With the world facing a rapid change mostly fueled by technology, the now infamous ‘Generation Z’ and ‘Millennial’ culture continues to cause disruption.
Said to be one of the world’s leading consumer and shopper behaviour experts, Ken Hughes will share his insights of the future of consumer and how retail needs to change in order to remain relevant, at the 22nd South African Council of Shopping Centre’s (SACSC) Annual Congress which will take place at the Durban International Convention Centre next week.
According to Hughes, the 20 to the 35-year-old consumer of today has a fundamentally different value system to Gen X or the Baby Boomer generation that came before.
“They value different things. They want to live their lives differently, they want to work differently. They demand freedom in how and where they buy,” says Hughes.
To highlight the key points brought by the technological change in retail and how to adjust to it, Hughes shares the following 3 points.
- The millennial and Gen Z shopper blueprint have changed, thereby impacting on their fundamental behaviours, needs and requirements as shoppers. Businesses need to tilt their axis toward the new value systems of the future consumer.
- This generation is less interested in buying ‘things’ and far more interested in having ‘experiences. Every brand or business should be asking itself how they can we use their brand to deliver the kind of life experiences this generation expect, and add real value within the new emerging ‘Sharing Economy.
- The P2P (Peer-to-Peer) networks have overtaken the brands' own voice in terms of relevance. Businesses need to build conversations with their target market by being part of this P2P conversation, not an outsider.
SACSC Chief Executive Officer, Amanda Stops says Ken’s insights will prove invaluable to those key players in South Africa’s retail and shopping centre industry in attendance at this year’s Congress.
“The opportunity to hear the insights from Ken Hughes, world renown consumer and behaviour expert is a rare one, and therefore all are encouraged to take this opportunity and not miss out on the value he adds. It is definitely an opportunity not to be missed as his insights could make us change the way we approach retail in SA,” says Stops.