9/30/2014
Adapting for Millennial Consumers
Chris Berg
The affluent segment of Generation Y, those ages 19 to 35, has the largest current and potential spending for luxury items. And being 90 million strong, it’s a market that we all know deserves our attention.
As a fairly typical Millennial myself, a 32-year-old high-rise-dweller in downtown San Diego, I see incredible potential for our industry. My generation may not be gardeners, but we’re consumers. And we’ll buy plants if growers adapt their products to our lifestyles and make them available where we live. We don’t have a backyard to plant them in, so how are growers prepared to sell them as a product that fits to the new Millennial lifestyle?
It’s all about balance. We really like plants. Sure, we’ve been labeled as tech obsessed and mobile maniacs, but the flip side of that is we love to incorporate nature into our daily lives. One of the major differences that define the Millennial group from other groups is that Generation Y consumers are more “self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change,” describes Pew Research. We have a very green side to us, even if it doesn’t come in the traditional form of gardening in the backyard. We’re the eco-conscious generation. We like things for the environment and feel confident in our ability to make a difference.
We may not have the same yards and traditional pastimes that previous generations did, but don’t get me wrong—this generation loves all things green!
Empower and inspire. As I visit my co-Millennial neighbors in my building, every one of them displays something green in their condos. Whether it’s a succulent dish garden, a terrarium or a traditional houseplant, they’re all very proud of their environmental décor. As much as we love our downtown high-rises made of steel, glass and concrete, it’s still in our human nature to want plant life around us.
Being known in my neighborhood as “that guy who does stuff with plants,” I’m asked every week by my neighbors and friends for help in finding out what kind of plant will live in their home setting. I see that as a real problem for us to overcome. These are all potential consumers saying they want plants in their lives. They’re willing to spend good money on them, but are too intimidated to make the purchase on their own. The industry needs to show them more real world photos, in their lifestyle situations, so they can be inspired and know what will work.
Lastly, make sure you’re selling consumer goods, not plants. Four-inch black pots are great for gardeners and garden centers; however, they offer very little value to the condo-consumer who wants to enhance their living spaces. If you’re going to sell to this group, then the plant needs to become an ingredient, not the final product.
And make sure that your finished product fits in line with the rest of the Millennial lifestyle and interior fashion trends. If you can’t visualize your “deco-container” merchandized on the shelves of Anthropologie or West Elm, move on.
Sell where they live. Millennials like living with the world at their fingertips. Urban areas are having a resurgence of economic energy and vitality. For the first time since the 1920s, growth in U.S. cities is outpacing the growth outside of them. We’re living in mixed-use communities—high rises on top of restaurants and storefronts. We prefer subways to driveways. We walk, we trolley, we Über.
Each month, I see articles in the trade magazines and newsletters about how to get Millennials into garden centers and box stores. The challenge isn’t getting the Millennials into today’s box stores or garden centers; rather it’s getting our products to the Millennials through the channels where they’re tuned in. The traditional retailers are set up for the traditional gardeners, but I ask the growers of this audience if you’ve considered all possible outlets for your finished consumer goods.
The bottom line is that each generation changes—and so does every industry, as it wants to stay relevant. Future consumers will always be in the market for plants, but as an industry we need to work at adapting our products to their desires, rather than trying to force them into our previous, traditional channels.
GT
Chris Berg is President of BlueSkye Creative, a marketing and product development agency for the horticulture industry. He can be reached at chris@blueskyecreative.com or (805) 509-0382.