|
Feature Article, May 2005
Generation Mall
Understanding the country's largest emerging consumer market.
David Gester, RIBA and Jeff Gunning, AIA
They've been called Generation Y, the Millennials and the Echo Boomers. At 80 million strong, they are the largest emerging consumer market in history. Despite the fact that they were born between loosely 1977 and 1995, they already spend close to $170 billion a year — that's five times what their parents spent at that age. They have unprecedented access to information and trends via readily available sources like the Internet, cell phones and television. Thirty-five percent of them are non-white, and many come from single-parent homes. Not surprisingly, these children of the baby boomers are already the most studied and researched generation in history.
 |
Legacy Town Center in Plano, Texas, mixes retail with residential and office to create a true community feel.
|
|
With so much information out there about this crucial group, how do retail designers and developers filter what they need to know? After all, this is a generation with tremendous spending power. If well understood, it will drive an entirely new retail and social environment. For these purposes, terms like Generation Y represent too broad and demographically diverse a group to pin down into tangible retail cues. A better title? Generation M. This concept captures what unifies the generation's understanding of shopping and the common element that influences their shopping habits: the Mall. Commerce Vs. Community
 |
LaQua-Tokyo Dome City, Japan, is a retail and entertainment destination that integrates a spa, roller coaster, ferris wheel and other leisure activities.
|
|
Because they spent their formative years in the enclosed, atmospherically controlled environment of the shopping center, the members of Generation M are relatively unimpressed by the experience the traditional mall affords. Still, they frequent malls significantly more often than other shoppers. Why? Unlike their parents, these choosy consumers aren't going to shopping centers for convenience, for the variety of options under one roof, or even to shop. (After all, as the first collection of youngsters to have computers in the majority of their homes, they have access to a World Wide Web of options without leaving the house!) Instead, they go to the mall to find community. Taught the value of teamwork from youth, this generation (unlike their comparatively egocentric Baby-Boomer parents) is one that places great value in collaboration, whether it takes the form of team sports or community service. As a result, these young people search for opportunities to make personal connections in a variety of environments, particularly during their leisure time. Shopping centers sensitive to that need have already successfully drawn this generation to their centers by taking retail to the next level. With offerings like entertainment centers, public spaces and athletic facilities, the best of tomorrow's successful retail developments consider the economics of this desired social environment.
 |
Mockingbird Station in Dallas is a hip, loft-style development blending retail, restaurants, an art house movie theater and residential with public transit.
|
|
In addition to adding amenities, the retail concept itself is changing. More than just shopping and entertainment, the shopping environment has become a place to see and be seen. By mixing uses like residential with retail, these places draw on the dynamic that around-the-clock activity affords. Better connections to places that people live, work and play, as well as more convenient access to transit, continue to help these places forge the links necessary to create a vibrant community of invested people. The “Real” World
From birth, Generation M has been subject to the onslaught of brand, advertising and the media. At every turn — from television to the Internet and even in their schools — they must filter meaningful information from the “noise.” As a result, this generation is innately skeptical and determined to extract some truth from what they see and hear. At the same time, they are more equipped to do this than the generations before them. For example, many of them research their products online before buying them, and most are so firmly entrenched in technology that they're able to see beyond bright lights and flashing signs.
 |
El Boulevard de Vitoria in Vitoria, Spain, uses design to set itself off from the competition.
|
|
Now that heavily themed environments and over-hyped products are no longer working adequately to attract these shoppers, retailers and retail designers alike have begun to figure out new ways to attract and retain Generation M. From store interiors, where brand is utilized to create an “aspirational” community feel, to shopping center architecture, where open-air centers and urban, Main Street-style developments are gaining popularity, shopping centers are increasingly becoming more “authentic,” aiming to offer some degree of sincerity for a generation so attuned to artifice. Important to bear in mind of course, is that even these authentic centers can feel too similar to one another if they don't make the right connections to their communities and incorporate architecture and design indigenous to their locations. One way to prevent this sameness is with design. Increasingly, shopping center developers and designers are taking cues from abroad where retail centers incorporate an appreciation for shopping as an all-day, social activity with stunning architecture.
 |
Berceo Retail and Entertainment Centre, Logroño, Spain, utilizes design to attract customers and make its offerings unique in the market.
|
|
Finally, retailers who have embraced cause marketing are having much success in attracting the socially conscious Generation M. Taught by their parents about the meaning and importance of social awareness, today's young people can relate to products like the Livestrong bracelets and Target's pink pop-up stores for breast cancer. As they get older, this generation will continue to see a relationship between shopping and activism.
Multi-Channeling Success
From the time they were toddlers, members of Generation M have been managed. From the mom-and-tot class to beginner ballet and scheduled play dates to high school sports and SAT preparation courses, these young people are accustomed to having their schedules and influences controlled by authority figures down to every minute detail. For this reason, their outlets for individuality and self-indulgence are critical to their enjoyment and their understanding of themselves.
 |
Pentagon Row in Arlington, Virginia, has residential above retail with a central public space for ice skating in the winter and socializing in the summer.
|
|
Consider the success of music downloads. Via the Internet and cellular technology, young people have access to broad and diverse types of music from the popular to the obscure and are controlling the music market more than ever though their personal discovery. Not only is this an example of the on-demand world, but it's also an indication of a changing retail equation: what was once an inarguable purchase in the form of an LP, cassette or CD is now considered public domain. Taking lessons from this trend, retail designers and developers can be successful by creating shopping environments that promote the exploration and education of a variety of (often rapidly fluctuating) influences and tastes. Not to mention a more flexible understanding of what is for sale and what may be given away free.
A means to achieve the diversity this generation expects is through multi-channel retailing. Retailers have caught on to the importance of a Web (“clix”) and catalog (“pix”) presence, but the bricks-and-mortar (“brix”) channel is still as relevant as ever—transformed, certainly, but still very relevant. The movement among these channels is proving to be fluid in all directions — from brix to clix and pix as with Abercrombie & Fitch, but also from pix and clix to brix, like Delia's or Anthropologie. The opportunities for communicating with today's youth vary from channel to channel. The key is to provide a variety of ways to explore and approach a brand experience within a comprehensive multi-channel vehicle.
The Next Frontier
 |
The Streets at Southpoint in Durham, North Carolina, is a hybrid center that incorporates an enclosed mall with an open-air main street.
|
|
Generation M will determine the success of the retail world for the next couple of decades. Unlike their parents, the members of Generation M believe that shopping is something more than simply spending money. It's an experience, the realization of lifestyle, and ultimately, an opportunity for individual expression, social interaction and even activism. By understanding and embracing the needs and desires of the members of this generation, retail designers and developers can successfully join them in creating the vital and sustainable retail destinations of tomorrow.
David Gester and Jeff Gunning are vice presidents of RTKL, an international planning and design firm.
©2005 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.
|
