I was reading the interview below with Kurt Peters, Editor in Chief of Internet Retailer, and wanted to add a Millennial’s two cents into the mix. I really liked how Peters discussed Web 2.0, and how its allowing the e-commerce experience to totally evolve into something that shoppers had not experienced in the past. American Eagle Outfitters offers a great example of tying in different aspects of Web 2.0 into the online shopping experience. Fashion and entertainment, two key interests to Gen Y-er’s, has been joined together in the AE website. Here, I’ll give you reviews and reactions to the site from my perspective, as ATG’s resident Millennial.

American Eagle

American Eagle has introduced a cool new feature to its website, called 77E. 77E is an entertainment destination directed towards young customers and features shows, original web series, and events sponsored by AEO, as well as concerts, music, and movies.

The cool thing about 77E is that it enables young people who are searching the American Eagle site to join a new social community geared towards music, video, and concert fans. At 77E, you can even buy tickets to see some of your favorite artists at various concerts. One of my favorite features of the site is the diversity that it provides – a place for bloggers to share their spring break experiences and view photos, as well as a place for young adults to register to vote. They also have a New Music Weekly section, which features new and upcoming artists and allows you to e-mail music to your friends or even purchase the songs you love.

Even though 77E is new, I think it will easily become a very popular destination with the help of social networking. There is a link on the site that allows you to become a fan on Facebook, see what’s new at 77E on Myspace, and even allows you to email the 77E site to your friends.

Though I loved the site, I think there could be some room for improvement. 77E could benefit further by offering more personalization features. It would be cool if fans of the site could somehow log in and create their own home page specific to their interests and favorites, while still being able to browse new items they have not seen before. With so many features, events, artists, and videos on the site, I think an increase in personalization features would enable young people to easily head straight to their favorite new songs and bands, their most watched shows and videos or saved upcoming events.

Millennial Musings offers insight into the newest generation of online shoppers – with reviews reactions straight from those who represent this strong and growing market segment

[tags] fashion, entertainment, e-commerce, online shopping, social media, web 2.0, social networking, music [/tags]

Individuality is an important aspect to any age group, but particularly those in Generation Y. Companies are catching on to this trend, and offering their customers unique ways to customize their purchases to match their personalities.  Here, our Millennial gives her perspective on an ATG powered website that is providing this option online

Restoration Hardware

On the Restoration Hardware website, the Furniture Configurator enables customers to configure fabrics and colors on sofas, lamps and other furniture. Customers can go onto the website, decide which collection or style of sofa, loveseat, or other piece of furniture they like the best, and then pair it with their desired fabric and color choice to create a personalized piece of furniture for their home.

On the website, there are over 26 different collections, with many pieces within each collection and over 154 fabric options. This allows users to customize their own furniture to suit their taste and style, while creating items that are one-of-a-kind. Not only can you choose the fabric and color you want, but you can also decide which filling you would like, which includes either down or standard.

I like that you can order a swatch to make sure that it goes with your home, as well as view the fabric details. I also find it helpful that you can print off your different options to show people. However, I do believe it would be helpful if you could email your desired selection to a friend or relative, which is not a feature on the website. The color choices and fabrics will suit everyone’s taste due to the many designs, patterns, and choices offered.                          Millennial Musings offers insight into the newest generation of online shoppers – with reviews reactions straight from those who represent this strong and growing market segment
 

Have you ever purchased something at a boutique or in the mall, only to go home and find the same item offered online for much cheaper? Annoying, right?! Allison Knowles, ATG’s Millennial in Residence, explores this frustrating phenomenon of cross channel inconsistency when it comes to in-store pricing vs. online shopping. 
 

I was recently out shopping and I bought a bikini from the Victoria’s Secret store. It put me back $68.00, but I bought it anyways even though I would not normally spend that much on a suit, but hey, that’s what the VS credit card is for right? When I got home from shopping, I went on to the Victoria’s Secret website to view my always increasing bill, and decided to browse the site looking for the bikini I had just purchased. To my surprise, it was only $40.00 online! I was in shock that it could be so much lower online than it was in the store. After seeing the price difference, I immediately ran back to the store and returned the bikini that would have cost me an extra $28.00, and then purchased it online at a discounted price. I always thought that items that were in the store are the same price as they are online, especially at major retail stores. After discussing this with my co-workers the following day, I realized I was not the only one that had run into this type of inconsistency between in-store and online prices. My colleague Tucker (who does PR here) just had a similar experience.  He had gone into a multi brand retail store in Boston with the intent of purchasing some Original Penguin surf shorts that were priced at $70.00. Once he got home, he had looked up similar shorts online at originalpenguin.com, and noticed there were certain colors for only $20.00! After some further investigating on the site, Tucker had discovered these reduced prices were an “online only” sale, so it really wasn’t due to a lack of inconsistency on the part of Original Penguin…more like an effort to offer their online customers a reduced rate on specific colors.  
 

Part of the beauty of shopping online is that we go there to see if we can get things a tad cheaper than the store. But that works better for a brand that doesn’t have to worry about inconsistency between their own stores and their Web site.  There is definitely a lesson to be learned here for retailers: trying to maintain as much cross channel consistency as possible will actually be more beneficial to you in terms of sales and customer satisfaction, both in regards to your e-commerce sites as well as your brick and mortar stores.

 

Millennial Musings offers insight into the newest generation of online shoppers – with reviews reactions straight from those who represent this strong and growing market segment

[tags] e-commerce, Ecommerce, brick and mortar, brick & mortar, retail store, cross channel consistency, in-store, [/tags]

Picking out the right gift is always challenging, and sometimes even stressful. Add to that the time and budget restrictions of our age group, and it’s truly one of my least favorite things to do.  It would be great if more sites could learn from Personal Shopper (full disclosure:  they’re an ATG customer).  The kind of tools it provides has really answered the prayers of Millennials like me (and I’m sure lots of non-millennials, too!).

Personal Shopper

Every single year, my sisters and I get my dad socks, whether it’s for his birthday, Christmas, or Fathers day. We never know what else to get him and he is so hard to buy for, so every year he receives the same gift from us.  Knowing that one man can only have so many pairs of socks, I turned to the Personal Shopper website to see what it was all about, and more importantly, if it could save my father from yet another gift of foot fashion. Personal Shopper is a one stop shopping destination, offering millions of products from thousands of brands and designers, with categories ranging from fashion to toys.  One of the best features of the Personal Shopper website is that it customizes the shopping experience to the interests and preferences of each person.

This specific personalization feature on the Personal Shopper website is called My Gifts. It’s unique because it provides one source for all my gifting needs. I share a little information about the people on my gift list, such as their interests, occasion, and my budget. My Gifts then gives me ideas for each person and upcoming occasion. 

I love that they’ve given me a great solution to gift giving that actually offers great ideas, not random ones. I received over 132 awesome gift ideas for my dad, including a Pro-Tech Grill and barbeque set which I am sure he will love for his next birthday gift.

I only wish that more of the sites I shop on could be so helpful.  I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Millennial Musings offers insight into the newest generation of online shoppers – with reviews reactions straight from those who represent this strong and growing market segment. 

          [tags] e-commerce, eCommerce, personalization, product recommendations [/tags]