Born between 1981 and 2005, Millennias are the next big market, and due in part to the explosion of new communications technologies—they are the first completely digital generation, with 86% of them using smartphones as their main tool. Consequently, their habits are very different from the preceding generations, and at 80 million strong, there are more of them than even baby-boomers.
Human cashiers may be losing their jobs, and technologies such as mobile payment and kiosk checkouts will gain ground as the next generation of consumers embraces new payment technologies.
According to a recent survey examining consumer self-service checkout adoption among brick-and-mortar retailers, “Almost a quarter of all millennials use self-service kiosks to avoid any sort of interaction with cashiers,” said Pat Dermody, President of Retale. “As a result, there is a growing demand for more automation and innovation throughout the checkout experience, via integrations with smartphones, wearables and other mobile devices. This will add to the convenience factor that already appears to be key to the experience.” [Read more…]