.
Advertisement
