What Do You Think You’re Doing? That's Not the Cheapest One...

Posted by: LeeAnn Taylor

“Put that back down, what are you thinking?” “What do you mean quality? Of course I like good food…but I like my money too, and I have no intention of parting with any more than humanly possible.” “Well, if you want to go throwing your money around then it’s certainly none of my business!” (A bold statement since EVERYONE knows that if I gave birth to you… it is most definitely my business)

And so it goes, my foray into the mind of my oldest Millennial, who is apparently pretty typical if you believe what you read in most of the recent research and analytics on these mind blowing Millennials. A trip to the grocery store with him was enough to give me apoplexy. If you ever really want to see the gulf of difference in our two generations, that excursion should do it for you. How Millennials go about choosing a brand is defined by so much more than just a price point. Now I’m not saying price isn’t important to them because it clearly is, but there is so much more that factors into this decision. They will not hesitate to spend the extra 10¢ or 20¢ if, they believe there is value and quality there. Value to Millennials is defined by more than just price, it's things like “Box Tops” for education programs. They really look at what a brand brings to the table, it’s personal for them in a completely different way. Are they sustainable, not like in green foot print or carbon emissions sustainable but what does this brand do for its community, how do they provide for their employees kind of sustainable.  And here’s a big one, how do they interact with the consumer, what kind of games or competition do they offer?  “What kind of what??” Are you kidding me, my brands were supposed to be playing games with me all these years?…I feel kind of ripped off right now. Here’s where I learned my new word for the month…Gamification. If you want to capture your portion of the millennial pie it’s something worth investigating. 

A completely foreign concept to my old way of thinking but here it is. 48.6% of Millennials perceive their stores private label brand equal in quality to major label brands? They are more knowledgeable on branding than you’d think. They have not been taken in by the attempts to advertise “at” them, in fact they hate it. But they are watching you Mr. Brand so you’d better get their attention in the right way. So to my way of thinking, whether you’re product branding, or you’re an independent store branding yourself, the same principles apply. Boost, brag, put all your good stuff out there on the table for them to see. Get real and keep their shopping experience personal for them…thats where you will get your “value” with my Millennials.

#grandmillennial

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