FEATURE — Generational Trends
Understanding
Generational Trends By Whitney Livingston and Alan McKeon
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aby boomers are retiring, Generation X is mid-career and millennials are entering the workforce, the first generation to grow up fully immersed in the digital age. The retail industry is going through the biggest generational shift since the baby boom, marking an important time to understand each age group. How does the era in which we are born shape our consumer habits? Our purchasing power? Our interests? Do we want designer labels or a nest egg? To understand more about what defines each group, we analyzed who they are, what they value, and how they engage technology in their consumer habits.
Millennial spending power, the “jeans” concept and the grocery evolution
Women’s Wear Daily, in partnership with Berglass + Associates, conducted a retail study determining that millennials’ annual spending power in the United States is $200 billion. They are expected to outspend baby boomers by 2017 and are influenced by online brand advertising more than keeping up with their friends’ consumer habits. When it comes to dealing with money, baby boomers were traditionally known to spend, while Generation X saved. Generation Y combines characteristics of both—they “earn to spend,” as they value time and work-life balance over the workaholic boomer generation, inventors of the 50-hour work week. We can trace the evolution of shopping, branding and psychology through the ways in which each generation purchases clothing
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and groceries. Boomers will buy seven pairs of jeans because they value acquisition and quantity, while their children value quality. Generation X saw the onset of boutique brands sprouting up with price tags and exclusivity far beyond the stalwart household names like Gap and Levi’s. They became more attracted to the likes of 7 for All Mankind and Citizens of Humanity as a means to differentiate themselves from their peers. Meanwhile Generation Y relies on style to make a statement — vintage, pre-washed or skinny. Similarly, grocery stores went from selling the same Kraft and Oscar Mayer packaged goods and frozen dinners during the boomer era, to touting hundreds of small-scale, locally sourced organic lines of pressed juice, kale chips, soy milk and beyond. Generation X and millennials are health-focused and willing to pay a premium for seasonal boutique brands and farmer’s market goods over the convenience foods of their parent’s generation. While baby boomers valued the suburbs and the convenience of a Sam’s Club or big box retailer, Generation X and Y are trending toward urban environs and are more interested in a greener, lighter footprint on the environment and their utility bills. Over time, the shopper’s environment has shifted from enclosed malls of the boomer generation to the open-air centers with entertainment and lifestyle options of today. According to a survey conducted by the Urban Land Institute, Generation Y spends more time researching products, price comparing and scrolling through online clothing and retail sites as opposed to the impulse shopping of prior generations.
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