Marketing to Millennials: What You Need to Know

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you marketing to Millennial consumers? If not, you might want to reconsider. A new study, American Millennials, from Barkley, Service Management Group and The Boston Consulting Group, reports that this generation is three times as large as Generation X and even larger than the Baby Boom generation. Also sometimes called Echo Boomers, the Millennial’s dates aren’t precisely defined but they’re generally considered those born from the late 1970s to the late 1990s or very early 2000s.

Because of this generation’s sheer size, “understanding Millennials’ needs, tastes and behaviors will clearly shape… future business decisions,” noted Barkley senior vice president Jeff Fromm in announcing the survey results. Here are some of the survey’s findings about this crucial generation and how they live, think and shop.

• Millennials watch significantly less TV than non-Millennials, with only 26 percent watching more than 20 hours a week (compared to 49 percent of non-Millennials). When not watching live TV, Millennials are much more likely to watch shows on their laptops (42 percent), via DVR (40 percent) or On-Demand (26 percent).
• Millennials are heavily influenced by friends and acquaintances. Some 70 percent of Millennials reported feeling more excited when their friends agreed with them about where to shop, eat and go for entertainment.
• Although the majority of all respondents shop alone, Millennials were more likely than non-Millennials to shop with their family or friends in tow.
• Millennials are mobile. More Millennials than non-Millennials reported using a mobile device while shopping to research products (50% versus 21%)
• Millennials are adventurous. Some 70% of Millennials want to visit every continent in their lifetime. They also prefer excitement in shopping or dining out, generally preferring loud background music and a casual atmosphere.
• When it comes to restaurants, Millennials are more likely than other age groups to patronize fast-casual eateries. They also love to snack, and are more than twice as likely as older customers to visit restaurants for snacks mid-morning, mid-afternoon and late at night.
• Millennials care about style. When shopping for clothing, they demand fashionable sales associates and are more likely than other groups to leave a store (or never enter at all) if the salespeople aren’t dressed stylishly.

Image by Flicker user Saxon (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Friday, September 23rd, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Generational Marketing, Marketing, sales process, Small Business, small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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