Over the past few years there's been a shift in the make-up of the workforce, a transformation which will become increasingly important looking into the years ahead. Millennials, or generation Y, are an ever-growing proportion of our society and workplaces: a recent study from EY forecasts that by 2025 millennials will make up 75% of the workforce. Flexible, adventurous, values-driven and tech-savvy; millennials are making their impact felt on virtually every consumer industry and now we are starting to feel the impact in the corporate world.
EY's report also points out that, over the next few years, more and more millennials will be moving into management roles. This heightened responsibility will often entail a degree of business travel. I believe the time is ripe for us to consider what rail travel in particular can offer millennial business travellers.
The business of sharing
One of the things that really makes this younger generation of travellers and consumers stand out is its preference for new and disruptive modes. Whether it's shopping, working or travelling, millennials are open to doing things differently. As 'digital natives' they are comfortable with companies and services that reach them through mobile apps and new technology platforms. In particular millennials show strong interest in using sharing economy suppliers such as Airbnb, Uber and BlaBlaCar. Businesses are responding to this demand for the sharing economy among their millennial workforce by looking at ways to incorporate these options into their corporate travel programmes.
On one hand the sharing economy poses a competitive challenge for rail companies. But on the other it has opened up a new stretch of uncharted territory with opportunities to create products, services and processes that answer the expectations and needs of this growing customer segment and leverage its willingness to try new approaches and experiences.
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By its nature rail puts travellers 'in' the destination which appeals to new travellers ©Geber86/iStock
It's worth noting that not only do such sharing economy options often provide a lower-cost offer to price-sensitive younger people but, most importantly, they also offer an 'authentic' experience of a particular country, city, or neighbourhood — authenticity being a key millennial value. As more business travellers demand a higher level of authenticity in their business trip, travel managers and rail companies have an opportunity here to capitalise on rail travel's intrinsic ability to ground travellers in the scenery and daily life of a particular place, both on board and at the station.
Ultimately by moving to respond to millennial travellers' needs and preferences rail companies will ensure they are one step ahead of the evolving traveller. Enhancing the traveller experience will allow rail companies to benefit from new revenue opportunities and increased customer loyalty which could shift some corporate travel spend.
Many rail companies have, in fact, already embarked on this process and are now innovating with new products and services inspired by sharing models - exploring new ways to create a rail travel experience that attracts this new type of traveller.
For example, Renfe offers travellers the opportunity to buy four seats at a table at one time allowing them to fill the spaces either with colleagues or family, or by sharing the available seat space with connections or friends on social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook — a service that will appeal to the millennial traveller's instinct for social sharing. SNCF, meanwhile, invested in car-sharing service Ouicar in 2015.
These are great examples of the kinds of products and services that are complementary to traditional rail offerings and which will appeal to this growing traveller segment.
Personalising the experience
Merchandising and personalisation are also key means of delivering a journey experience in line with millennial expectations. For example, one frequently-referenced millennial trait is a heightened concern about maintaining a healthy work-life balance while at the same time blurring the lines between the personal and professional lives. Bearing this in mind, millennial travellers could be more likely to explore 'bleisure' opportunities and add leisure days onto their business trip. We could see rail companies team up with other travel providers, tourist boards and retailers to create and offer tailored packages for business travellers.
Personalising such offers effectively will require a deeper understanding of the individual traveller, their preferences, motivations and behaviours whether they are on a business or leisure trip. Developing a holistic view of the traveller as an individual will equip rail companies to develop the products and services that will appeal to both the business travellers of today and those of tomorrow. But the travel technology offered by their employee needs to be able to adapt these changes for the benefits to be maximised.
An intuitive and seamless journey
Generation Y is the most technologically fluent generation and this in itself poses new challenges and opportunities. They are more likely to make use of multiple devices when researching a journey from reading reviews on an iPad to checking prices on a laptop or making a final booking via mobile. Travel managers, via rail companies and the right technology, need to be able to offer this flexibility in the booking process. Booking a journey is no different: the modern business traveller expects to be able to book an entire journey including air, ground transport and accommodation in one place and to make changes to this on-the-go if need be.
Millennials expect seamless simplicity when it comes to transactions and processes. Convenience is of course key for all travellers but there has been a shift in what exactly this means for business travellers. Technology is seen as an enabler for greater control and having complete control of every aspect of the journey is now the defining point of convenience for many travellers. Travel managers need to find the balance between giving travellers some control within tools that meet their needs for compliance and reporting.
Greater integration of transport modes from door-to-door, both at the time of booking and on-trip, will help to build travel experiences that meet these expectations and encourage generation Y travellers to put rail at the heart of their journey. Ensuring consistent visibility of rail across all distribution channels, including those favoured by corporations and business travellers, is vital to achieving this.
Millennial business travellers are challenging railways, and other travel providers, to innovate. The rail companies that respond with flexible, mobile, personalised products, services and solutions are those that will succeed in capturing the loyalty of this increasingly prominent and important traveller segment.