A Conversation With ... Diana Haytko

Normally, I teach the essentials of advertising and the advanced advertising classes. I do a lot of research in retail. My research area of interest is mostly Generation Y shopping motivations and patterns. Generation Y is 13–25 or so.

Why did you choose that age group as the focus of your research?

Part of the reason why I got into the whole Gen-Y shopping thing is because I was doing some research for the National Association of Shopping Centers, and what the research had shown was that mall usage was down for every age group except for teenagers. Most people’s attitudes toward teenagers in the mall was that they were loitering and causing problems. The research found out that the teenagers are the ones spending the most money at the mall. … What they’re doing is going through all the stores and picking and choosing what they want to buy when Mom brings them back. The mother-daughter (relationship) is the mainstay of the retail industry.

What sorts of patterns have you found for Generation Y?

(It) is so different from generations in the past, because they don’t utilize traditional media. They don’t read newspapers, they don’t watch TV, (and) they don’t even listen to the radio, because they live by their iPods and their cell phones and the Internet. In order to reach Generation Y to sell them anything, it needs to be Internet-directed.

What retail trends are aimed at consumers as a whole?

The mainstay traditional shopping malls have really shifted focus. The hottest thing in malls is the lifestyle mall, which is what (Battlefield Mall) has turned to … an outside area where the stores aren’t linked into a central mall. I don’t like it in a climate where you’re going to suffer cold in the winter or hot in the summer. It’s OK in a climate like Florida, where you can walk around outside. But if you notice, with the redesign of Battlefield Mall, even the inside areas are all focused on lifestyle and trying to encourage people to stay at the mall.

How can retailers identify and reach their target markets?

The majority of retailers, the mistake they make is not talking or listening to their customers. They see market research as an expense instead of an investment. You need to do market research to talk and listen to your customers and figure out who in the world your customers are and then meet their needs.

A great example of something here in Springfield is the whole Clary’s/Fish thing that’s going on. One of the things James Clary said was the reason Clary’s didn’t succeed after (he opened Fish) … was that the over-focus on customer service wasn’t there. The food was great, the atmosphere was OK, but it was the service that was above and beyond.

What does Springfield’s abundance of Wal-Mart Supercenters say about our demographics?

Demographically, this town is able to sustain that many Wal-Mart Supercenters. The average Wal-Mart shopper is in their 30s and making less than $30,000 in annual household income. That’s why we don’t have Costco – that’s the downside. But if Costco would come analyze the market, Costco would notice that there is money here. All they have to do is go drive through Millwood or drive through Highland Springs. But you have to have somebody on the ground looking, and not just checking numbers put together by people who aren’t here in Springfield.

Tell us about your work in China with the Liaoning Normal University-MSU College of International Business.

I oversee the business part of it. It’s a four-year program. The first two years have been run out of West Plains, giving them an associate’s degree. The students are in Dalian, China. Next year, we’re going to have up to 700 Chinese MSU students (there). We have more than 100 who will come here this year, either to get Master of Business Administration or to finish their business degree here.

Do you enjoy shopping? Where?

Absolutely. In China; it’s amazing, because even though its currency … has really gone up in the last couple of years (making) things a little less affordable, less affordable means an extra dollar. A 20-minute cab ride in China is less than $2 and DVDs are 75 cents, American. The shopping over there is unbelievable. A lot of it is counterfeit stuff … but you can get it for $15. They’ll change things, like Versace to Versage … and most people don’t notice. But massive amounts of companies have their production facilities over there (with legitimate goods).

Interview by Features Editor Maria Hoover. You can e-mail her with suggestions for future installments of this feature at mhoover@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]