The Millennial Parent Expectation

It’s been said that the happiest days are when babies come. For parents, of course, babies are a life-changing event. For retailers, however, babies are big business. Globally, the baby product market size was valued at USD 10.91 billion in 2017 and is expected to register a CAGR of 5.5% by 2025. Millennials drive much of that growth.

While it’s true that millennials (defined as anyone born between 1980 and 1996, give or take a year or two) are having fewer children than previous generations, they are still market influencers. According to Pew Research data, as of 2016, fifty percent of children today have millennial-era parents, and more than 1 million millennial women become moms each year.

E-commerce is a significant factor in the baby products market, but a full 50% of millennials say they prefer shopping in a brick and mortar store. Millennials view shopping as an experience; they want to be engaged while shopping, with demos or other in-store events. While the price of an item is a top consideration across all demographics, customer service is more important to millennial parents than parents in other age groups. Experience matters, as well. Fifty-three percent of millennial parents are interested in attending a retail event or experience and see these events as opportunities to learn, get expert advice, and have something to share on social media. These are the baseline expectations for brands – and 82% of millennials say they have to use their own research to supplement where brands fall short.

It doesn’t have to be that way for your brand if you partnered with ThirdChannel. We are experts in delivering engaging experiences in brick-and-mortar stores. We work for top brands providing:

• Brand reps segmented by industries, passions, lifestyles, etc. Our reps already know and love your brand off the sales floor, and they bring that enthusiasm to customers at the point of purchase.
• Valuable, actionable data you can use to stay up to date everywhere your brand is sold. ThirdChannel software brings real-time reporting and performance metrics to your phone or tablet—from anywhere. It’s the only retail tool that gives you a crystal-clear view into all of your stores around the world—all at once.
• Associate training. ThirdChannel research shows that knowledgeable sales associates can lift sales by as much as 60% and that 90% of customers reported being somewhat likely or extremely likely to make a purchase with assistance from an educated salesperson.

As shelf space tightens in the baby market, we know you want to be prepared for the upcoming season. Reach out if you’d like to learn more.