Dive Brief:
- Acosta’s new “The Why? Behind the Buy” report revealed that supermarkets that can provide a shopping experience full of robust digital offerings will better attract millennials, according to Supermarket News.
- The report found that millennials enjoy shopping with others. This trend is continuing in younger generations; nearly 75% of Generation Y respondents said they like to shop this way, compared to just 60% of the overall shopping population. Hispanic millennials especially like to shop with others, with 88% often shopping with at least one other person.
- Meal kits is one way retailers can get millennials into the store, with 45% of the segment’s shoppers saying they would like to take cooking classes and learn the proper way to prepare a meal.
Dive Insight:
Earlier this year, millennials surpassed baby boomers as the United States’ largest living generation, at more than 75 million strong. It’s no wonder that grocery retailers want to do all they can to attract this generation to their stores.
It’s also important to keep them coming to the stores, as a recent report by MyWebGrocer revealed millennial consumers account for about 33% of online grocery shopping.
Acosta’s research found 39.1% of items in millennials’ shopping baskets are organic — compared to 25.5% for shoppers overall — so adding more organic items is one way retailers can attract this segment of the population. Millennials are also a more adventurous set of eaters, and are attracted to different foods, enhanced salad bars and ready-to-eat meals.
But analysts say it’s more than products that bring millennials into stores, and retailers need to amp up digital offerings that better cater to this group. Retailers should be providing digital product content that includes up-to-date ingredient and nutritional information, as well as recipes or cooking guides, to become a resource for this generation.