How $600 Billion in Millennial Spending Power Keeps Going ‘Craft’

It’s no secret that millennials wield a lot of spending power in the American economy, to the tune of $600 billion in 2016 alone. They are tech-savvy, staunchly individual, and practice a level of consciousness about the story behind every item they buy.

Image of female farmer sowing seed in the garden

Look no further than the rapid growth of things like local farmers’ markets, which tout organic produce and other farm-to-table foods brought straight from the grower’s hands to the end consumer. Or the now-behemoth industry that is craft beer, with over 4,000 breweries now gracing the United States alone.

What’s more “millennial” than biking to the local farmer’s market, picking up some pesticide-free apples and eggs, throwing them in your canvas satchel and then popping into the local brewery before you head home? Nothing. Short of posting a beautifully filtered photo of that craft beer on Instagram.

It doesn’t end there. The farmer’s market, the craft beer, the locally-sourced prima cotton t-shirt are all very 2011. Millennials prefer spending their money in a way that reflects to the world an image of who they wish to be and this goes well beyond the borders of Williamsburg or the digital confines of Instagram and Snapchat. “Going craft” is prevalent in everything from custom designed furniture to carefully-chosen vape juice flavors.

That’s right, you can now order small batch vape juice refills in flavors that make even a craft brewer blush. A quick Google search will yield vape juice varieties from Copper Pot Lemon Cake to Small Batch Chai Latte. Far be it from a baby boomer that grew up on Coca-Cola and later graduated to Marlboro reds to ever stand up and decide to buy chai latte juice to vape.

It’s safe to assume that same boomer was just as happy with Bud Light, Walter Cronkite, and the supermarket, too. Things change, and the rapid rise of technology alongside the reactionary values currently being shown by Americans in their twenties and early-thirties has been a boon for all things anti-corporate, and anti-mass produced.

As the artist Sol LeWitt is credited with saying, “Every generation renews itself in its own way; there’s always a reaction against whatever is standard.”

Customers

Spending money for a millennial is an effort to create an experience, and it’s obvious that the sheer experience of visiting a farmer’s market and talking to a vendor about how their green juice is made outweighs marching through the aisles of a big box grocery store.

It’s very much the experience that comes with drinking a grapefruit IPA at a craft brewery, or vaping a unique flavor you found online – that no one else has yet discovered – that makes spending some of that collective $600 billion worthwhile.

Millennial dollars are chasing such an experience, and it’s a bonus when that experience can be shared with your followers with a quick snap. Look no further than down the street, or down at the device in your hand. If it’s not locally-sourced or individualized and hard to find, chances are it’s not selling.

Article Submitted By Community Writer

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