Retailers should stop wasting so much time trying to win over millennials because they’re often broke. Instead, they should target older shoppers with more money to spend.
That’s a key finding from a report by Forrester Research Inc. called “The Future of Shopping,” which looked at income and demographic changes over the past 40 years. The bulk of consumer spending has shifted from those younger than 45, who now make up a smaller percentage of the population and are strapped with student loans, to those 45 and older, who have equity in their homes and bigger incomes.
The recommendation runs counter to retailers’ frenzied push to court millennials, the generation born after 1980, with new gadgets and fashion trends.
“There’s this obsession with millennials,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, the analyst who wrote the report. “The truth is millennials aren’t spending any money with anybody because they don’t have any.”