Broadly speaking, a ‘millennial’ is someone born between the mid 1980s and mid 1990s. I’ve seen it used to refer to those born in the early 80s, even 70s, and all the way up to and including the millennium itself, but right now if you were to say ‘millennial’ most people would probably imagine someone in their 20s to early 30s.
There is also a decent chance they would also imagine someone eating avocado toast, binging on the latest Netflix series in a rented flat in some trendy neighbourhood that just a decade ago would have been considered fairly rough.
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Speaking as both a journalist and someone who would be considered in the middle of the millennial age range (ok, maybe in the older range if I’m honest), we’re an alarmingly easy generation to make generalisations about.
As with all generalisations, though, a lot of these are flawed and lazy. As such, it’s important when analysing wider demographic trends to look beyond the trendy haircuts and penchant for craft beers and novelty Frappuccinos.
At the same time, this group now wield enormous buying power. ‘The grey pound’ is famous for its importance to retail, but the same is now true for younger consumers. Unless you are targeting a niche, this is a market you cannot ignore.
The so-called ‘generation rent’ are likely to have different credit profiles compared to older generations. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge. The fact that younger people have been acclimatised to paying regular fees for a service over a period of several years (renting, Netflix, their mobile phones) should make them more willing to move over to monthly payments for their vehicle, provided there is an incentive for them to do so. It is already fairly common for people to describe cars as costing X per month. If people are already talking in this manner, the sale of finance should be made that much easier.
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By GlobalDataAt the same time, this presents a challenge because some of the old ways of assessing a customer may no longer always be the best way. Often with no mortgage, little in the way of actual credit history, but successfully keeping up with several direct debits, getting these people into the correct ‘box’ will be key for the next few years.
There are new tools for this, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is something the traditional credit bureaus are looking at very closely.
Younger people are also statistically more likely to be more heavily invested in the digital world, though I suspect everyone reading this already knows that having a digital offering is important. I would like to add that I bought my last car in a dealership I found through Autotrader. While I found it online, the physical aspect was still an important part of the process. I know this has been true for others as well, so on a personal note I think those dividing physical for older customers and digital for younger are making a mistake. Plenty of people in their 60s and 70s use the internet these days, and plenty of young people still want to visit a dealership and be educated.
One last thing I’d like to add: if you don’t like all this talk of millennials, do not worry. Generation Z are now beginning to enter the workforce and, before you know it, we will all be writing about how to deal with them.
