Study finds younger Millennials outspend older cohorts on food, beverage purchases
Younger Millennial spending on food and beverages is clearly outpacing older baby boomers and retirees who struggled in Q1.
Despite a strong start to the year, consumer confidence dimmed at the end of Q1 2019, and is currently surging again due to a strong labor market. But, trade issues could easily cloud this outlook. This mixed bag is impacting consumer spending on food and beverages, according to the latest IRI Consumer Connect survey released by IRI, Chicago.
Food inflation softened in Q1 2019 to 1.7% compared to 2.2% in 2018, but not everyone is freely opening their wallets. Younger Millennials (born 1990+) are outspending older generations in food dollars, according to the study, “Early View 2019,”while older cohorts are more likely to be using a number of money-saving tactics to keep food bills manageable.
“Younger Millennials have been lulled by the historically low unemployment rates, which is boosting their overall confidence and loosening their wallets,” says Joan Driggs, vice president of content and thought leadership. “At the other end of the spectrum, many baby boomers, retirees and seniors are concerned about their retirement savings due the volatile stock market this year, and are watching their expenses more carefully. In recent years, Millennials have been less optimistic than older consumers and were spending less. We are now seeing a role reversal that is impacting spending on edibles across the board.”
Food and beverage trends
Edible sales increased in January, however, the growth was slower than the industry average and cooled off in February and March. The West (4.1%) and Plains (3%) regions led the way in edible growth, and the Northeast (1.4%) and South Central (1.2%) had the slowest growth for the 13 weeks ending March 25, 2018.