How Millennials Are Changing Shopping Habits & the Economy

April 29, 2024
ALEXANDER

How Millennials Are Changing Shopping Habits

If you were born between 1981 to 1996, researchers have you labeled as a Millennial, aka Generation Y. Millennials are the children of Baby Boomers and Gen X. This generation is described as the first global generation, the first to use the internet and be very apt at using social media and personal tech devices...hello, smart devices. Though this generation has experienced the advance of tech as a way to ease everyday life, this generation has also seen the slowest economic growth since entering the workforce and has been bogged down by student loan debt. This generation is categorically slower to get married or live together and has typically had fewer children than their parents and their parents' parents. We are too busy working!

Though millennials have been given a bad rap by being defined by a selfie-stick or are considered lazy because they don't own homes at a young age, they have become more educated about what is happening in the world around them, have become more in tune with physical and mental health, and are open to more ideas that shape the world. The debate could go on and on with every other generation having its opinion. But what the economy can't deny is how this generation has changed shopping. Here are some random ways Gen Y'ers are changing things up.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chief Meme Officer (@humorous_resources)

High heels are still in fashion, but they are not the mainstay shoe choice for women. Boots, sneakers, and more casual fare are now the leaders. This generation is too preoccupied to be worried about killing your feet to look good in less than practical footwear. We are running around from job to job! Maybe the drag queen boom will help out the high-heel industry, but most women are not conforming to a fashion choice that was considered to supplicate male desire in the workplace.

On the flip side of that, unless you're a bank manager or a lawyer, business suits and ties are becoming less common in the work place. Even CEOs are taking to wearing jeans and polos. If you are killing yourselves working around the clock, the last thing you need is a tie at your neck. Also, COVID changed this as a cross-generational event, we got casual being at home month after month and we can't squeeze ourselves back into a blazer. You'll only see a gay in a suit if it is flashy, covered with florals, and at a Drag Race premiere.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial Misery (@millennial_misery)

Being tech and social media-savvy users, millennials will always spend money on smartphones. Though there haven't been many major advances in recent iterations of smartphones, there should be some major enhancements on the way and that generation will surely line up to buy. Some phone manufacturers have tried to appeal to the charm of earlier phones by bringing back a flip version, that hasn't really taken. We want the newest and shiniest. Lock us into a 20-year contract! Sign us up! And we will pay for that Grindr-Xtra upgrade!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial Misery (@millennial_misery)

Even with Margot Robbie developing a Monopoly movie and Clue getting a reboot, less and less Gen Y'ers are buying board games. First of all, we don't really gather regularly as a family as much anymore. Secondly, we play video games or games on our phones. Gay game nights have given way to reality show-watching parties or just straight-out orgies.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial Misery (@millennial_misery)

We don't have leftover money to put towards a life insurance policy. Also, less of the millennial generation is investing in stocks. The stock market has been not to reliable and with our credit and student loan debt, we need that cash on hand! Funny, we will pay for a $18 martini at The Abbey. Priorities!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial Misery (@millennial_misery)

Millennials, remember how our grandparents and our parents used to run to buy lottery tickets? We just don't We are well versed in the statistics and we don't want to spend our hard-earned money by throwing it down the trash each week. A Gallup poll revealed that 61% of people aged 50 to 64 still play for lottery tickets, while only 33% of millennials participate.

This is a funny one. Generation Y isn't using razor blades as much. We are sporting neat beards or two-day-old scruff. First, it is in fashion for our generation and second, we don't have time when we have to wake up early for two jobs to pay our rent.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial Misery (@millennial_misery)

We don't send letters or postcards, and...what's a stamp? Everything is messaged via text and social media. Bills are paid online. The art of letter writing is gone, we don't have the time and our new generation doesn't even know how to write in cursive. And for the bitchy ones, we can just send a nasty message to you on Sniffies.

Remember having to tag along with our moms to go to the grocery store? That was never fun unless we got to put some stuff in the cart or ride in the cart like a race car. The millennial generation is just not going to the supermarket. Food boxed services, Ubereats, and Instacart are giving us our daily rations because it is efficient, we don't have to talk to anyone, and it is fast. Plus, what gay wants to be seen at the store putting Double Stuff Oreos in their cart?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial Misery (@millennial_misery)

We like our soap in bottles not as a bar. "Don't drop the soap!" may be a thing of the past. We don't trust germs and other people's cooties that can rest on a bar of soap. We like to squeeze it out of a bottle ourselves and we like that some versions can wash your hair, your face, and your body all with one dollop. Research by MarketWatch states that 60% of Gen Y doesn't want to use a bar of soap as compared with 60% of 65 and over being avid soap bar users.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial Misery (@millennial_misery)

We don't like to clean up breakfast dishes. We don't like to eat cereal. New York Times reported that 40% of millennials don't eat cereal. We are usually throwing something handheld into our mouths on the way out the door and we don't want to have to worry about unsticking hard grains in the cereal bowl when we get home. Most of us gays just skip breakfast altogether unless it is a Sunday Funday brunch.

Car sales are on the decline but even more so are motorcycles sales. We consider them unnecessarily dangerous, they don't have room for all of our things, they mess up our hair, and we can't afford them as fun accessories.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Millennial Misery (@millennial_misery)

We rent, we pay a lot for rent. 88% of millennials live in cosmopolitan areas. And while we will force ourselves to pay high rents, we still can't afford or qualify for mortgages in areas close to where we work.

Believe it or not, fast food is something this generation is consuming less of. Health concerns and overall food quality expectations are not met by the food we were fed as kids. Next! We are also drinking less regular milk and eating less beef.