Credit unions are financial institutions, not retailers. Right? Right?
Well maybe. Financial institutions don’t get to market new jeans or sell MP3 players, but they do have to attract and keep attention just like the folks at Target or American Eagle.
What follows are some credit union takeaways from an excellent YPulse interview with the authors of the new book Gen BuY: How Tweens, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail.
- Retailers that serve Gen Y well tend to blend more entertainment and surprise into the shopping experience and ask consumers to partner with them rather than just buy, says author Kit Yarrow.
- The quickest way to turn them off? “Hype, insincerity, making it all about you, not seeing the individual in the mix, being a know-it-all or all-powerful.”
- There’s been a healthy upturn in financial and credit literacy among Gen Y in the past two years. They’re thinking a lot more about money, spending, and borrowing.
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I totally agree that there are so many great ideas credit unions can take away from retail – especially when you consider how successful retailers are at experiential marketing like infusing smell and sound into the shopping experience. One thing we have to keep in mind, though, is that Gen Y is heavily into internet banking, so any retail-like experiences a credit union provides need to translate across to its website or other online, social media channels.
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Well, since CUs are rooted in the consumer co-op movement, their role as “retailers” is pretty key. Let’s not forget, though, an important piece of credit unionism that can be made to appeal strongly to Y. For the generation of the iPod and iPad, the idea of “my” (as in, I own it) bank can be powerfully appealing if presented well. This idea isn’t usually discussed in general business lit. because it assumes a sole proprietorship/Joint Stock Corp. model, but the cooperative structure can be powerfully leveraged…
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