Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2016 - 22

KPMG EXECUTIVE ROUNDTABLE

ence, adding value to their lives and the lives of their groomsmen. The entire
demographic has grown up with Netflix and Amazon. Every interface they've
experienced has been customized and personalized to them so understanding
how this makes them feel special is tremendously important to us. Everything
we do in-store and online we do with this in mind.

Value purpose over cost
75% of millennials indicate
that they believe it is more
important for companies to
give back to society rather
than just making a profit.
Source: KPMG

83%
Millennial moms
A vast majority of new
moms (83%) are millennials
Source: KPMG

Facebook generation
A recent survey showed
that 88% of millennials
rely on Facebook for their
daily newsfeed.
Source: KPMG

Bennison: Understanding your consumers' wants and needs has always been
the key to success in retail. That hasn't changed and thankfully data brings
that knowledge faster and more clearly than ever before. Beyond that I'm
really enjoying leading a group of millennials. They want to be heard, want
to be a part of the thinking and the process, and they want to feel as though
they're contributing to the end goal. Just like every generation before them,
when they're engaged, they become highly productive and dedicated.
Labistour: We work hard to understand them. But, in trying to understand
them, we've found that we learn a lot more about ourselves as well. MEC was
a failing brand not long ago. And we realized that we needed to reimagine
ourselves. In doing so we realized we needed to part with some old paradigms that didn't make sense to us, our company or our customer anymore.
Through purpose, product lines, programs and focus we've really endeavoured to put a stronger, youthful mix back out through our brand.
Lawson: It's been difficult trying to figure out how to market to this group
and get them into the bricks-and-mortar. We've been focusing quite a bit of
our effort over the last few years in understanding exactly what drives millennials. What we've discovered is that they want things their way, instantly.
They come in looking for a particular product, and they know exactly what
they want, where it's come from and where to get it. And if you don't have
what they're looking for, they'll move on to find it elsewhere. You've got to
understand their expectations, and then deliver on them.
Des Roches: Millennials are most interested in things that are inspirational

rather than aspirational. For retailers, I think it's important to understand
this about them in order to properly market to them and get your message in
front of them. An important difference is that to market to them, it's better
to have a number of small messages that resonate with them rather than one
defined message.

Letts: We've learned that both in-store experience and social media engagement is important to this customer. They respond well to our in store
workshops and social media contests. They value authenticity and expect
immediate responses to their concerns.
Jones: It's interesting for me to look at millennials as my employees, rather
than my customer. We have about 10,000 millennials working for us-the
largest portion of our workforce. You have to make sure they feel like they're
a part of the fabric of the company, that it's not just a job for them. It's important to understand this. It's also important to understand that they are hardworking individuals who want to succeed. We're trying to fast-track a number
of millennials within the company that are really good. We've found that as
long as they feel they belong, they're committed and passionate workers.

In these challenging times it's clear after speaking with some of Canada's
leading retail minds, that truly understanding what custuuolpomers uniquely
need and want, and how technology can enable retailers to do this better, is
critical for their future success. And, while substantial investments in technology are being considered and implemented by most retailers, consumers
are the real drivers of retail innovation.

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CANADIAN RETAILER | The Loss Prevention Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2016