While moving out of the family home remains a goal for many millennials (18-34 year olds), several factors have made the prospect of leaving home considerably more difficult than in previous generations. The uncertain economic environment following the financial crisis has weakened prospects for job stability for this generation, while the heavy cost of further education has left many millennials with large student loans to repay.
These factors combined make living at home the most sensible choice for many of these consumers while they search for a job, or save up for the future. In fact, almost half (43%) of millennials globally would consider moving back in with their parents to save money, according to GlobalData’s 2016 primary consumer research.
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Consumers who are considering or would consider moving back in with their parents to save money, 2016
Source: GlobalData’s 2016 Q3 global consumer survey
Millennials who find themselves in this situation may therefore move out of their family homes much later in life than previous generations, while many of those who had already left to pursue their education are moving back in, marking them as the ‘boomerang generation’ in many economies.
This ‘halted’ period creates several implications for brands. The desire to save money is likely to drive interest in better value offerings as well as catering to a desire to stay at home and save.
Some opportunities to meet this need could include offering products that are multi-functional (reducing the cost of purchasing several individual products), as well as offering food products on par to that of a restaurant or salon-quality beauty solutions for at-home consumption, which could appeal to the value-conscious consumer at this life stage.
