Marketers Cash In On Millennials’ Love of Organic Coffee, Craft Beer

If you are a retail marketer who hasn’t already cashed in on the millennial market, you’re probably doing it wrong.

New research reveals that global retail sales for organic foods, men’s grooming products, speciality coffee and craft beer have soared within the last 14 years because of the buying power of millennials. As a general rule, they are willing to spend more money for higher quality products.

Move over Starbucks. The under 35 crowd prefer a cup of fair trade, organic java from their local, independent coffee shop.

Market research firm Euromonitor reports that global sales of organic foods doubled from 2003-2014. And sales of men’s grooming products (particularly for facial hair) increased eight percent from 2009-2014.

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As retail sales for particular products have boomed due to millennial preferences, marketers have taken advantage of the trend by spending large portions of their ad budgets targeting millennials.

A recent survey from advertising analysis firm Turn reveals that U.S. marketers spend five times more on millennials over any other age group. Advertisers spend four times as much on display and social media, and four and a half times as much on mobile. But the biggest winner is video advertising, with marketers spending six times more on video ads for millennials.

One of the most common mistakes marketers make when targeting millennials is assuming they fall into the same category. Millennials have differing needs, wants and aspirations, and the sooner marketers can decipher what those are the closer they can aline their marketing campaigns.

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Turn categorizes millennials into four camps: Struggling Aspirationals, Comfortable TV Watchers, Active Affluents and Successful Homeowners. Yet it’s important to note that Turn’s categorizations are based on a U.S. population.

Euromonitor has their own set of consumer categorizations that are global in nature and may prove more useful for marketers who are targeting emerging economies. The below graph illustrates each Euromonitor consumer group and their representation among millennials. For more information about the interests, personality traits and spending habits of each millennial group, download the full Euromonitor report.

The question of whether businesses are actually benefiting from millennial marketing is a bit lesser known. Are retail sales among millennials increasing because of targeted marketing efforts or because millennials would buy these kinds of products regardless? Experts are reluctant to make a call. It’s a “chicken before the egg” situation.

Nevertheless, refining your millennial strategy in 2016 should be top of mind. It would be foolish to not even try.