My journey into the heart of Generation Y shopping habits

Mercury News: My journey into the heart of Generation Y shopping habits

I am a proud, flag-waving member of Generation X, the latchkey kids born between the early 1960s and late 1970s who listened to grunge music while worrying that we'd never make as much money as our parents. My children, 4 and 6, are part of the emerging Generation Z, a demographic too young to be stereotyped.

In between are the mysterious creatures known as Generation Y. Born between the late 1970s and late 1990s, these so-called "millenials" intrigue me. As the first generation raised on the Internet, I suspect that they offer a glimpse into our future.

They are more comfortable with technology than any other generation, they live at a faster pace, and yet they are more distracted. They mature slower, marry later, but use social networks to build large groups of friends. They have more choice and opportunity, and also more stress and anxiety as a result. …

…According to Yarrow, Generation Y has embraced shopping to a degree that leaves the mall rats of my youth in their dust. According to her research, the average member of Generation Y visits the mall four times a month and stays more than 90 minutes each time, compared with all shoppers who average three visits and 70 minutes. And not surprisingly, they have embraced online shopping, especially using social networking to get advice from friends about what to buy, to a greater degree than older generations.

But here's the statistic that really floored me: Gen Y shoppers spend five times more than their parents did at the same age, and that's after adjusting for inflation. Five times!

"Generation Y is changing retail in a way we haven't seen before," Yarrow said. "I was naive when I started this. They have much more power than I thought."

To a much greater degree than when I was growing up, stores are now social locations for teens and young adults, Yarrow explained. Gen Y comes to the mall to hang out, play and connect with their peers.

And retailers have responded by transforming their stores into clublike refuges. …

… It's not just the amount of shopping by this generation that's unique, but the reasons behind it. Yarrow found that buying stuff is the way Generation Y has learned to express itself. It's not necessarily about accumulating large amounts of stuff, or declaring your financial status as was the case with the buying habits of baby boomers.

Rather, shopping is a new form of self-expression. "Stuff is a natural, easy way to say who you are," Yarrow said. …

… For Gen Y, it's not about the price, it's about buying different things to tell the world who you are and how you're feeling, Yarrow said. …

Earlier this year, I was at a conference on financial giving in the Church. One of the topics covered was generational differences in giving. With G.I. and Silent generations (born before the end of WWII), it is about loyalty and duty. For Boomers, it tends to be more a vision and control. For Gen X, it's about giving to what works … show me the results. They were unclear as to what does/will motivate Gen Y (or the Millennials). From my reading and observation, I think the motivation is about identity. You give to make a statement about yourself and to find solidarity with a community you want to be identified with. I found the last two quotes interesting in that regard.

But what I find particularly interesting is the consumerism. Isn't this the generation lecturing me (a trailing edge Boomer) about consumerism and how I'm destroying the planet because of it? 🙂