This is how the families of 25-34 year olds are shopping

Euromonitor International has published a report, titled ‘Millennial Parents: Transforming Family Life’. It contains the results of a global survey on the habits of Generation Y – 25-34 year old consumers. The report claims that millennial dads do many types of housework that women used to do in the past, e.g. buying food, cooking, washing, giving the kids a bath and dressing them; plus they also take part in the children’s activities more often. These things mean that it isn’t only women that are worth targeting with the marketing messages of food products any more.

The report revealed that 48 percent of respondents prefer spending their money on experiences to spending it on products. Therefore Euromonitor recommends it to retailers to turn shopping in their stores into an experience, e.g. by introducing virtual reality technology solutions. Their advice to confectionery manufacturers is to market products in a packaging that looks good in a photo, so that consumers will take a picture of it and post it in social media. One thing is sure about millennial consumers: They represent the biggest part of the population in every country, so it is worth paying attention to them.

Euromonitor International’s analyst Amrutha Shidhar explained: One of the most important reasons for the transformation is that women tend to give birth to their first child at an older age than before all over the world. This has in impact on the structure of the family, as more and more women pursue a career first. Still, 72 percent of Generation Y consumers feel that one can only live a happy life if they have children.

Euromonitor’s conclusion is that the dynamics of families and households are transforming, which means that brand manufacturers and retailers should target the whole family instead of focusing on just certain members. For parents that belong to Generation Y it is very important to spend time with their children and their husbands/wives, so it is a good idea to develop time-saving convenience products for them. Plus they also try to save money wherever they can, so they like economical products and services. //