Tag: millennials

Venmo is finding success among a younger generation

Venmo, a payments firm based in New York, may become the flagship mobile commerce facilitator among millenials. Younger generations are finding physical currency to be bothersome, opting instead to use digital currency and store their financial information online. The massive popularity of mobile technology has begun causing a major shift in the commerce world, and millenials choosing to forsake physical money are at the heart of this shift. Firms like Venmo may stand to benefit from this trend.

Younger generations often cause a shift in technology and society and mobile commerce is coming out on top

This is not the first time that a younger generation of people have caused a major shift in society. Traditional telephone land lines are no longer popular thanks to the growth of smartphones, which received strong support from young consumers. Young people are also abandoning traditional television services, opting instead to get the majority of their entertainment online in some form. Mobile commerce has managed to find a great deal of success in various sectors, and young consumers have helped secure this success.

Venmo processed $314 million during the first quarter of 2014

Venmo has processed some $314 million in mobile payments during the first quarter of this year, a 62% increase in the payments it processed in the prior quarter. The Venmo application has become quite popular with younger consumers, with many of these people using the app to send money to their friends and pay for products online. One thing that sets Venmo apart from its competitors in the mobile commerce field is that there are no fees associated with transferring money through the mobile application.

Some mobile payments firms are finding more success than others

Venmo is not the only mobile payments firm that has found success by engaging younger consumers. There is no singular platform that these consumers favor, however, and they frequently jump from one mobile payments service to the next. This fickle nature has made it difficult for some firms to find lasting success in their competitive market.

As adoption of smartphones and reliance on these devices skyrockets, marketers are connecting with this generation.

The adoption of smartphones is clearly taking off throughout every age group, but while mobile marketing is presenting a tremendous opportunity, marketers continue to struggle to discover exactly which tactics should be used to make sure that they continue to connect with mass audiences.

They are seeking to be able to engage consumers in a meaningful way as they have through traditional means.

A recently released report from The Intelligence Group has shown that the “Millennials” generation is particularly open to receiving mobile marketing ads and promotions, and are among the most likely to engage with brands by way of their smartphones and other portable gadgets. That said, the report indicated that as that group continues to mature, marketers will need to keep on top with their evolving expectations.

The importance of mobile marketing, particularly to this generation, has been outlined in a growing research body.

The Intelligence Group chief strategy officer, Jamie Gutfreund, stated that “Brick-and-mortar retailers need to integrate mobile into their offerings as much as possible to provide a more streamlined and manageable in-store experience.” Failing to make the necessary adjustments for this generation, and failing to keep up with their changing needs will only cause businesses to suffer.

This is underscored by another study conducted by the Vivaldi Partners Group. Its CEO, Erich Joachimsthaler, added that mobile marketing will not simply be a matter of social media strategies. He explained that “Unless Facebook evolves, mobile marketing will not be as dominated by Facebook because Facebook is useful for only a specific task and set of activities today, and it does not cover a large part of the consumers and their activities and needs online.”

Joachimsthaler also pointed out that it will be up to marketers to identify specifically which consumers should be targeted, and how they will best be able to engage them. The reason is that mobile ads and efforts to engage consumers will be considerably different from one consumer to the next, depending on a number of different factors, such as age.