Discussion - The Modern Buyer: How Millennials Shop Now

[scene.of.the.crop]

Hi, everyone!

We’ve posted our third installment in “The Modern Buyer” blog series where we are diving deep into the shopping experience today’s buyers expect, and what this means for eBay sellers.

Today’s article covers the most talked about generation, the Millennials. This generation, born between 1980 and 2000, are the largest group of shoppers in the world.

Let us know how you are thinking about the direction for your business in the short and long term as it relates to new buying behaviors.

I’m Jennifer Deal, eBay Seller Marketing Manager, and I’ll be popping in and out of this thread to answer your questions and infuse some discussion points over the next couple of days. Join the discussion below!

[sodelight]

The fact that Millennials want easy free returns is very telling. They obviously aren't serious about what they're buying or want to be sure they can play around with it or wear it and then get all their money back. It's pretty bad when someone is more concerned about returning an item than buying it! I'm not here to 'rent' stuff, I'm here to sell items. Any business that plays fast and loose with a returns policy will sooner or later be belly up or barely able to make ends meet.

Personally, I wouldn't even want to shop at a business that has super lenient returns. Particularly on worn items. How does one know the item they just purchased wasn't worn by another and returned, then simply reprocessed to resell. Especially those that sell undergarments! No thanks!

[sodelight]

How come when I type the word Millennials here it's underlined in red, like it's not recognized as a valid word or spelling! I get a kick out of that. Doesn't happen with Baby Boomers or Gen X!

[missjen831]

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wrote:
The fact that Millennials want easy free returns is very telling. They obviously aren't serious about what they're buying or want to be sure they can play around with it or wear it and then get all their money back. It's pretty bad when someone is more concerned about returning an item than buying it! I'm not here to 'rent' stuff, I'm here to sell items. Any business that plays fast and loose with a returns policy will sooner or later be belly up or barely able to make ends meet.

Personally, I wouldn't even want to shop at a business that has super lenient returns. Particularly on worn items. How does one know the item they just purchased wasn't worn by another and returned, then simply reprocessed to resell. Especially those that sell undergarments! No thanks!

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Stores with lenient returns often put the used goods back on the floor. I see customer returns at macys all the time. The original tags are gone & you can tell the clothing was worn and then returned. 

[cth777]

Put me in the camp of "Millennials don't shop on eBay".  Since we're over-generalizing here, millennials don't buy **bleep**.  They spend their money on "experiences".  My SO has first hand knowledge of this subject, from her job (she works with land developers on shopping centers and the like).  Developers are looking for more out of strip malls now.  Not just stores that sell "stuff".  They want to put in the kinds of businesses that cater to less tangible things, that are "experience based".  Also, from my personal experience, this seems to generally be the case.  Millennials don't collect things, they don't have the space or the time to have or want a bunch of "stuff". 

So, having said that, eBay is still considered an online flea market by many, and I doubt it will ever shed that image.  People come here to buy some antique or vintage or hard-to-find, out-of-production item they need for their "stuff".  The "stuff" owners are generally all older people, not millennials.  Trying to cram NIB stuff down our collective throats (espeically the overwhelming amount of imported garbage that pollutes the site, and renders search almost unusable) is doomed to fail.  Sure, you may get a few people (milennials or otherwise) to buy some cheap disposable garbage once in a while, but you aren't going to sustain that.  If catering to millennials is going to be the main focus, it's a doomed philosophy.  They just don't buy the stuff sold here.

[sockmonkeydave]

Soooo we are selling to a generation that has 300% more student debt than their parents.

They are saving for a house, and building up savings.

They are having their own kids, and we all know when you have kids, you ain't got money.

Yet you say they are often buying everyday....

Yes they buy from their phones, but the ebay mobile app has had problems for years.

Free shipping, free returns, not for me.

[byrd69er]

The majority of millenials wouldn't even know what I sell, is.

Heck, most don't even know how to use a vacuum.

[nawlinsron2]

This is another attempt on how to design a better mousetrap.
It doesn't matter how old the mice are...they all want the cheese, not the mousetrap.

[rainbowcolorz]

@*eponymous* wrote: I think Pierre Omidyar would be ashamed of what ebay has become.. greedy and with quite neocon republican attitudes...and the rah rah ebay king with the red and gold robes, scepter, and crown schtick is so 1999...

*************

Really?  I was thinking quite the opposite.  Democrat attitudes comes to mind.  They (eBay and buyers) want everything for FREE.  And, they want to put the blame for things going wrong on everyone else.  

[gracieallen01]

This is installment number 3 of 4, right?

Is installment 4 going to be the 'post-modern buyer' generation - soon to be born - and how, and what, they are going to buy?  This is getting interesting.  Do you folks get your 'facts' from anyplace other than the street, 'exit polls' and Madison Ave.?

[vintagecraze50]

Millennials have their face in their Iphones 24 hours a day so your pictures better by clear and Big and mobile friendly in every way. Younger folks buy all sorts of things, used, new, nostalgic, collectible the works. Many, and I mean many of these younger folks have fantastic high paying tech jobs, in their early twenties, and they have acess to a lot of cash. Not all of them are in the poor house with student debt and other financial constraints. 

[ted_200]

That was a good piece up through this really good point:

Caveat: while millennials as a group reflect these characteristics, we know that not all millennials are the same (in fact, a study done by Pew Research found millennials to be more diverse than any other generation) and not all of these strategies will work will work for every seller.

Key to that is understanding whether the buyer demographic for your particular items is the entire generation, or if it's some subset of mostly outliers that don't reflect the characteristics.  Obviously Walmart caters to the broad characteristics, it may or may not be to the benefit of  a specialist like a comic seller.  How well do your buyers align with the overall demographic?  It's useful to have some flexibility when it comes to selling, so the individual seller can maximize the potential of their specific subset of customers.

After that... free shipping, free returns, offer discounts... wash, rinse, repeat. 

[scene.of.the.crop]

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wrote:

I won't accept the biggest thing about selling to millenials. Offer free shipping and free returns.  I know a woman who "bought" 6 dresses for 1 function. She will decide the one she's gonna keep and ship the rest back.

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We do see this type of activity on multiple marketplaces with some advertising liberal return policies which for them means removing any barrier or fear a customer would have about their purchases. 

[gramophone-georg]

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wrote:

That was a good piece up through this really good point:

Caveat: while millennials as a group reflect these characteristics, we know that not all millennials are the same (in fact, a study done by Pew Research found millennials to be more diverse than any other generation) and not all of these strategies will work will work for every seller.

Key to that is understanding whether the buyer demographic for your particular items is the entire generation, or if it's some subset of mostly outliers that don't reflect the characteristics.  Obviously Walmart caters to the broad characteristics, it may or may not be to the benefit of  a specialist like a comic seller.  How well do your buyers align with the overall demographic?  It's useful to have some flexibility when it comes to selling, so the individual seller can maximize the potential of their specific subset of customers.

After that... free shipping, free returns, offer discounts... wash, rinse, repeat. 

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Also... does Pew Research sell on eBay?

[ted_200]

Is installment 4 going to be the 'post-modern buyer' generation - soon to be born - and how, and what, they are going to buy? 

Whatever they buy, they're going to want Free Shipping, Free Returns, and for you to ship it at least 5 minutes before they buy it. 

[ted_200]

Also... does Pew Research sell on eBay?

No, and I sometimes consider them questionable as unbiased pollsters to boot.  But I trust them to gather data that's more accurate than whatever eBay says they've gathered via their research at least. 

It might even be helpful to have broader demographic data that has nothing to do with eBay users, since I assume one goal would be to cause them to become eBay users.   But your point is well taken, do they really know how well millenial eBay users correlate to all millenials... might there be something "special" about millenials who use eBay?