Fbs Unit Assignment

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According to global managing consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), millennials are leading indicators of brand status.Companies need to demonstrate through their values, heritage, and meaningful actions that could help them to convince the millennials of the fact that they are socially responsible, are good environmental stewards, protect personal data, or are transparent and sincere (Bedat and Darabi, 2014).

Undoubtedly, millennials are presenting a new and clearly unique marketing challenge from what the fashion industry has encountered in the past.The fact that with expanded and instantaneous access to fashion, the millennials have a new set of attitudes and expectations, which means marketers must implement fresh and ever-changing strategies to meet those demands, creating a new paradigm where the traditional structures of the fashion community are revised and readjusted at fast speed(Serota, 2016).

Multiple channels of fashion information enables the millennials to instantaneously navigate what they want buy and make the purchase merely at the click. Instead of waiting until fashion magazines hit newsstands to view the collections, Millennials live-stream the fashion shows and watch alongside buyers and editors in real time, the implementation of 'SEE NOW BUY NOW' is exactly a quick reaction to this trend (Serota, 2016).

According to

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According to the latest report by BoF and McKinsey & Company on the global fashion industry in 2017, as spring of 2016, millennials are the largest living generations in the United States; over the next decade their total income of $1 trillion is expected to grow to be 30 percent more than the Baby boomers. On a

(The Business of Fashion, 2017)

From my viewpoint, there are three key components to meeting the Millennial challenge: fast fashion and rapid response; gaining the attention and support of their specific influencers, and accessibility and omnichannel presence.

Regarding fast fashion, Zara was an early pioneer of fast fashion, with new deliveries of on-trend merchandise at affordable prices arriving in its stores twice weekly. If a certain style or design suddenly becomes the rage, Zara is able to react quickly and get it to the stores while the trend is still peaking, proving there are two keys to the success of fast fashion: one obviously being price, and the other a continuous supply of on-trend, new merchandise.

As leaders in a rapid vertically integrated supply chain, designers and product managers are skilled in rapid response. They ensure that the company stays on point and can reinterpret trends right off the runways and the streets in as little as two weeks. The company sources close to its markets, and then sells at the right price point to keep it moving at a “Millennial speed.”

Meanwhile, H&M and Forever 21 have been keeping pace, but what is intriguing is that now some top designer companies are taking the cue as well. Pre-collections (basically new and additional deliveries) of apparel and accessories in limited quantities are becoming increasingly important. The concept of two seasons is obsolete.

Also consider fashion influences: My students get notifications from fashion sites on a daily basis. Millennials are also watching closely what their favorite reality-show stars, musicians, actors and sports figures are wearing. But what is really new about this generation is their devotion to fashion bloggers. Man Repeller, The Blonde Salad, Fashion Toast, Song of Style, Gal Meets Glam and The Glamourai are just a few of the au courant blogs that my students follow. Savvy fashion marketers know that they need to partner with these popular bloggers to get them to wear and showcase their styles.

Accessibility is also key. Once the fashion has been produced faster and brought to their attention with digital speed, Millennials expect to be able to buy it quickly and at the best possible price. In order to stay in front of this, retailers and brands are best poised with an omnichannel presence; to be present on all possible touchpoints (online and off-line), offering the customer a full brand experience, rather than a single-channel experience. Shopping is no longer a linear process. A given customer may shop in store and then buy the product online or vice versa. In order to capture that sale, it helps to be on all fronts.

Millennial consumers still love to shop in person and know the value of being able to try on a garment in a store. Yet they also want the accessibility of the digital world when they are in the physical realm. To meet this demand, retailers need to create an ultra-buyer-friendly environment with all colors and sizes of a style available at a given time. And if there is a lapse in this accessibility, they have armed their salespeople with tablets allowing them to locate the merchandise elsewhere in order to not lose the sale. The Millennial consumer has begun to expect this omnichannel presence.

Ultimately, the tried-and-true Five Rs of fashion merchandising are still relevant: the right fashion-oriented merchandise still needs to be brought in at the right time, in the right place, in the right quantities, at the right price and with the right sales promotion for a targeted customer.

But each of these elements has been redefined — and accelerated — to satisfy the Millennial marketing challenge. Their loyalty can be multidimensional and may encompass many layers of influence including the world of fashion bloggers, online and off-line stores, daily trend notifications from fashion Web sites, designers and the brands themselves.

While the dynamics of fashion seem unchanged, the playing fields have developed and advanced rapidly, and it is our job to keep up with the pace and stay ahead of the curve.

Horovitz, B.(2012). After Gen X, Millennials, what should next generation be? . USA Today.

Generation Y. (1993). Ad Age, (August), p.16.

Armour, S. (2005). USATODAY.com - Generation Y: They've arrived at work with a new attitude. Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Available at: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm (Accessed 13 Jan. 2017).

Carlson, E. (2008). The lucky few. 1st ed. Dordrecht: Springer.

Serota, C. (2016). Think Tank: Meeting the Millennial Challenge. WWD.com.arts.idm.oclc.org. Available at: http://wwd.com.arts.idm.oclc.org/business-news/retail/think-tank-cherie-serota-millennial-challenge-10339339/ (Accessed