- They're tech-savvy!
- They hop from job to job!
- They want meaning and purpose!
- They're multi-taskers!
I get it. While I'm a little too old to be a Millennial myself, I really respect this generation. I even included a chapter on some of the best stereotypically Millennial success strategies in my free e-book, The Big Free Book of Success. (You can download it here for free).
Still, I think there's no substitute for cold, hard numbers--especially if part of your motivation for wanting to understand Millennials is to do business with them. And thanks to TD Bank, we've got some surprising numbers to share.
TD Bank polled 1,500 Millennial consumers, asking them about their buying habits. They use cash more often than we might have imagined, they have a healthy fear of debt--and they aren't particularly interested in earning points or cash back on credit card purchases.
In terms of sheer volume, TD Bank found something else interesting: Millennials shop more often than older Americans, but they're bargain-hunters--meaning that they spend less money--except for one particular kind of shopping. When it comes to this kind of purchase, they outspend everyone else, by a significant margin.
"The only category where Millennials spent more than Gen X and Boomers is on coffee and fast food - demonstrating a need for food on the run and frequent doses of caffeine," according to a TD Bank press release about the survey.
Coffee and fast food, huh? Maybe it makes sense--they're younger, maybe a little less likely to have families yet. But peel back the onion a bit, and there might be something else at work.
The slightly longer answer, ironically, is that people no longer have time to read a longer answer. Millennials, Gen Xers, Boomers--we're all in the same boat. We're all pressed for time.
So, if you want to create a product or service that Millennial consumers are likely to want, all else being equal, it seems you can't go wrong with efficiency and convenience. The want quality, sure--but they also don't have time to sit around and wait."
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