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Talking 'bout My Generation

August 21st, 2012 - Posted by Ellen Hurwitch, Director of Operations - The Americas

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iPad

 

I was talking to some friends recently about the monikers given to each generation. The generation born in the fifties are known as Baby Boomers, then came Generation X (60s to 80s) then Generation Y (80s to 00s) also known as Generation We, Generation Next & Echo Boomers but what will the  next generation be called? We argued the point – we couldn’t decide if they should be called Generation Z, Millennials, The Net Generation, The iGeneration or Screenagers. My money is on Screenagers, why you may ask? Well have you had a look at this group lately? Weaned on Email, Texting, PC’s and iPad’s as their main form of communication, this group, to take a term from Jamie’s blog, are Web Natives and it all revolves around a screen of some description.

Why is this important when discussing Web to Print? According to a recent report by John Stewart for the National Association of Quick Printers, the average age of a print shop owner is mid-50s so there is a bit of a generation gap. Weaned on electronic devices, the new web natives don’t understand “relationship selling”. More and more of their social interactions are not face to face. Their relationship is with an electronic device or an app or a web page or forum.

The screenager generation represents a paradigm shift in the way people live, shop and learn. Expectations have evolved, people want infotainment rather than simple instructions and controls. Shopping is now interactive rather than simply a list of products. Information is now infographics rather than simple charts with numbers. So how can Web to Print catch the zeitgeist of the Screenager era?

Screenager print buyers are not only accustomed to communicating online they are, thanks to the increase in high speed connectivity, also accustomed to instant gratification. Print buying is easier thanks to Web to Print, it’s fast, it’s online and it provides the instant gratification that the new generation is already accustomed to.

It’s also quite likely that the screenager print buyer’s responsibilities are not limited to just buying print. Print is now just a part of the whole rather than being the whole. You want to make their buying experience as easy as possible.

Once you have a web to print system in place, it is a good time to look at who your existing customers are and have your staff create web sites for their print purchases.

Then, take your sales staff, sit them down, and walk them through the sites. Once the sales staff are comfortable with using the storefront portal, have them call their clients, those younger buyers, and let them show the users around the site….by webinar!!! Online to online, they’ll be talking the same language, and who knows, the Baby Boomer sales folks just might be able to teach the Screenagers a thing or two!