Transparent labeling and honest brand information might be the key to marketing success with millennials when it comes to labeling food and beverage products. Millennials, the demographic that currently includes college-age young professionals getting married and having children, make up the largest demographic in the workforce. Their food and beverage preferences as a group determine which products succeed and which will fail. Studies show that what they want is complete information about the products they buy and the companies that produce them.
The Washington Post reports that millennial shoppers want honesty from their food and beverage producers. They want to know exactly how their food is made and with what ingredients. The study also said millennial consumers are avid label readers. Baby boomers read labels, too, for nutrition information, but millennials want to know where the food was sourced and grown and how its production has affected the environment. The millennial awareness of environmental impact has influenced food manufacturers both large and small to develop Earth-friendly products and packaging.
Kira Karapetian, vice president of Marketing for Label Insight recently said in an interview with Forbes magazine that millennials are data-driven shoppers who actively seek out information about a product – including information that’s not required to be printed on a product label. Millennial shoppers want brands to be honest with consumers about both the good and the bad so they may judge for themselves whether to purchase a particular item. Supermarket news reported the findings of a survey showing that nearly 80 percent of millennials say being familiar with the ingredients in a food product directly relates to how much they trusted the product.
In the same Forbes article, Keith Knopf, president and chief operating officer at Raley’s, a privately-held supermarket chain, said that the millennial generation of shoppers wants to support brands they believe are doing good in the word. They look for products that are environmentally aware, production- or service-oriented or involved in philanthropy on some level.
Karapetian says brands willing to do this, will be able to build brand loyalty with these customers. Brands that don’t or won’t provide enough information may lose out as millennial shoppers find truly transparent products and manufacturers. Today’s food and beverage manufacturers should understand that consumers want to know everything there is to know about their brands and if they don’t expressly provide it, millennial shoppers will investigate and find the information they want themselves.
When companied are ready to update their products’ labels so they better adhere to millennial consumers’ expectations, they can check out the label printers at Optimedia Labs’ U.S. page or Canadian site.