I like mine blended, slightly tan with a hint of vanilla flavor….And I hate to admit it but I love my single serve fancy coffee machine. Don’t shoot me please. I know... I know… I defected over to the dark side. I have to say in my own defense though that it’s really my daughters fault since she bought me the dang thing for Christmas 2 years ago. (I feel so indulgent when I rev that thing up) So it was really no surprise to see the numbers this week in SN for center store categories. Right there at the top was specialty single-serve coffee and coffee additive/flavorings. And hands down I personally take responsibility for drinking my fair share.
My boys will be happy to see that they have successfully contributed to the steady incline in the craft brew numbers too. I guess good old beer just isn’t good enough for Millennials anymore. Gone is the “Champagne of Beers”, “just the kiss of the hops”, Schlitz “Tall Boys”, “Where there’s life…there’s Bud” and the chilled mountains of Coors days. Now it’s Lager this, or IPA that. And what the heck is a Lime Straw-Ber-Rita? Is it a beer or a mixed drink? It’s all way too confusing for me. Every time I gather these Millennials to the house (really so I can see my grandbabies… so shhh) they are toting in some “new” craft beer I’ve never even heard of. Then the very next visit they have a completely new and different one…always trying to one up each other these boys of mine.I keep seeing these Millennials driving and shaping the aisles I shop in. Specialty coffee…on the rise 7.6%, craft beers 3.5%, wine 5.5%, healthy snacks 2.6%. All the while key center store categories like frozen foods, soups and most intriguing, cold cereals plummeted down -3.1%. But true to form the perimeter store categories, every one of them, have jump up drastically. I tell you, the independent retailers who are making their mark early are the ones who are jumping into the millennial fire pit of marketing. The Neilson numbers don’t lie. It’s happening. Deli’s, Bakery’s, butcher cut beef, poultry and pork, natural cheeses and fruit and vegetables are all making their marks…with big numbers too. I admit it….I find myself shopping in these same categories more and more these days.
Some of it’s because I’m being influenced by my millennial kid’s purchases, some by the availability of more and more local produce and fruits, and sadly, some out of the pure convenience and increase in quality of ready-to-go foods. (Face it, I’m getting older) Don’t misunderstand me though, I still walk those aisles…old habits are hard to break. I see fewer and fewer of the young crowd on those long treks up and down aisles….most look like me now, the older crowd still trying to hang in there and make our mark while we can. But I see those days fading fast…along with my hair color and my caboodle. (which my daughter now calls “vintage”) So as much as it hurts me to say it, let me go. Don’t give me the shelf space I once demanded. Find those new healthy and specialty items my millennials like. Bring in more cause-driven products and locally sourced jams and such. Expand the natural and organic selections. Craft beer the heck out of it and market it loud. Make the center store a place the millennials want to shop with items that excite their “oh so epicurean palettes" I might even buy them too…
#grandmillennial
Blue Skies Everyone!
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