As the next Back-To-School Shopping Season approaches, FN News presented a webinar, “Get Schooled: How to Cater to Millennial Parents and Their Kids. The Webinar featured Molly Hartney, Chief Marketing Officer of Rack Room Shoes; Brain Brunett, Vice President and General Merchandise Manager of Rack Room Shoes and Chelsey Codrington, Senior Direction of Client Strategy at Digital Marketing Firm, Tinuti.
Back to School Shopping is a critical time for the footwear industry. The speakers discussed the overall impact of inflation and the supply chain problems for this coming season. Millennial Parents were the major target of conversation relating to this time of year. “Hartney said today’s parents and their kids are ‘more digitally savvy so they are able to view things online and on social channels; and they have a wealth of information at their fingertips — information about different products, brands, and trends.’” This vital information by Hartney as retailers need an array of convenient assortment relating key factors as price, quality and comfort.
Kids have more access to social media through tablets and smartphones and are heavily influenced on what to want and what their personality reflects, however, their Mom still has the “buying the power”. It is essential that retailers are marketing directly to the correct audience with the right message. Each age group has a different message to capture, so it is essential that the right message is relayed. Retailers are also facing the inflation economic impact; it is important to look at the consumer spending trends and what’s impacting household spending. This season, there is a heavy forecast for Back-to-School Shopping to be done at lower price retailers to compensate for inflation. Even more, making it important for these retailers to provide convenience and the right message to its incoming consumers.
By Arthur Zaczkiewicz, footwearnews.com