Photo 1: A.T. Kearney’s Todd Huseby spoke at the NACDS Regional Chain Conference about the fascinating differences among millennials, centennials and Gen Z in terms of their response to retail.
Photo 2: Brian Owens, vice president of retail insights at Kantar Retail, brought great insights on “The Retailization of Healthcare: Issues and Solutions for Community Pharmacies.”
NACDS conferences are known for featuring top speakers presenting on the most timely topics and the recent NACDS Regional Chain Conference was no exception.
The health and wellness trend spans all age groups, but is being propelled in large part by millennials. Health and wellness also present substantial business opportunities. The global market for health and wellness offerings reached a reported $686 billion in 2016 and is expected to grow to $815 billion by 2021. This indicates a significant mainstream trend that presents business opportunities for retailers across a broad spectrum.
That’s why it was great to get some perspective on these issues from the experts. Regional Chain Conference presenters Carol Cruikshank and Todd Huseby from A.T. Kearney spoke about millennials, centennials and Gen Z and revealed that Gen Z is more visual and processes eight-second snippets of information. Gen Z is also more visual because the cognitive portion of their brain is more developed from the constant use of multimedia devices. Those devices may have affected their attention spans—which are 33 percent shorter than millennials—but seventy-seven percent of them said that brick-and-mortar stores are their preferred shopping venue.
Brian Owens, vice president of retail insights at Kantar Retail, brought great insights on “The Retailization of Healthcare: Issues and Solutions for Community Pharmacies.” The session provided a strategic approach to understanding best practices related to health and wellness initiatives, retail services and strategic partnerships, now and in the future. As consumers continue to focus on health and wellness rather than the acquisition of expensive material items, it is essential for retailers to stay ahead of the curve.
More great programming is coming up for the 2018 NACDS Annual Meeting, April 21-24, in Palm Beach, Fla. NACDS recently announced that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will speak at the April 23 NACDS Political Action Committee (NACDS-PAC) Breakfast. It’s a good bet renowned columnist, author and political analyst Peggy Noonan will shed some fascinating light on the current political landscape. It will be exciting to hear from the always-captivating bestselling author Jim Collins, who first appeared at an NACDS Annual Meeting in 1996.
Lots of positive topics and conversation to reflect on—and look forward to.
