Consumerism in the Millennial Age Executive Summary In no generation is the aftermath of the recession more pronounced and In this white paper, you will learn the following: • ingrained than in millennials. How post-recession consumers differ from their predecessors • What the “sharing economy” is, and how the concept of value has shifted Millennials came of financial age during a period of acute economic decline and subsequent unstable and slow recovery. Millennials have seen that jobs and material goods can be lost, that homes can go into foreclosure, and that the ability to remain mobile for a new career opportunity or a worldly experience is paramount. At the same time, technological advances have brought about an era in which immediate access – to information, to skilled labor, to entertainment, to opportunity, to material goods and to everything in between – has become not only possible but expected. Businesses today are faced with a considerable shift in consumer priorities, along with the consequent emergence of a new competitive landscape. In order to compete in this new economy, in which permanent roots are eschewed and access trumps ownership, companies may need to reevaluate some common assumptions about the nature of consumerism. • How marketers can adapt their strategies to better reach millennial consumers Contents Introduction 4 Post-recession spending behavior 5 Millennials come of financial age 6 Consuming experiences, not goods 7 Redefining a product's value 8 Global-scale accessibility 9 An alternative economic perspective 10 Collaborative commerce in practice 11 Sharing underused and high-cost resources 13 Sharing knowledge and skills 14 Marketing challenges 15 Looking forward 18 Introduction Perhaps more than any other generation, baby boomers in their prime valued the luxury of ownership and full-service – a characteristic resulting from numerous factors, including growing up with parents who lived through the Depression and the rise in commercialism following WWII. A “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses” mentality, along with a generally optimistic nationwide sense of economic strength, led to a lot of shopping, a lot of buying and a lot of collecting. Things have changed. The economic downturn in the late 2000s hit a lot of people hard and resulted in sweeping changes in attitudes and habits, resulting in a shift from “consumption mania” to a whole new economy. 1 Priorities have shifted from demonstrating “status” with the permanent trappings of the American dream to “status updates” focused on key – but generally fleeting – moments and thoughts. Today, dollars are more likely to be spent engaging in activities that can be shared via social media, as well as purchasing the devices with which to share them, than making sure one’s lawn mower is as impressive as the neighbors’. CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 4 Post-recession spending behavior In an article in Millennial Marketing, culture-trends analyst Tim Stock of Parsons School of Design in New York was quoted as saying, “The recession has left us acutely aware of the fallacies of finance and the need for sustainability.” 2 Post-recession consumers routinely base shopping In the midst of all of this price- and socially- decisions on which store or website offers the conscious spending, material goods take the back lowest prices after perusing weekly advertisements seat to experiences. Consumers may bargain shop and performing online research for the best deals. for household goods and groceries, but they are 3 They shop locally. They are aware of which producers loathe to deprive themselves of daily consumable have policies that protect the environment, support luxuries, such as a cafe mocha latte at the local “cruelty-free” initiatives or benefit those in need. coffee shop or on-demand TV. 4 Moreover, if today’s consumers visit a premium store, Although people will always consume, we have they typically do not “stock up” in one trip but begun to view shopping as a necessary evil and make several additional stops to discounters and become more thoughtful and deliberate about how supermarkets, as well as making online purchases. our resources are spent. CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 5 Millennials come of financial age One group in particular, the teens and adults of today, categorized as “millennials” (generally considered those born between 1980 and 2000), have come of financial age in the post-recession era and taken these consumer behaviors, including the daily indulgence of a coffee or an online streaming service, one step further. Millennials are different from their parents. While there are always exceptions, millennials are typically more transient than their predecessors; as they seek out the work-life balance and the In early 2016, Marie Kondo’s guide to decluttering, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, has held a number one spot on the New York Times bestsellers list for well over a year. It’s only one communities with which they feel most comfortable, of a wealth of books and websites devoted to they often change jobs and move from place to place. eliminating excess, downsizing, “tiny houses,” 5 Millennials are also products of the “digital age,” and other similar topics. in which convenience trumps status, and experiences – along with the ability to instantly share them In a March 2015 Washington Post article, Jura Koncius with the world – overshadow nostalgia or tradition succinctly stated, “The 20- and 30-somethings for tradition’s sake. don’t appear to be defined by their possessions, Thus, it is no surprise that it is the millennial other than their latest-generation cellphones.” 6 generation that has embraced the current movement toward simplified living or “decluttering.” Where people once purchased books on effectively organizing their belongings, today the focus is on letting go of those belongings. CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 6 Consuming experiences, not goods Millennials are marrying and becoming parents at a much later age compared with previous generations. Delaying these milestones has made it easier for millennials to engage in the authentic and worldly experiences that they desire, particularly through international travel.7 Having fewer material possessions facilitates personal mobility, not only making it easier to relocate for a job opportunity, but also making it easier to travel in general. If you can carry all of your necessities in cell phone storage – and a backpack or duffel bag – you can leave on a moment’s notice. This love of travel has not translated into an uptick in car ownership; in fact, car ownership among millennials has reached historic lows. So, whether at home or on the road, how do millennials obtain access to cars or other seldom-used products that they may occasionally need if they don’t own them outright? It is access to travel that is important to millennials, not the actual ownership of the car. 8 CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 7 Redefining a product’s value We’ve come to realize that being able to use a product doesn’t necessarily require owning it. If it’s something you can access conveniently and inexpensively, there’s no need to shell out good money to make it “yours.” For example, today’s consumers have eagerly adopted new technologies that essentially replace things they used to buy outright, such as Netflix for movies or Spotify for music. Having access to movies and music is just as good for many people as owning physical versions of those things. Unless you’re just into collecting stuff, the value of a product isn’t in its ownership – it ’s in the ability to use it as needed. As noted in a March 2013 article in The Economist, “Before the Internet, renting a surfboard, a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible, but [it] was usually more trouble than it was worth.” 9 People could share resources with friends and family on a small scale – borrowing a friend’s pickup truck to move furniture, crashing with friends while one’s duplex was being tented for termites – but it was all small-scale. Until fairly recently, we had few truly powerful tools for sharing resources in a meaningful way. CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 8 Global-scale accessibility Today, we have a variety of Internet-based services that In the past, if you were visiting another city for a few days, your accommodation options were limited to staying with friends or spending cash make resource sharing easy on a motel or a hotel. and affordable. Today, even if your friends don’t reside near your For many years, it was unthinkable to get around home through Airbnb – and you can be an Airbnb without owning a car, unless you lived in New York provider when others are visiting your area. City or another major city with comprehensive Similarly, services such as Couchsurfing.com let public transportation. you crash on someone’s couch or in a spare room Now, you can use Uber or Lyft for occasional rides or share vehicles on demand with services such chosen destination, you can stay in a stranger’s for free, as long as you repay the favor for other travelers in your town. as Zipcar or Car2Go, and GM’s Maven allows users to reserve rental vehicles with a smartphone app. In many cities, you can even use bicycle-sharing services for short trips through downtown. CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 9 An alternative economic perspective Because the driving force behind millennials’ behavior in the market is the need for access, not ownership, the stage has been set for a robust sharing economy. As Rachel Botsman noted in her 2010 TED Talk, The Case for Collaborative Consumption, “no one needs a drill; they [sic] just need the hole.” 10 The power drill is a perfect example of an item that everyone needs to use from time to time, but few people actually need to own. The sharing economy, also referred to as collaborative commerce, is built around the notion of spreading the cost of ownership across several users. The more users, the cheaper the item is for each person. In the collaborative economy, if you own it, you can rent it to someone; if you don’t own it, you can rent it from someone. Consumers defray their personal cost of ownership by finding other users – or waiting for those users to find them – who need something they own, from homes and cars to household items and power tools. One user takes on the upfront cost of purchasing the item, but that person can recoup it over time from other users. Eventually, the owner could even turn a profit. Of course, one doesn’t need a degree in economics to conclude that a rapid increase in this type of sharing is directly at odds with the very nature of consumerism. If consumerism is defined as “a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in even greater amounts,” 11 how does consumerism integrate with a collaborative economy, which exists primarily to minimize the purchase of goods? CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 10 Collaborative commerce in practice In the shadow of the American economic crisis in 2008, some consumers found peer-to-peer commerce especially appealing. As an Economist article stated, “Some see sharing, with its mantra that ‘access trumps ownership,’ as a post-crisis antidote to materialism and overconsumption.” But these attitudes do not necessarily translate into behavior. For example, Adam Berk’s Neighborrow, a site that was dedicated to helping neighborhoods engage in local collaborative commerce, had thousands of registered users. However, Berk was unable to get even three of them to make a transaction. Berk told Fast Company magazine that even though the local borrowing service made perfect sense on paper, he couldn’t get people to buy into the concept. Instead of sharing perfectly good tools, he said, people “go buy [a drill]. Or they just bang a screwdriver through the wall.” 14 The Fast Company article, titled “The ‘Sharing Economy is Dead, and We Killed It,” makes some excellent points, but its focus is concentrated on the sharing of physical goods, with the power drill being the ubiquitous example. The September 2015 article states that of eight sites dedicated to the idea of locally sharing tools and similar products, only one, NeighborGoods, is still in business. 12 U.S. ADULTS' PERCEPTIONS OF COLLABORATIVE COMMERCE 13 86 IT MAKES LIFE MORE AFFORDABLE 83 IT MAKES LIFE MORE CONVENIENT AND EFFICIENT 76 IT’S BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 78 IT BUILDS A STRONGER ECONOMY 63 IT'S MORE FUN THAN ENGAGING WITH TRADITIONAL COMPANIES 89 IT'S BASED ON TRUST BETWEEN PROVIDERS AND USERS % % % % % % CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 11 One reason for the slow adoption of that service model bucks more. Borrowing loses much of its luster might be that the math just doesn’t add up for certain when it’s virtually as cheap and convenient to things. That’s the take from Ron J. Williams, the make a purchase with a couple of clicks. founder of a company called SnapGoods. Regardless, local product sharing resources keep Williams offered this example for the Fast Company popping up, including a platform called MyNeighbor. article: “For a drill, which by the way now costs Cofounder Brendan Benzing told Fast Company he’s $30, and you can get it on Amazon Now and have convinced that “things will be different” for their this thing delivered to you in an hour if you live in creation: ‘It’s not often the [first] company ... tends New York City – for something worth $30, is it really to succeed. It’s the 10th or 13th.” worth your time to trek potentially 25 minutes to go get something that you spent $15 to use for the The same modern technolog y that lets people day, and then have to trek back?” easily communicate their needs for borrowing Even if you don’t live somewhere that has Amazon items also lets them purchase items cheaply Now, you can get free two-day delivery through and have them delivered right to their front doors. Amazon Prime or next-day delivery for a few PERCENTAGE OF U.S. ADULTS PARTICIPATING IN THE SHARING ECONOMY 15 42 % 22 22% % SERVICE PLATFORMS 11% (HANDY.COM, CARE.COM, TASKRABBIT) 10 % 19% 9% OFFERERS (UBER, LYFT, SIDECAR) MOST OFFERERS ARE ALSO USERS. TOTAL PARTICIPATION IS 44% 17% ACCOMODATION SHARING RIDE SHARING USERS CAR RENTAL 14 % 6% (CAR2GO, ZIPCAR, GETAROUND) (AIRBNB, VRBO, HOMEAWAY) FOOD & GOODS DELIVERY 11% 7% (INSTACART, POSTMATES, CAVIAR) CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 12 Sharing underused and high-cost resources While it may be true that the average drill owner uses the tool for only 12 to 15 minutes in its entire lifetime, purchasing one is a fairly low-hassle 14 endeavor for most consumers. It’s simply easier to buy a drill, even if it means leaving it unused in a closet or garage most of the time, than it is to arrange to rent one. This is not true for homes or cars. Renting an apartment for the weekend or hiring a ride has a much lower opportunity cost than buying either item. Companies that can identify products and services that are more troublesome to purchase outright than they are to rent have the opportunity to succeed in a collaborative economy. Uber and Airbnb are successful collaborative commerce companies because they specialize in resources that are much more difficult to own than to rent. Having a car or home that sits idle is economically suboptimal to paying an affordable rate only when you need transportation or accommodations. CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 13 Sharing knowledge and skills Information is an excellent example of both an their internal teams with the expertise of independent underused and a high-cost resource. professionals to complete large-scale projects quickly Today’s technology makes access to expertise and efficiently. abundant and convenient. For example, in 2007, Chris Lintott, a researcher and science communicator Today’s companies can maintain small in-house at the University of Oxford, invited the public to teams and rely upon scalable, remote talent only help him perform scientific analysis of a million when needed to complete creative projects, such galaxies; today the result of that initial brainstorm, Zooniverse, is one of the most popular and successful as content development, data management and quality assurance. citizen science projects in the world. Similarly, while playing a collaborative online Closer to home, it will almost always be more efficient game called Foldit, gamers from around the world and less costly for a consumer to rent the services solved a complex protein-folding problem within of an expert than to become one. three weeks that had baffled AIDS researchers for Just as many homeowners are more likely to call a over a decade. plumber or a handyman to make home repairs for And companies are discovering that if they require them, individuals having technical issues with their a temporary team to complete a large project, they laptops can now let an expert remotely access the can save time and resources by dividing the project computer to fix the problem. into multiple small tasks and assigning them to Finally, for medical needs that require a hands-on thousands of skilled freelancers. solution, not a virtual one, there’s Heal, described These projects are not limited to automated tasks in a Forbes article as “an app to find doctors or or application of hard sciences either. With the nurses who make house calls for a fraction of the advent of virtual workforce platforms, companies cost of the ER.” 16 have access to a cost-effective tool for supplementing CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 14 Marketing challenges Businesses today, and particularly retailers, must redefine the value of their products in reference to the sharing economy. Capitalism can continue to thrive if this generation of retailers embraces the new economy and takes the time to adapt to the values driving it. When marketing products for sale to end users, manufacturers and retailers must highlight functionality COLLABORATIVE COMMERCE COMPANIES WITH REVENUES OF OVER $1 BILLION 18 while also addressing millennials’ basic values. Although lower cost may be attractive to millennials, a higher-priced product that is judged to be green, timely, useful, versatile and of high quality may be deemed worth the investment by this new generation of consumers. 2 Social networks can be harnessed to help facilitate trust in local and regional businesses that make quality goods. A bigger marketing target is the sharing economy, which will potentially double in 2016. Millions of micro-entrepreneurs are joining the collaborative commerce bandwagon, which currently boasts 17 companies with revenues of over a billion dollars. These visionaries will demand original and groundbreaking advertising campaigns and have the resources to fund them. 17 CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 15 COLLABORATIVE COMMERCE PROJECTED REVENUE GROWTH BY SECTOR 20 SHARING ECONCOMY SECTOR TR ADITIONAL RENTAL SECTOR PEER-TO-PEER LENDING AND CROWFUNDING EQUIPMENT RENTAL ONLINE STAFFING PEER-TO-PEER ACCOMODATION CAR SHARING B&B AND HOSTELS BOOK RENTAL CAR RENTAL DVD RENTAL MUISC AND VIDEO STREAMING 2013 2025 A company that can offer underused, high-cost Although half of millennials state that a poor goods and services (particularly lodging, automobile online review of a business would not stop them use and professional services) in a convenient from frequenting that business, marketers cannot package is positioned to capitalize on consumer downplay the importance of the personal opinions goodwill toward the collaborative marketplace of friends and peers on millennials’ consumer without succumbing to consumer apathy toward behavior. 19 In fact, positive feedback holds even its relative inconvenience. greater weight in the realm of the sharing economy Most importantly, however, technology has facilitated – 69 percent of consumers in a recent survey the broad sharing of information, and strong stated that they would not trust a collaborative personal networks and connections have followed. commerce company unless recommended by Marketers cannot ignore the fact that this information someone they trust. 13 sharing among millennials extends to the methods by which they make purchasing decisions. In fact, this new spin on “word-of-mouth” endorsement or criticism has the potential to make or break a product’s success from a marketing standpoint. CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 16 Social media platforms make it easier than ever to share personal experiences with goods and services, both positive and negative. With the Connecting with Consumers in the New Economy 13 • click of a button or the tap of a finger, a post can replacements, but as supplements, to your reach hundreds of thousands – and even millions – operations; develop new revenue streams “by of consumers. Particularly if a site is well-traveled facilitating peer-to-peer or other like-minded and trusted, the effect of a positive or negative review may be almost instantaneous. marketplaces.” • It may have been said in the past that there is no media and their reputations on it, allowing them Focus marketing messaging on product quality and consider developing quality maintenance such thing as bad publicity, but businesses today must be prepared to consistently monitor social Consider alternate business models not as programs for potentially shareable goods. • Tap into millennials’ sustainability awareness by highlighting product longevity and to both capitalize on the good and engage in participating in waste-reducing practices. immediate damage control regarding the bad. • Focus on offering consumers experiences in addition to – or as extensions of – purchases of material goods. • Monitor social media outlets and interact with consumers in real time. • Focus on a seamless purchasing experience, from initial product introduction through research and ultimately actual purchase. CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 17 Looking forward In a very impersonal digital age, millennials are getting back to the basics of connecting with others – albeit largely through the use of technology. They value sharing meaningful experiences with friends and family and view ownership of material things as financial and physical obstacles to these experiences. While collaborative commerce has emerged as a commerce, finding ways to make the sharing of natural extension of this shift in values, ultimately physical products more convenient and affordable its popularity is not predicated upon a desire to will be key to broader adoption. share or to join a community. As with all consumer On the other hand, there will always be items behavior, it’s entirely about convenience. Just that must be owned outright. Businesses can take because something can be shared doesn’t mean heart in the fact that America was built on the it necessarily will be; if the process is not either concepts of consumerism and ownership, and it’s easier or more affordable (and preferably both) than likely to be some time before most Americans the traditional means of using products and feel comfortable with the idea of broadly sharing services, it’s unlikely to replace the status quo. the items they use on a regular basis. The typical consumer will push a button for a ride W hen marketing to millennials, the key is to because it’s easier than buying a car, visit the remember that, when they do make purchases, it emergency room because it’s more convenient is after careful deliberation – usually after consulting than scheduling a doctor’s appointment, or order friends and family – and with a keen eye toward a power drill from Amazon because it’s more price, quality, value and sustainability. convenient than asking around the neighborhood for one. For those eager to adapt their business models to leverage the rising popularity of collaborative CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 18 Sources 1 The end of stuff envy. May 14, 2014, Marian Salzman, Forbes. 12 All eyes on the sharing economy. March 7, 2013, The Economist. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mariansalzman/2014/05/14/the- http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21572914- end-of-stuff-envy/ collaborative-consumption-technology-makes-it-easier-people- 2 rent-items Millennials becoming ‘minimalists.’ May 2010, Millennial Marketing. 13 http://www.millennialmarketing.com/2010/05/millennials- PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. becoming-minimalists/ http://www.pwc.com/us/en/technology/publications/assets/pwc- 3 consumer-intelligence-series-the-sharing-economy.pdf Recession has changed consumer behavior forever. January 15, The sharing economy: Consumer intelligence series. 2015, 2015, Richard Meyer, News Media and Marketing. 14 http://www.newmediaandmarketing.com/recession-has- Sarah Kessler, FastCompany. changed-consumer-behavior-forever/ http://www.fastcompany.com/3050775/the-sharing-economy-is- 4 dead-and-we-killed-it How American consumers shop now. September 2014, Consumer The ‘sharing economy is dead, and we killed it. Sept. 14, 2015, Reports. 15 http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/11/how- Katy Steinmetz, Time Magazine. Exclusive: See how big the gig economy really is. Jan. 6, 2016, america-shops-now/index.htm http://time.com/4169532/sharing-economy-poll/ 5 16 What is the tiny house movement? The Tiny Life. http:// Want to be the next Airbnb or Uber? You need to understand the thetinylife.com/what-is-the-tiny-house-movement/ sharing economy. Nov. 7, 2015, Forbes. 6 http://www.forbes.com/sites/bijankhosravi/2015/11/07/want-to- Stuff it: Millennials nix their parents’ treasures. March 27, 2015, Jura Koncius, The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/boomers-unwanted- be-the-next-airbnb-or-uber-you-need-to-understand-the-sharingeconomy/#2715e4857a0b5f63fdf27b43 inheritance/2015/03/27/0e75ff6e-45c4-11e4-b437-1a7368204804_ 17 story.html biggest customer. September 14, 2015, Steve Olenski, Forbes. 7 http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/09/14/5-reasons- 5 Ways millennials are redefining ownership culture. October 13, 2014, Kipp Jarecke-Cheng, Media Post. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/237314/5-ways- 5 reasons why the sharing economy will become marketing’s the-sharing-economy-will-become-marketings-biggestcustomer/#5cd70d4c1ce8 millennials-are-redefining-ownership-cultur.html 18 8 (and 10 unicorns). June 4, 2015, John Koetsier, VentureBeat. Generation Y and consumerism: Waning interest in car ownership a sign of deeper shift. January 28, 2016, Daniel Tencer, Huffington Post. The sharing economy has created 17 billion-dollar companies http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/04/the-sharing-economy-hascreated-17-billion-dollar-companies-and-10-unicorns/ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/18/generation-y- 19 consumerism-ownership_n_2500697.html consumerism. A millennial central report. 2014, Mom Central 9 Consulting. The rise of the sharing economy. March 9, 2013, The Economist. http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573104-interneteverything-hire-rise-sharing-economy 10 The case for collaborative consumption. May, 2010, Rachel Botsman TedxSydney. http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_botsman_the_case_for_ collaborative_consumption?language=en 11 Emergence of the social consumer: The impact of Intrepid millennial explorers: Changing the face of modern http://momcentral.typepad.com/files/intrepid-millennialexplorers---changing-the-face-of-modern-consumerism-2014.pdf 20 The sharing economy – sizing the revenue opportunity. 2015, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. http://www.pwc.co.uk/issues/megatrends/collisions/ sharingeconomy/the-sharing-economy-sizing-the-revenueopportunity.html personalisation, localization and social collaboration on consumerism. 2011, Tatjana Petkovska Mirchevska, Ph. D. & Sonja Markova, MBA. http://www.upet.ro/annals/economics/pdf/2011/part3/PetkovskaMarkova.pdf CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 19 About OneSpace is a revolutionary talent management platform designed to support a multichannel talent strategy. We empower enterprises to streamline their operations with an agile workforce. To date, OneSpace has built a continually growing talent network of more than 500,000 freelancers and facilitated more than 120 million completed assignments for clients such as eBay, Facebook, Hallmark, Orbitz, Overstock, Sears and Staples. 33 Bronze Pointe Swansea, IL 62226 (855) 276-9376 [email protected] CO N S U M E R I S M I N T H E M I L L E N N I A L AG E 20
© Copyright 2026 Paperzz