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Inside the
MILLENNIAL
MIND
The
Marketer’s
Handbook
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
The Rapid Rise of Millennials
3
Traditional Behavior and Consumption are Gone
4
How Brands Miss the Mark
5
Making the Millennial Connection
6
Brands Getting it Right
7
Ways to win with Millennials
8
Seizing the Opportunities
9
10
Next Steps
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THE RAPID RISE OF MILLENNIALS
POPULATION SIZE
POWER IN NUMBERS
Purchasing power
$1.68 TRILLION
61.7 m
54 m
75.6 m
39.9 m
Gen We
Millennials
Gen Xers
Boomers
Matures
0-15
16-34
35-47
48-66
67+
Average household income
$60,000
76.6 MILLION
THEY ARE CURRENTLY THE LARGEST GENERATION — SURPASSING EVEN BABY BOOMERS
Market
Size:
Source:(2013) Millennials: General Market, CEB Iconoculture Consumer Insights Fast Facts(2013) US Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, October 2013 release, via DaraFerrett
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TRADITIONAL BEHAVIOR AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS ARE GONE
Millennials are focused on amassing life experiences rather
than tangible objects, forgoing large financial commitments
in order to pay down debt and increase their savings. This
shift in spending priorities will define their generation for
decades to come.
6%
Average use of
monthly income
Donated
8%
Invested
24%
Saved
64%
A NEW OUTLOOK
Spent
Traditional milestones of adulthood are crumbling because of changing values and curbed
economic opportunities. The result is a generation living very differently than their parents were
at similar ages. Brands that insist on tying their marketing strategies to traditional values and
outdated rites of passage are missing the mark, and potentially inadvertently alienating masses
of convention-defying Millennials.
Values stronger
for Millennials
HAPPINESS
PASSION
DIVERSITY
SHARING
Values stronger for
older generations
Collective-focused values that resonate strongly
with Boomers such as duty, integrity and family are
not valued as highly by Millennials. On the flip side,
inward-looking and experience-oriented values
matter most to this generation.
Millennials
DISCOVERY
Baby Boomers
JUSTICE
INTEGRITY
FAMILY PRACTICALITY
DUTY
Source: (2012) PewSocialTrends.org – Average use of income Survey – December
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HOW BRANDS MISS THE MARK
76%
DISCOUNTING THEIR HARSH REALITY
Millennials took it on the chin during the Great Recession, and continue to fare worse
in its wake than any other generation. Most have never experienced any sustained
positive economic environment in their post-college lives. As a result, 76% of
Millennials worry about a lack of work (Gallup 2013 poll).
WAITING FOR THEM TO “GROW UP”
Brands waiting for Millennials to fall into a more traditional life stage progression and
those who view their current purchasing patterns as a temporary blip are missing the
point. Campaigns featuring formerly ubiquitous young adult experiences like closing on
a home or walking down the aisle don’t resonate with this segment. Millennials do things
on their own schedules and on their own terms.
FOCUSING ON STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE
As a heavily marketed-to cohort, Millennials are media-savvy skeptics adept at filtering
out marketing hype and set a high bar for quality. Hype hits home when it comes from
the consumers, not from the brand.
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MAKING THE MILLENNIAL CONNECTION
SPEAK AUTHENTICALLY TO CORE VALUES
Marketing campaigns that target broad lifestyle goals of happiness and success are best
positioned to click with the Millennial crowd. And brands that cleverly acknowledge shifting
social norms around life stages — or better yet dare to celebrate them — can forge an even
more solid connection.
AMPLIFY THEIR VOICE, SPOTLIGHT THEIR EXPERIENCE
Make Millennials’ outspoken sensibility work for your brand by crafting participatory
campaigns that foreground their actual experiences over dreary product details.
HELP KEEP THEM “IN THE KNOW”
Millennials love feeling like informed insiders, so facilitate discovery beyond the confines of
your product or service. Brands providing additional content or services that aid Millennials
in their cool-credibility quests can make a memorable marketing impact.
ENGAGE THROUGH:
PARTICIPATION
COLLABORATION
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& CO-CREATION
EXPECT SHARING.
ENABLE IT.
DON’T REQUIRE IT.
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BRANDS GETTING IT RIGHT
MADEWELL
Madewell rewards its social media followers with regular deals, discounts, promo codes
and exclusive sales. It’s a best practice because it does so much more than other fashion
brands — tweeting interesting third party information and sharing behind the scenes snaps
on Instagram. Madewell understands that a compelling mix of content and commerce is
required to keep Millennials engaged.
TIDE
Tide may not sound like a trendy brand, but they know what they’re doing when it
comes to targeting Millennials. Their dead-simple Pods have taken off with the legions
of flexibility-prizing laundry-schlepping Millennials, and their gender-smart messaging
deftly syncs up with the generation’s egalitarian values.
UBER
Uber is not a limo or executive car service, but it approximates the experience for just a
little more money than a cab, plus a heavy dose of sanity savings in the form of simple
mobile payment, pricing and scheduling. A positively disruptive service, Uber scores big with
Millennials by providing a simultaneously hip and practical solution to an everyday problem.
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WAYS TO WIN WITH MILLENNIALS
Millennials want brands that:
HELP THEM DO SOMETHING.
POSITIVELY DISRUPT THE STATUS QUO.
READILY FOLD INTO THEIR LIFESTYLE.
ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION.
ENGAGE INSTEAD OF ADVERTISE.
FEEL AUTHENTIC IN THEIR BRAND IDENTITY.
When brands market with key values in mind to address real consumer needs, they’ll find it easier to truly
satisfy the demanding Millennial consumer and transform them into powerful advocates.
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SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITIES
Now that you have a better understanding of the distinctive Millennial mind, keeping
abreast of their changing behavior and shifting consumption patterns is even more critical.
Whether you are a brand or an agency, let CEB provide you with the tools to stay on top
of an evolving landscape.
FOCUS YOUR MARKETING AND SALES EFFORTS
Gauge the market and validate strategy using our industry trends, consumer research and best practice case studies.
EQUIP YOUR TEAM
Increase the return on your marketing investment by optimizing your team’s structure and budget using team
assessment services.
Prioritize highest-impact activities using our project-focused scorecards, workshops and frameworks.
ACCELERATE GROWTH
Reduce time to market and increase impact of marketing initiatives through our advisory services, workshops, and tools.
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LEARN MORE
FOLLOW US
CONNECT
CONTACT
Related Services
CEB Iconoculture Consumer Insights
CEB Market Insights Leadership Council
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CEB Marketing Leadership Council
This article originally appeared
in the 2013, No. 2, issue of
The journal of high-performance business
Industry Report | Retail
Who are the Millennial shoppers?
And what do they really want?
By Christopher Donnelly and Renato Scaff
The digital prowess and market savvy of Millennials make
them a difficult group for retailers to bracket—do they
break all the rules, or are they more like other consumers?
New research puts to rest a number of Millennial myths
and provides insights marketers can use to engage and serve
tomorrow’s trillion-dollar demographic.
accenture.com/outlook
Millennials—born between 1980 and
2000—are both the 20th century’s last
generation and its first truly digital
one. This old century/new technology
dichotomy gives pause to marketers
attempting to understand and connect
with this key demographic.
But are Millennials really a unique
new breed of plugged-in, networked
savants? Or do these prized consumers share critical similarities with
previous generations?
To find out, Accenture conducted
proprietary global market research
on the shopping behaviors of 6,000
consumers, of which 1,707 were
Millennials, across eight countries
(see sidebar, page 5). We also looked
at the capabilities of 60 retailers
worldwide to determine whether
they were providing the customer
experience this generation demands.
To give some idea of the stakes involved:
There are roughly 80 million Millennials
in the United States alone, and each
year they spend approximately $600
billion. While originally typecast as
financially dependent teens, today’s
Millennials include young adults in
their 20s and 30s. Many have careers,
are raising kids and live in their own
homes. While Millennials are already
a potent force, they will truly come into
their own by 2020, when we project
their spending in the United States
will grow to $1.4 trillion annually
and represent 30 percent of total
retail sales. Millennials will have
a major economic impact in other
markets our research covered as well.
Although Millennials have earned
a reputation for viewing the world
through a uniquely digital lens,
our results found some remarkable
similarities between them and their
predecessors: the Baby Boomers (born
from 1946 to 1964) and Generation X
(1965 to 1979).
More than half (55 percent) of the
survey respondents, in all three
demographics, said that they seek
out “the cheapest return option.”
Forty-one percent of all three groups
said they practice “showrooming”—
examining merchandise at a nearby
retail store and then shopping for
it online to find the lowest price—
more often than they did a year
ago. This shift is due, in part, to
the current high penetration levels
of smartphones, which can enable
customers to search for an item easily,
even while in a store.
Thirty-six percent of those surveyed
from all three generations said they
will go online to buy from a retailer’s
website if they want a product when
the company’s stores are closed.
On average, 89 percent said
having access to real-time product
availability information would
influence their shopping choices
in terms of which stores they
would frequent.
The many similarities we found across
generations led us to challenge three
enduring myths about Millennials.
Myth #1: It’s all about online shopping
2
Outlook 2013
Number 2
Millennials are certainly very savvy
online customers, but that doesn’t
mean they’ve stopped frequenting
brick-and-mortar venues. In fact,
interviews conducted recently at
one of America’s largest shopping
malls confirmed our survey findings
that many members of the digital
generation actually prefer visiting
stores to shopping online. What’s
more, our research findings in the
United States were reflected in the
other countries where we surveyed
as well. Echoing countless generations
of canny shoppers, one Millennial told
us, “You want to touch it; you want to
smell it; you want to pick it up.”
Make no mistake: Online and mobile
channels are important to Millennials,
providing the information and
insights they need to find the best
products and services. Many hone
their shopping skills on the Internet,
checking product ratings and reviews
or feedback on retailers, for example,
to confirm that both product and
vendor provide the best value and
service, respectively.
One challenge for retailers is the
Millennials’ seemingly omniscient
grasp of prices and promotions,
which this generation expects to
be the same in stores as they are
online. To cash in on in-store retailer
promotions, Millennials also want
mobile coupon scanning capabilities,
and having to print out coupons prior
to shopping could be a deal-breaker.
One summed it up this way: “When
I get to the store, if I haven’t printed
out my coupon and I can’t use it,
I walk out.”
When it comes to shopping, we found
that 68 percent of all Millennials
demand an integrated, seamless
experience regardless of the channel.
That means being able to transition
effortlessly from smartphone to
personal computer to physical store
in their quest for the best products
and services.
Myth #2: Loyalty is lost
In a recent survey of retail industry
leaders, nearly 40 percent said
the No. 1 concern they have about
Millennials is their lack of loyalty.
But we found that Millennials can
be exceptionally loyal customers—
provided they feel they’ve been
treated right.
They demand a customer-centric
shopping experience—one tailored
to their wants and needs as valued
customers. As one shopper put it,
“You want to feel welcome when you
go to the stores.” In describing the
ideal shopping experience, a Millennial
noted, “There is [something] about the
product and its cost, but there’s also
a big part about being treated like a
valued customer.”
Many seek personalized, targeted promotions and discounts as the price for
their loyalty. “Loyalty programs are
big,” confirmed one interviewee.
We found that 95 percent or more
of Millennials say they want their
brands to court them actively, and
coupons sent via email or mailed to
their homes currently (or will in the
future) have the most influence on
them. Other channels, such as text
messages, have an influence on just
over half of all respondents in terms
of their shopping behaviors.
Myth #3: Millennials treat retailers and
brands the same as people on social networks
3
Outlook 2013
Number 2
Although Millennials are masters
of social media, they view Facebook
and other sites differently than many
marketers may assume, which can
lead to misunderstandings.
While clicking an icon on a social
network page might indicate that they
consider a retailer or brand cool or hip,
(Continued on page 5)
Myth busting
Millennials still like brick-and-mortar stores. In fact, 82 percent of them prefer
bricks and mortar.
91%
68%
80%
prefer shopping
in drugstores
prefer shopping in
consumer electronics stores
prefer shopping in
apparel stores
84%
83%
prefer shopping
in department stores
prefer shopping in discount/
mass merchant stores
Millennials can be exceptionally loyal customers: 69% say that when it comes to their
favorite retail store, a “closed” sign does not change their minds.
28%
37%
4%
will return to the store
the next morning
will buy the item from
the retailer online
will buy the item via
the retailer’s mobile app
It takes more than Millennials liking a brand or a retailer on social media to make
them loyal customers.
28%
will make a purchase due to a social media recommendation
4
Outlook 2013
Number 2
Source: Accenture analysis
About the research
To bring the needs of Millennial consumers and their potential
impact on retailing into sharper focus, Accenture undertook
a three-pronged research initiative that included a major, multicountry online consumer survey, a global retailer benchmarking
study and face-to-face interviews with 50 individual consumers.
Developing integrated merchandising skills, which requires
retailers to provide an integrated product assortment and
unified pricing across channels.
Putting in place flexible fulfillment and returns procedures
that offer customers multiple convenient options.
Consumer survey. We conducted an online survey of 6,000
consumers, of which 1,707 were Millennials, across the United
States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Japan,
China and Brazil.
Retailer survey. The second element of the research was
a benchmarking survey involving 60 global retailers
that focused on six capabilities and asked 80 questions.
The six capabilities are:
Providing a consistent customer experience regardless
of channel.
Offering connected shopping that allows customers
to move seamlessly across channels to fulfill a single
shopping mission.
Enabling personalized interactions through which retailers
effectively engage customers to offer the dynamic,
accessible and continuous shopping journeys, whether
in-store, online or via a mobile device, consumers desire.
Providing better, faster and more memorable customer
experiences.
Accenture matched the consumer and retailer benchmarking
surveys on a one-to-one basis to evaluate what is important to
customers compared to what retailers are actually delivering.
Face-to-face interviews. To bring the survey findings to life,
we interviewed about 50 randomly selected consumers at the
Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois.
(Continued from page 4)
that doesn’t necessarily mean they are
loyal customers. “I really don’t follow
my retailers on Facebook or Twitter,”
said one. Instead, they view social media
relationships with brands and retailers
as transactional. “Social media? I use it
to get deals,” offered another.
5
Outlook 2013
Number 2
a routine part of their conversations
concerning product information,
updates and special offers. “It’s not
like you’re communicating a deal to
[your friends],” one person explained.
“It’s more like, ‘Hey, I got this new
thing, this new toy.’ ”
Marketers, who are relentless scorekeepers, can easily mistake a pressed
“like” button for far more than it
really is—which, from the Millennials’
perspective, is basically a way to
find the best offers. “I do ‘like’ certain
retailers on social media,” one Millennial
noted, “especially if it gives me
access to coupons or deals or more
information. [Otherwise], I would have
to be pretty emotionally moved to just
‘like’ [a retailer] for no reason.”
The goal should be to create positive
buzz, to be talked about by Millennials.
Simply having a presence on social
media isn’t enough—the aspiration should
be to become the topic of conversation
for all the right reasons. Contrary to the
famous public relations maxim that all
publicity is good publicity, many firms
have found, to their regret, that the
negative online buzz they are generating
can zap both brand strength and sales.
Instead, companies need to engender
the type of positive online buzz that
can lift brands and sales alike.
To reach Millennials on social media,
a brand or product must become
Our research also highlighted the
quicksilver nature of social media.
For further reading
“Shoppers without borders,” Outlook
2012, No. 3: http://www.accenture.com/
us-en/outlook/Pages/outlook-journal2012-shoppers-without-borders-retail.aspx
“Serving the nonstop customer,” Outlook
2012, No. 3: http://www.accenture.com/
us-en/outlook/Pages/outlook-journal2012-serving-the-nonstop-customermarketing.aspx
“Harnessing the power of social media,”
Outlook 2011, No. 1: http://www.accenture.
com/us-en/outlook/Pages/outlook-journal2011-harnessing-power-social-media.aspx
For more related content,
please visit www.accenture.com.
Although Facebook remains by far
the largest social network in the
world, Millennials—perhaps as a
bellwether for the actions of other
generations—have begun to move
on. “[Facebook has] kind of died
down,” shrugged one. Others listed
their Facebook alternatives: Twitter,
LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest and more.
For retailers, this proliferation means
that where the conversation takes
place is constantly evolving. Next
year, it could be an entirely new
site; in five years, the social media
channel itself could morph into a
completely different form.
Driven by the Millennials and future
digital generations as yet unnamed,
we believe retailing will change more
in the next five years than it has in
the last 50. That’s because consumer
uptake of new communication
technologies has continued to compress
over the past 125 years.
Look at radio: It took more than
30 years to achieve a consumer
adoption rate of 50 percent. Mobile
phones took only 15 years to reach
the same level, and social media,
a mere 3.5 years. The message for
retailers is simple: While you had
literally decades to perfect your
radio-era go-to-market strategy, with
social media you will be lucky to get
a year, and in the future, a year might
be a best-case scenario.
Unfortunately, our research shows that
retailers are currently under-delivering
when it comes to the demands of
Millennials. When Accenture evaluated
more than 60 global retailers to
understand how seamlessly they
deliver the customer experience,
we found that most of them had big
holes in their approaches.
6
Outlook 2013
Number 2
We have identified six dimensions
as contributing to a seamless
retail experience. Today, most
retailers are making headway on
only two: providing a consistent
cross-channel experience and offering
personalized interactions. The other
four—connected shopping, integrated
merchandising, flexible fulfillment
options, and the capabilities and
enriched services that help make
the overall shopping experience
better, faster and more memorable—
remain works in progress.
Becoming seamless
We define seamlessness as the ability
to deliver a consistently personalized,
on-brand experience for each individual
customer, at every touchpoint—anytime
and anywhere. A seamless customerfacing retail experience will typically
include the following four components
(see chart, page 4).
To reflect customer demand,
retailers need to customize their
offerings across channels in the ways
Millennials want, which typically
boils down to providing better, faster,
more memorable service.
Retailers also need to integrate
their operational elements so that
they can have a single “conversation”
with customers, not one that
changes from smartphone to PC
to physical store.
IT platforms should be integrated
to unify their sources of data and
boost cross-channel transparency.
Finally, retailers will need to team
up with technology, data, analytics
and process partners to provide the
service performance Millennials want,
since they will not be able to deliver it
all themselves. As a result, successful
players are collaborating to strengthen
their customer value propositions.
For instance, a third-party logistics
provider can supply same-day delivery
services for online purchases,
enabling retailers to offer a service
customers want without having to
invest in an expanded delivery fleet
or new routing capabilities.
To improve their capabilities as
a seamless organization, we suggest
that retailers consider the following
five steps.
First, integrate the company’s
merchandising and marketing
departments with a unified position,
making the customer experience just
as important as product and price
considerations within the company.
Second, retailers should consider
ways to consolidate single channel
teams in order to serve customers
on an end-to-end basis across
the enterprise.
Third, retailers can organize their
store employees on two specialized
tracks, one tasked to serve customers
and the other focused on fulfillment,
since the two disciplines differ
dramatically from each other.
Fourth, companies should explore
Outlook is published by Accenture.
The views and opinions in this article
should not be viewed as professional
advice with respect to your business.
The use herein of trademarks that may
be owned by others is not an assertion
of ownership of such trademarks by
Accenture nor intended to imply an
association between Accenture and the
lawful owners of such trademarks.
For more information about Accenture,
please visit www.accenture.com
Copyright © 2013 Accenture
All rights reserved.
Accenture, its logo and
High Performance Delivered
are trademarks of Accenture.
ways to evolve their supply chains
to gain the capability of managing
their inventory holistically. That
means “forward” to the stores,
“backward” for returns and “sideways,” which involves sourcing from
other stores.
Finally, many retailers should think
about how to expand the metrics
they use to keep track of the company’s
customer handling performance, as
well as the incentives that drive it.
Normally, retailers look at samestore performance, but that dynamic
changes when companies use stores
to fulfill orders initiated online.
Questions arise, including which
channel should receive credit for the
sale? Who covers the cost of fulfillment? And how do you encourage
stores to support these shifts when each
is responsible for its own profitability?
Our research shows that Millennials
are not only transforming their own
shopping behaviors but those of their
parents, who are increasingly mimicking the demands of their children for
seamlessness as they climb the digital
learning curve. One consequence of this
evolution is that the retail environment
will probably change faster than many
companies expect in the coming years,
and many retailers will find themselves
falling further and further behind.
That’s because delivering products
and services in a truly seamless
fashion will require companies to
make profound changes across their
entire organizations—changes that
many seem either unprepared or
unwilling to make.
To close this emerging consumer
generation gap, retail leaders need
to take action now to provide the
seamless end-to-end experience
Millennials demand.
About the authors
Christopher Donnelly is the industry
managing director of Accenture Retail.
He is based in Chicago.
christopher.donnelly@accenture.com
Renato Scaff is an Atlanta-based
managing director in Accenture Retail.
renato.scaff@accenture.com
Student 1:
Millennial Shopping Behavior and Client Application
Shopping Behavior of Millennials
Millennials are now the largest consumer generation in the United States, containing 76.6
million persons, who have an average income of $60k (Corporate Executive Board, n.d.).
Marketers have often touted this generation as consumers connected to their digital devices and,
therefore, heavily influenced by digital marketing. However, research from the Corporate
Executive Board (n.d.) has found “millennials are media savvy skeptics adept at filtering out
marketing hype and set a high bar for quality.” Presumably this is because they are constantly
bombarded with advertisements, they have become skilled at only being influenced at
advertisements that peak their interest. To that end, millennials are more apt to trust products
from word of mouth referrals rather than a brand touting a products features.
Nevertheless, companies spend lots of advertising dollars trying to reach this large consumer
group. Brands that target happiness, success, and connect the consumer’s experience with a
product often find their marketing efforts are most successful with millennials (Corporate
Executive Board, n.d.). But, how does a company persuade a millennial to try its product(s)? By
offering a discount of course!
Millennials are perhaps very influenced by a product’s price. This is a large item companies
must consider, where as 80% of millennials are influenced by price (Freed, 2016). Further, “twothirds of millennials say they will switch brands if they are offered a discount of 30% or
more” (Freed, 2016). If a company wishes to connect with the millennial consumer, they must
constantly be engaging with the consumer and also very aware of how their product is priced
relative to other products on the market. Accenture conducted a survey of the shopping behaviors
of 6,000 consumers which provides some insight into how millennials wish to learn about and be
influenced regarding a product’s pricing. About two-thirds of the respondents were millennials.
The survey found that 95% or more of Millennials want their brands of choice to court them
constantly, sending them coupons in the mail or email (Donnelly & Scaff, 2013).
Contrary to popular belief, millennials actually do a lot of their shopping in store versus online
(Freed, 2016). However, there is a big discrepancy within the millennial age group as to their
shopping preference. Older millennials are more likely to purchase items online. However,
younger millennials are more geared towards purchasing items in person (Kestenbaum, 2017).
Millennials, like previous generations, want the opportunity to touch, smell, and pick up a
product before purchase (Donnelly & Scaff, 2013). Yet, it should be noted that millennials will
typically spend less time in a physical store than shoppers of previous generations (Freed, 2016).
Yet, regardless of the time spend in store or at home researching a product, millennials expect a
streamlined experience. It would be helpful for companies to heavily invest in Customer
Relationship Management systems to ensure offerings are maximized across all marketing
channels and the company can keep track of a specific customer’s praise and/or concerns
(Donnelly & Scaff, 2013).
Insights for the Client Project
This week’s articles provide additional insight to the millennial consumer. Notably, this
consumer group is very sensitive to price. Therefore, our client should be cognizant of the
specific price point they will place on Mr. Batter. Further, they can also influence millennial
consumers through price promotions, such as coupons. But, this group also has the unique desire
to obtain a unique ‘value’ for their dollar.
In addition to cost, ingredients are a top concern for this consumer group according
to Innova Market Research’s survey of younger millennials (Atchley, Roesler, & Wiber, 2018).
This is increasingly true when it comes to bakery products, which are often eaten at breakfast,
similar to our client’s pancake product. Further, millennials allocate the highest share of their
grocery store budget to prepared foods, sugar and sweets, and pasta (Cernansky, 2018). Notably,
the first three food categories listed require minimal preparation. Both of these behaviors are
good news for our client, whereas their product, Mr. Batter, is on the sweet side and requires
minimal preparation.
Lastly, Mr. Batter can also highlight ease of use to this consumer population. In addition
to preparation time being less, Mr. Batter also requires less clean up time. Millennials spend the
least amount of time per week on food presentation and clean up than previous generations
(Cernansky, 2018). Again, this is a positive highlight of the customer experience as a result of
Mr. Batter’s unique formulation. Mr. Batter should be able to connect millennial consumers by
emphasizing the product experience.
Comment:
Student 2:
Understanding Millennials
Out of all the generations, millennials have the largest population size, are focused more on
experiences than physical objects, and have a high standards of quality. Values are different
for millennials as compared to previous generation, so traditional marketing tactics will not
be effective. To make the connection with millennials, companies must engage through
encouraging participation, collaboration, and co-creation. Similar to the example of Uber,
DreamPack should market itself as a hip and practical solution to an everyday problem,
which is in this case, lack of time.
The main differentiator for millennials is that 68 percent of them want an integrated and
seamless experience, which must be a priority for DreamPak. As long as millennials have
been treated right, they will be loyal consumers. This involves having a customer-centric
shopping experience that is catered to what they want. It will be necessary for not only
having a strong presence on social media but also becoming millennial's topic of
conversation in a positive way. Millennials make purchasing decisions in a social
collaborative way, which are often reflected online. To gain millennial approval, a company
must be present in multiple channels and constantly deliver seamless experiences (Bhatia).
Another option is to offer products with a low price, as 80% of millennials would purchase
products based on the cheapest option. Additionally, according to the Accenture article,
89% of survey respondents said having real-time access to product information influences
what they buy in terms of going to stores, but this also would impact what products they
purchase.
I agree with the Washington Post article in that some millennials enjoy making a purchase
in person as compared to online, but I think this really depends on the genre of products.
For food, in particular, many enjoy purchasing in person so they can physically see that
what they are paying for isn't spoiled. The same goes for millennials making a quick
purchase without much thought, especially when it comes to shopping for clothes from a
store that consumers trust. When a brand is not known to a millennial, they won't make a
purchase without researching a brand online. DreamPak must consider that they have to
have an online presence so that consumers feel that they can trust the brand before
purchase.
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