New York SBDC Research Network

From eMarketer Retailers still trying to unlock the question of millennial spending patterns, take note: Millennials are sagging under a heavier debt load than Gen Xers faced at this point in their economic lives. It's the makeup of that debt gap that hints that millennial spending might not be unlocking anytime soon. Gen X had more mortgage debt than millennials, while millennials have more education debt than Gen X. A research paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis compared the overall finances of millennials in 2016 to Gen Xers in 2001. It found that millennial households in 2016 had an average net worth of about $90,000 vs. $130,000 for Generation X households in 2001. Millennials, it noted, had fewer assets and more debt. The combination of education debt and a lower level of investment in real estate could hold back spending on a host of items, from furniture to hardware to garden supplies.

From  Forbes A local hardware store in Worcester, Massachusetts recently announced that it was going out of business. This wouldn’t be big news, except Elwood Adams Hardware has been around since the Articles of Confederation. Dating back to 1782, it is (or was) one of the oldest hardware stores in the United States—continually open for 235 years under various owners.  The store’s employees, most of whom have worked there for decades, gave multiple reasons for the business’s closing. First, the pressure of Internet competition; second, and related to the first, a lack of loyalty from younger customers; and finally, the owner was ready to retire, and couldn’t find anyone to whom he could sell the business. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 48% of national employment in the United States. In number, they represent 99.7% of all businesses in the country. Small business owners, some with staffs of 500 employees, others toilin...

From The Independent : Millennials' preferences are killing dozens of industries. There are many complex reasons millennials' preferences differ from prior generations', including less financial stability and memories of growing up during the recession. “I think we have got a very significant psychological scar from this great recession,” Morgan Stanley analyst Kimberly Greenberger told Business Insider... “Millennial consumers are more attracted than their elders to cooking at home, ordering delivery from restaurants, and eating quickly, in fast-casual or quick-serve restaurants,” Buffalo Wild Wings CEO Sally Smith wrote in a letter to shareholders earlier this year... Beer penetration fell 1% from 2016 to 2017 in the US market, while both wine and spirits were unmoved, according to Nielsen ratings.

From eMarketer : Nearly half of US millennial grocery shoppers polled earlier this year said they have shopped for some groceries in an online-only store, a dramatic change from just two years ago. And they're not alone. The finding mirrors a trend of consumers across all age groups increasingly getting their groceries among internet pure plays, although at a more modest level. A February 2017 survey by food industry research firm Food Marketing Institute (FMI) found that 43% of millennial respondents shopped for groceries at online-only retailers at least occasionally, a rate almost 80% higher than in 2015. Consumers ages 39 to 52 shopped for groceries at online-only retailers at about half the rate of millennials

Study Conducted by America's SBDC Reveals Insights into the Entrepreneurial Mindsets of Different Generations of Americans America's SBDC partnered with the Center for Generational Kinetics to better understand how different generations view and approach entrepreneurship. The findings reinforced previously held beliefs such as a strong entrepreneurial inclination among millennials, while challenging preconceived notions about their motivations for starting a business. Generational Perceptions Small Businesses play a huge role in the lives of Americans. One-third of Americans (34 percent), have worked in a small business in the past and nearly a quarter (24 percent) of both Millennials and Gen X own or have owned a small business. The study found that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well with 41 percent of Americans saying they would quit their job and start a business in the next 6 months if they had the tools and resources they needed. This number is higher fo...

From Daily Inequality : Younger employees keep getting stereotyped as insecure and needy - perhaps the rest of us need to reconsider why we find it normal for bosses to be jerks Recently, the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine circulated a video meant to make its instructors aware of "student mistreatment." With a minor-chord piano medley providing the soundtrack, viewers were asked to avoid putting students on the spot with questions, to minimize "cold and clinical" interactions, and to cultivate "safe" learning environments for the young residents. It seems a little like something created by The Onion, but the video was sincere, and its message will be familiar to a lot of employers dealing with people in their 20s. For many who remember what business was like pre-Internet, millennials seem an appallingly sensitive lot, having been protected from the vagaries of the world by helicopter parents, trigger warnings and—to especially cy...

From Marketing Profs : Millennial small and midsize business (SMB) leaders are more likely than Baby Boomer SMB leaders to spend their marketing budgets on digital channels, such as social media and video, according to recent research from Magisto. The report was based on data from a survey of 218 Millennial (age 28-29) SMB owners/leaders and 275 Baby Boomer (age 60+) SMB owners/leaders. Millennial respondents spend more than half (58%) of their marketing budgets on digital channels, on average. Baby Boomers spend only 14% of their marketing budgets on digital channels, on average.

Millennials tend to stay at a job for a shorter period than the average worker, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Wall Street Journal highlighted these numbers  in a story this week, also raising the question of whether all the movement in the workforce is a problem or opportunity. According to the BLS, the median time in a job for workers 20-24 was less than 16 months, and it was three years for those 25-34,  according to the story .  The median time in a job for all workers 25 and up was 5.5 years. More from AIER .

Millennials B2B buyers want to interact directly with vendors' representatives far more than Gen X or Baby Boomers buyers when researching products and services, according to a recent report from IBM. The report was based on data from a survey of 704 people who influence or are responsible for B2B purchasing decisions of $10,000 or more for their company. Respondents came from 12 countries and 6 industries. The researchers compared the responses of Millennial employees (born 1980-1993) with those of Gen X (born 1965-1979) and Baby Boomers (born 1954-1964). Millennial buyers rely most heavily on information provided by vendors when researching products and services, the analysis found. In contrast, Gen X buyers rely most on third-party articles/blogs/reviews to research vendors, and Baby Boomers rely most on tradeshows. Read more from MarketingProfs

Some 84% of Millennials say they like companies on Facebook as a way to show their support for the brand, according to recent research conducted by Nora Ganim Barnes, PhD, and Ava Lescault, MBA, at The Center for Marketing Research, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Other common reasons for liking brands on Facebook include wanting to receive updates (83% of respondents) and a desire to get coupons/discounts (66%). Read more from MarketingProfs

"Today’s workplace doesn’t tolerate slackers,” says Gen Y career expert Dan Schawbel in his new book "Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success." In a rapidly changing economy, young people either rise to the top or don’t survive. To navigate the new workplace, Schawbel says millennials need to master a new set of rules that aren’t taught in school. Advances in technology, the rise of social media, and 24/7 connectivity mean young people have to promote themselves and take ownership of their careers in ways that previous generations wouldn’t or couldn’t have imagined. What to know in an evolving work place

Recently I heard the song The Now Generation by the Black Eyed Peas for the first time. After listening closely to the lyrics, it occurred to me that the lyrics are a good guide to how businesses should handle marketing to the American youth, or in their words, the "Fast Internet, stay connected in a jet Wi-fi, podcast, blasting out an SMS" generation. Actually, I can think of quite a few adults where "Google is my professor Wikipedia, checker Checkin' my account, loggin' in and loggin' out" is as true with them as it is with their children. Check out the resources below for more information on marketing to today's youth. Click with Millennials Through Multiple Channels - The Millennials market is motivated and has money, but offering them genuinely valuable services is key to winning their advocacy. Print is a Youth Market - According to 2007 research from McPheters & Company, the younger generation not only reads digitally, but they also ...