The Millennial Generation Becomes Parents!

We have conducted a new study of 25-34 year old Millennials who have children in order to examine how their shopping habits change after they have kids. With this group representing more than 10 million Millennials, what does it mean for the future as these Millennials begin to mature? Below is a sneak peek at our research. We will be sharing the full report at our annual Share.Like.Buy conference in September.

Millennials become different shoppers after having children. Studies of popular brands that rise and fall show the changes in retail and purchasing behaviors for Millennial parents. After Millennials become parents, the brands on the left rise to an index above 100 against the general population while all the brands on the right fall to an index below 100.

Shifting trust to different brands for their family’s sake is a common consumer behavior for Millennial parents. Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon have excelled as Millennial parent favorite brand choices. Wal-Mart exceeded the total percentage of both men and women at almost 45 percent.

Millennial parents are buying less on quality than on price in most categories. This chart demonstrates values greater than 50% are “quality” purchases, while values under 50% are “price” purchases. Dining out and entertainment show the greatest shift in Millennial behavior: 60 percent before parenthood and under 50 percent after parenthood.

It’s easy to understand what’s behind the shift in purchases. While today’s young parents are feeling the economic squeeze, 54 percent are having a hard time making ends meet. Of the Millennial parents asked to rate the statement “Since I became a parent, it’s a lot harder to make ends meet” on a scale of 1 to 7, the highest percentages voted above a 5, agreeing and strongly agreeing with the statement.

Millennial moms and dads have significantly different views on a range of statements about parenting. Not surprisingly, more than 60 percent of dads say they want their child to excel in sports while 52 percent of women agree. On the other hand, the lowest percentages showed 28 percent of dads would consider their kids over-scheduled where only 15 percent of moms agree.

Click here to view the full presentation via slideshare

Photo Credit: Twitchietai