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Why Businesses Should Design Millennial-Friendly Products and Services

Products & Services	1821 VIEWS
Products & Services
1821 VIEWS

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Wednesday, January 26, 2022 / 3:30 PM / by Josephine Eriyo / Header Image Credit: Shutterstock

The current state of the Nigerian economy has placed individuals in precarious financial situations, especially with the inflation rate rising at 15.63% as of December 2021. Several small and medium-sized business owners in Nigeria have had to persevere and adapt to the socio-economic challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions.

Nevertheless, businesses must survive and navigate through rough patches, understanding that individuals cannot live without purchasing goods and services to meet their daily needs. However, how can companies create opportunities from these painful economic conditions and still capitative millennials?.

Millennials are believed not to be fantastic money managers, but this opinion is weak. Indeed, recent studies have found that millennials are better at tracking their spending and sticking to budgets.

They consider social responsibility and environmental friendliness when considering their purchases, and they typically choose to either follow their instincts or go along with their peers.

Millennials have become somewhat wary of financial advice given by parents and professionals as they seek to explore their options. Brands that desire to connect with millennials need to recognize and respect this.

It is essential to ensure that they value their money at reasonable price tags and compare options.

When shopping, millennials focus on discounts. Millennials value price over product recommendations, brand reputation, and even product quality. They follow brands online just for discount opportunities. 66% of millennials would switch brands if offered at least a 30% discount, and only a third see a brand to consider trends or product updates. Ironically, 60% of millennials are loyal to brands they purchase from if treated well through the customer experience. To ensure allegiance, companies include loyalty programs with discounts.

Loan-crisis commonly victimize millennials (characterized by emergency borrowing). Millennials are usually short of cash and high on debt. Millennials also tend to have modest earnings.

The millennials' average salary is less than a hundred thousand Naira (N100,000). Young Nigerians spend more per year on groceries, gas, dining out, and cell phone service than older generations; they have little money to spend on other things, e.g., the products and services of brands.

Understanding this, businesses that offer budget-friendly options, cheaper versions, and pay-as-you-go services tend to outperform premium brands with this demography. The consumer spending power and influence millennials have in the marketplace is growing by the day. Failure to understand and engage this segment on their terms will result in unnecessary friction and pushback.

Brand analysts believe that this is the time for brands to rethink and reimagine strategies for their target market and adjust, tweak, and optimize their marketing strategies and product offerings to align with their preferences. That way, they will find it easier to access what is otherwise a highly misunderstood generation.