What is brand loyalty, and what generational trends have we been seeing?
Brand loyalty — when customers repeatedly purchase a company’s product over other alternatives — has long been an important metric to a business’ success. Overall, we’ve been seeing that younger generations are less brand loyal than older generations. This trend has important implications for businesses in future years as younger consumers replace older consumers.
Why the differences? In part, due to values…
Younger generations, such as millennials and Generation Z, born within approximately the last fifty years, display different values that often make them less brand loyal than older generations such as Generation X and baby boomers. Some of these differences stem from how they interact with companies. For example, younger generations tend to interface with companies in online spaces such as social media (e.g., Instagram, TikTok) and thus value company transparency, personal connection to the company, alignment of a company’s values with their own, and products that allow them to craft their own personal brand.
Younger generations are more attuned to companies’ sustainability and corporate responsibility policies and are interested in how they can interact with products to share their experiences online. This consciousness of how their purchasing behavior reflects on their personal brand leads them to seek more engagement with companies and be more varied in their purchasing habits (i.e., less brand loyal). In a survey of U.S. and U.K. Gen Zers, McKinsey found that 62% of respondents would seek alternatives to their favorite brand, and 15% of them would consider switching to a lower-priced or higher quality option.
By contrast, older generations tend to discover and interact with brands through more traditional means such as in-store or through television ads, which influences companies preference for convenient and welcoming store experiences and high product utility (i.e., a good experience while using a product). Once they find a company that they like, they tend to display stronger brand loyalty to that company.
In part due to generational culture…
Another reason for decreased brand loyalty is that millennials and Gen Zers, being digital natives, grew up with more easily accessible information but also misinformation on the internet and social media. They increasingly value transparency, especially in food, which is a top spending category for younger generations. A recent survey by Sodexo found that Gen Zers spend 40% of their disposable income on dining out, and a recent McKinsey report showed that a higher percentage of both Gen Zers and millennials indicated an intent to splurge on groceries (38% and 37%, respectively) than Gen X and baby boomers (36% and 29%, respectively).
The clean label movement captures this value of transparency, as it centers on promoting healthy, minimally processed, non-synthetic/artificial ingredients in food. On top of that, younger generations are increasingly vocal in keeping companies accountable for their sustainability and corporate responsibility policies. Young people understand the large impact the food system has on carbon emissions and see companies taking action to mitigate their climate impact in a positive light.
Where does Uncracked fit into this picture?
At Uncracked, we uphold the values younger generations prioritize—clean ingredients, minimal processing, and sustainability—while always putting the consumer first. By maintaining these principles in our production processes, we strategically position our partners to meet the growing demand for cleaner, more transparent food. As brand loyalty continues to shift away from large corporations, consumers are increasingly open to exploring alternatives like seaweed-based products. This positions Uncracked to thrive in a marketplace eager for innovative, sustainable options.
Comments