What’s with the younger generation?

Once upon a time we were all young…a fact we quite often forget. Ok, so we were more likely to wear fleeces than hoodies, and communicated by phone or fax instead of tweeting and texting but we were still always looking for something new, different, challenging and exciting.

In the gardening sector we always bemoan the lack of new, younger consumers and worry that our core customers are literally dying off. So do we try to encourage new ones in any meaningful way?

Do we ever ask what young people want?

Convenience?
Advice?
Innovation?
Simplicity?
Low maintenance?
Entertainment?
Value?

I guess the answer is all of the above. Right?

BUT, we would be foolish to think that what applies to them doesn’t apply to others.

It is so easy to pigeonhole your consumers into Baby-Boomers, Generation X, Y or Z or whatever but that’s not being fair to any of these so-called demographics. We can generalise too much at times and often dismiss – and miss out on - a whole generation by assuming they are all the same.

How unfair.

Pick 20 of your friends and colleagues of a similar age. Are they all the same in how they purchase, use technology, what they watch and how they behave? I doubt it. So what has made us look at them as being the same apart from cliché driven consumer reports and the rantings of marketing gurus?

We need a C change in our perspective on how we look at demographics. Look at broader age groups and then look at the traits/wants/needs they all have in common. I would say you will come up with a list similar to what I have above, which we say only applies to ‘young’ consumers.

But when we think about it, it applies to 80% of customers.

So use modern social networking tools and e-commerce. Make your staff approachable and good communicators. Use effective, clever and inventive merchandising to capture sales. Educate with simple clear POS. Encourage consumers with young families to educate their children by being uber family friendly.

It’s true that most of the younger generation don’t see themselves as gardeners, at least not yet, but they are consumers and an important part of our sector’s future.

Just don’t assume things about your customers based on their age, it’s a lethal mistake.