The Truth about Millennial Buying Habits
The millennial generation cares about the world around them and when they are buying, they are thinking about the social, environmental and philanthropic efforts of the companies they are doing business with. They are not buying the same things as other generations, as discussed in this video, but they tend to put more thought into the impact that is made with the dollars that they spend.
How Millennials Choose Who to Buy From
Millennials are a savvy generation and technology is the driving force behind many of their decisions. This means that they are turning to the internet to learn more about companies and the services and products that they have to offer. When it comes to internet and social media advertising, companies would serve them well to target the millennial generation since they have a major impact on their bottom line.
“While you can easily write social media posts that are vaguely tailored towards a certain niche, in order to avoid boring and general blog posts, you need to really understand what your customer wants to hear about,” writes David Tile, entrepreneur and founder of Article-Writing.co.
When creating blogs, social media and other digital content, companies need to not only tell millennials about new products and services, they also need to tell them why, as a company, they are good for the world, since this is what this generation cares about.
Traditional Advertising is Mostly Irrelevant
Traditional single product or service advertising is not effective on the millennial generation. Instead, this generation wants the company to advertise itself more than what they have to offer the average consumer. Most people of this generation avoid television and similar advertising. Instead, they look to blogs and the internet to get more information about the companies and what they are offering.
“33 percent of millennials rely mostly on blogs before they make a purchase, compared to fewer than three percent for TV news, magazines and books,” reports Forbes contributor Dan Schwabel.
Even more than the offered products and services, this generation cares more than a company is trustworthy and authentic. This needs to be readily apparent on the blogs in order to positively influence the millennial consumer.
Price Plays a Major Role in Millennial Consumer Behavior
In a growing economy, price tends to matter less when it comes to past generations, but for millennials, price matters even more that the economy is rising. Compared to all traditional purchasing considerations, the price is what influences millennial purchasing behavior the most.
“We see areas where millennials are willing to spend, but overall, they’re not levering themselves up to make their dollars go further; they’re being much smarter and much more conservative about their balance sheets,” says Goldman Sachs’ Lindsay Drucker Mann.
Common Purchases That Millennials Are Skipping
There are some items that their parents believe are a necessity, but this generation is skipping them. This could be due to a number of factors, ranging from wanting to save money to not agreeing with the company policies of the businesses that produce such products. Things millennials are simply not purchasing include: diamonds, homes, life insurance, cable television, lottery tickets and stocks.
The easiest and most effective way to appeal to the millennial generation is to go straight to their hearts. They are a savvy generation and one that cares more about the world around them than they do about material items. Because of this, all advertising has to focus on what companies are doing to improve the world more than on the products and services that they offer.