Generation Z: Are They the Unexpected Brick-And-Mortar Saviors?

For years now brick-and-mortar stores have been fighting to stay in the shopping picture. With a new influx of technology taking over the media it has become so easy to order products online. This has caused millennials to have begun to order more online because they don't mind waiting.

According to a study done by Fluent Commerce, a consultancy specializing in retail order management, 47% of millennials are willing to wait for seven days for a package and 24% are willing to wait ten days or longer. This patience, and really just laziness, has begun to put brick-and-mortar stores out of business.

However, with the introduction of Generation Z to the shopping picture these stores may just be in luck. Multiple studies comparing millennials to Generation Zers have shown that while both hop online and go into stores, millennials are way more commonly found online while Gen Z prefers to go into stores. The reason for this change in preference has to do with many factors. One is the fact that they don't like to wait. They would rather drive to the store and get what they are buying that day than wait sometimes weeks for their packages to arrive. Another reason is the issue of cost. Not only are you buying the product online, but you are also paying tax and shipping and handling. Those are extra dollars that could be spent on other merchandise that is being spent on shipping something that you won't get for a while anyway.

There is also the idea that it is nice to try the product you are buying on in store. for example, makeup is a huge product that millennials buy, and they would rather test it on themselves in the store than wait for it to get to them only to wait again to return it and buy something else.

Since the realization that brick-and-mortar stores were going out, they have tried to reinvent themselves. A perfect example is Nordstroms. According to an article by Forbes, Nordstroms has put in minibars and stylists that you can interact with and get specialized help from, and that is just something that you cannot get online.

As times change so does the media. People are starting to see how technology affects us but that doesn't change that media still hypes up online shopping, causing brick-and-mortar stores to go out. However, some of these stores have begun to advertise their stores just as much as their product making their stores more desirable and helping their businesses succeed.