Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of an article from WayfinD, a quarterly e-magazine filled with insights, trends and predictions from the retail and foodservice experts at WD Partners.
Despite their tenuous financial state, with some often forgoing doctor visits to save money, young people are more passionate and committed to making significant healthy changes than Boomer or Gen-X consumers. They are also not averse to spending more to do so.
That's the conclusion of our latest consumer research study about choosing healthy products.
The in-depth study, which not only included qualitative focus groups, but a quantitative consumer panel of 1,066 shoppers, isolated respondents to those with the proverbial "one foot in the door" of healthy living and eating. We defined this group as "healthy aspirationals" or consumers hemming and hawing their way on the road to healthy. Some days they want to get there, other days they want to indulge, but in the aggregate, they aspire to do better.
Overall, Millennials were found to already purchase healthier more often than older generations and, despite earning less than their parents, are willing to pay slightly more for healthy products.
Photo: RetailWire
The implications for retailers are twofold: One is psychological. Despite the hubris of invincibility, the data indicates a massive shift to more healthy attitudes compared to previous generations. Young people want to take on more personal responsibility for staying healthy. This energy and motivation, along with somewhat limited resources, is now being rationally directed toward prevention. That's the sweet spot where stores must position themselves — the one area where the Millennial cohort can exert some practical control.
The second implication is for store strategy. It's time to simplify the buying experience for consumers eager to embrace healthy, instead of exacerbating the anxiety many young people face at the store shelf. In his groundbreaking book, "The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less," psychologist Barry Schwartz argued that fewer choices equate to less anxiety for shoppers, and that more choices lead to buyer paralysis. When developing ways to empower consumers to embrace healthy eating, healthy living and wellness, his theory seems more relevant than ever.
One area of immediate tactical change would be package design. Millennials ranked brand and packaging as the biggest drivers of healthy purchases, more so than Boomers. Out-of-store media — such as digital coupons, online reviews, mobile apps and social media — also ranked higher in influence for healthy purchase behaviors among Millennials than Boomers.
Retailers can't ignore or make light of these very real and frustrating quandaries young people face. The moment has come for stores to empathize with young people and empower them to navigate to a healthier lifestyle. Stores should be the one place where Millennials can find honest and clear answers about what is and isn't healthy.