Seasonal Shopping Strategies: Millennial Moms and Their Path to Purchase

With the holiday shopping season in the home stretch, both brands and retailers alike continue to keep a watchful eye on millennials, today’s rising consumer group, for insights on what motivates and inspires this much-sought-after audience along their path to purchase.

During the make-or-break buying season, marketers remain eager to crack the code to the all-important millennial generation. It can be a challenge, however.

Recently, our Influence Central consumer insights team updated its landmark 2014 millennial research to see how significant life changes — e.g., motherhood — impact millennial women. For this 2015 research study, we surveyed more than 1,000 millennial women, millennial moms, as well as baby boomer and gen X Women to gain a deeper understanding of how they approach consumerism.

The 2015 research revealed that when millennial women become moms, it upends their entire purchasing journey. They admire different qualities in brands, they use different shopping strategies, and their digital and tech use increases. Amidst the backdrop of the holiday shopping season, what can we observe from millennial moms and their purchasing decisions? Consider the following:

• Searching visual sites to spark ideas and inspiration: Whether seeking out a creative idea for holiday decorating or inspiration for that impossible-to-buy-for relative, nothing beats visual sites such as Pinterest and Instagram. And while social-savvy millennials gravitate toward these visual platforms, millennial moms take it a step further. A full 97 percent of millennial moms use Pinterest, compared to 77 percent of non-mom millennials. Moreover, 89 percent of moms have an Instagram account vs. 61 percent of non-moms.

• Seeking seasonal deals through social: As the holiday gift list grows, even the most frugal of families can see their budget plans evaporate. Yet our study revealed that for millennial moms, price remains a priority as more than 80 percent said they most admire brands that are affordable. Furthermore, these digitally fluent moms rely on social media to seek out deals and compare prices. Our findings also illuminated that 100 percent of millennial moms follow brands on social media (compared to 58 percent of non-mom millennials) and 82 percent strongly agree/agree that they do so to learn about deals and coupons.

• Getting the scoop before braving the crowds: With the holidays upon us and a seemingly ever-growing shopping list, it can be easy to get caught up in the holiday hoopla. Yet millennial moms concentrate on how products will fit into their lifestyles by focusing on the personal insights, narratives and perspectives from fellow moms published in blogs and online reviews. Millennial moms care passionately about the products they bring home to their families; they first seek out what other moms have to say about a product they may be considering. In fact, 83 percent of Moms trust blogs far more than other sources, and 55 percent of millennial moms always research products prior to purchasing.

• Staying up-to-date and in-the-know for the holidays: During the holiday season, consumers feel compelled to stay up-to-date on the latest shopping trends and happenings. For millennial moms, social media enables them to remain easily and seamlessly on-trend. In fact, 74 percent of millennial moms strongly agree/agree that they use social media to learn about new trends in such areas as fashion, food, art and music. Moreover, millennial moms use social media to share their insights, with 71 percent making brand (product or service) recommendations to others.

• Connecting with customer service via social: Whether faced with multiple exchanges or late-breaking holiday gift requests, consumers particularly value strong customer service from brands around the busy holiday shopping season. And today, more often than not, social media is the preferred channel of customer service for consumers. Our survey revealed that 73 percent of millennial moms follow brands on social media for customer service reasons, and 84 percent of these moms follow brands’ social channels to receive information from them.

Stacy DeBroff is the founder and CEO of Influence Central, as well as a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. Stacy can be reached at stacy@influence-central.com, on LinkedIn or on Twitter.