Boldly Go.

They're 10 to 17 years old. Not exactly what most clothing or accessories retailers would consider their prime demographic. But a sizable portion of Generation Z have made purchases at a physical store based on friends' social media feedback.

You might as well call them "The Smartphone Generation", because a world without smartphones is beyond their experience. Smartphones & WiFi. More than 90% of them say a strong WiFi signal is important when shopping.

(Drum roll, please.) Ladies and Gentlemen!  MEET THE FUTURE OF RETAIL!  Stay tuned for "Coming Attractions".

55% of retail execs surveyed mistakenly mentioned "price sensitivity" as their number 1 challenge. They think the online giants are their competition.

But they might be shooting themselves in the foot. Yes, "industry giants"' pressure is real, but in-store service, competitive differentiation and customer dissatisfaction are more important.

Customers' as their top 3 complaints are long lines (more than 3 out of 4 respondents identified this as a reason they leave), interaction with salespeople (almost half of them), and sales pressure (again, more than half).

Millenial parents of Generation Z kids are shopping brick & mortar stores, because their children do. "BUT WAIT!!!" he said, excitedly, "THERE'S MORE!!!"

Free WiFi makes Generation Z (and their parents) spend more time in your store, but it also blazes new trails to bring them to market.

For example:

• Encourage them to post selfies, or tweets using your store hashtag as "Ambasadors" for your brand;
• Offer a discount for social media check-ins (Imagine reaching the entire social network of just one Gen Z'er. Don't forget their millenial parents!);
• Include a coupon or discount for WiFi logins;
• Incorporate a Loyalty feature.

We can help you with all of that (shameless plug).

In 2016, 10.7 exabytes per month (that's ONE MILLION gigabytes) were "offloaded" from mobile networks onto WiFi. 4 years from now, that will be an estimated 83.6 Exabytes per month.

All that data will flow through 15.3 MILLION business Hotspots.

"If" you should have Free WiFi isn't the question. And it's not "whether". The only question that might arise is "Why didin't we?". But you'll be asking that one from home.

The New Generation is here. ENGAGE.