The Impact of Millennials on the Mobile Marketplace

By Barton Goldenberg

Anyone with teenagers knows that the world’s 3 billion Millennials (born since 1985 and also known as ‘Generation Y’) are obsessed with being ‘always on, always connected’ to the Internet and to their friends.  The Millennial generation currently accounts for 45% of world population. 50% of Millennials perform research via the Web and more than 90% purchase products via the Web.  In the US, today’s 80 million Millennials spend on average 11 hours/day digitally connected.   These are staggering figures to say the least.

The smart phone is clearly Millennials’ mobile device of choice.  Consider these smart phone statistics:

• In 2016, the number of smart phone users surpassed 2 billion worldwide.
• US smart phone penetration currently exceeds 80% of the US households.
• Smart phone penetration outside the US exceeds 60% of the world’s households.
• Americans spend more than 2 ½ hours/day on their smart phones, on average.
• Mobile apps are exploding; there are over 2 billion apps available worldwide.

The number of mobile workers already exceeds 1.3 billion worldwide.  Most are Millennials that own a smart phone as well as multiple mobile devices including tablets and/or some type of laptop.  With the increase in the use of mobile devices and mobile apps, the market for mobility will explode.  This raises a few obvious questions:

• Can any organization survive in the future without a sound mobile strategy in place for its employees and its customers?
• Can an organization afford not to offer its products/services via one or more mobile apps?
• If the organization’s two-way dialogue with their customers does not include communication via mobile devices, will the organization be able to retain its customer base?

Millennials are important because they are both the customers and the workers of the future. Organizations need to understand the digital ecosystem in which Millennials live and work if they are to be successful.   Mobility is not a Millennial trend – it is a business imperative.

In my next post, I will discuss the relevance of mobile devices for Social CRM applications.

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Barton Goldenberg, is the founder and president of ISM Inc., customer-centric strategists/implementers serving best-in-class organizations globally. As a CRM leader for 30 years, he was among the first three inductees in the CRM Hall of Fame. Recognized as a leading “customer-focused” author, his latest book, The Definitive Guide to Social CRM, is hailed as the roadmap for Social CRM success. Barton is a popular speaker on “maximizing customer relationships to gain market insights, customers and profits”. He is a long-term columnist for CRM Magazine and speaker for CRMevolution and frequently quoted in the media.