Millennials Are Digital Natives: What This Means for Your Queue

In this second post of our three-part blog series about millennials and their impact on retail queue management, we explore digital technology and ways it can be used to enhance the overall shopping experience. Our series was inspired by a piece on Retail Dive by Kelsey Lindsey, which highlights, among other findings, the concept of “digital native”:

“…Pew Research describes millennials as the only generation to have mastered new digital platforms – mobile technology, the internet, and social media – without any adaptation. These technological advancements are so innate within millennials’ lifestyles that retailers must adopt strategies to connect through digital devices in store.”

Beyond maintaining an engaging and intuitive website, there is much more digitally that can and should be done in store – even as it relates to the waiting line. Combine their digital prowess with the understanding that, although millennials are super-savvy about finding and ordering what they want online, they still turn to brick-and-mortar retailers for immediate gratification. Retailers are wise, then, to look for ways to bring technological expansion in-store and in-queue to continue leveraging both the millennials’ reliance on technology and the brick-and-mortar retailer’s competitive advantage of instant gratification.

Designing Your Queue Strategy for Digital Natives

Millennials are often found shopping for a particular item in-store and price-shopping online at the same time. In fact, queue managers have likely encountered customers doing just this even while standing in the waiting line – and potentially abandoning a lengthy, slow-moving line for a better deal elsewhere. It’s possible to triumph over the millennial’s digital prowess and utter impatience.

Use a mobile app.

Like generations before them, millennials have little desire to stand in a waiting line (for anything less than the newest iPhone that is). Appeal to the nature of this digitally savvy and always-in-motion generation with a mobile app that lets customers both “reserve” their spot in line, and be notified when it’s their time to check out. A virtual queuing app appeals to millennials’ digital nature, while also addressing their impatience, by allowing them to keep busy (continue shopping) while waiting for their turn.

Implement digital signage.

A screen is practically an extension of millennials’ own arms. They are used to referring to and relying on screens, and their eyes are naturally drawn to such attractions. Equip your waiting line with digital signage – it can entertain or inform, but either way, the goal is to keep these customers busy and distracted and, most of all, staying in that waiting line rather than heading out the door. Digital media that requires interaction is even more appealing to millennials. Use this contact point to share a social update or get customers to interact with your Facebook page. Your waiting customers are thinking about your brand at this very moment. Use the opportunity to engage them across all of your platforms. Adding mobile-friendly features to the in-store experience and appealing to the millennial’s digital nature can only benefit a business that is attempting to combat the potential for lost sales caused by a lengthy waiting line. Not only are millennials digitally distracted, their loyalty as a demographic leaves a lot to be desired. Coming up in our final blog post of this series: “Millennials Are Less Loyal: The Role of Queue Management.”