A millennial writer tested all the online products you can't afford, and was seriously disappointed
CBC Radio | Posted: December 26, 2018 7:31 PM | Last Updated: December 26, 2018
Writer Rebecca Jennings spent a week trying to understand retail's new wave
Online products promising to produce perfect lives for socially-conscious young people have been capturing the hearts and wallets of millennial buyers in recent years.
We're talking about personalized shampoo, specialized floss, sneakers marketed as the world's most comfortable, and $40 toothpaste.
Curious about the appeal of these products, Vox reporter and millennial Rebecca Jennings spent just over a week using so-called top goods marketed to her generation to see if her life would feel as amazing as the Instagram advertisements looked.
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To her surprise, Jennings found herself suffering "an existential crisis" by the end of those eight days.
"Over and over again we get this message that, like, here is the ideal life of a millennial," she said, referring to the advertising messages of these products.
Jennings explained these goods are targeted at urban young people through highly stylized marketing. They are sold only online, marking a new trend in retail called direct-to-consumer shopping.
"I sort of ended up disappointed I guess," Jennings told The Current's guest host Piya Chattopadhyay.
Jennings said the experiment was exciting at first, but soon she came to take these supposedly perfect products for granted.
"As the days went on ... they just became another pair of leggings in the drawer, or another pair of sneakers ... in my closet," she said.
Although the products themselves were excellent, Jennings said there was a limit to their value.
"They're still just products," she said. "They will not make your life better. These advertisements are lies."
Millennials want 'authenticity,' says reporter
Marina Strauss, the retail reporter for the Globe and Mail, is not surprised by Jennings's conclusions. She told Chattopadhyay that millennials are defined by their desire for authenticity.
"They want an experience. They don't want things," she said.
"Rebecca was given the perfect everything for a week and she found out that's not what she really needed, and it was a great discovery and very millennial in that way," said Strauss.
Strauss maintains the millennial's desire for authenticity may prove to be a challenge to the continued success of direct-to-consumer shopping.
She points to successful online brands like Warby Parker, which sells eyeglasses and sunglasses, that are now opening brick-and-mortar retail locations.
"People still want to see what they're buying, feel good, spend some time with that," said Strauss.
"So I'm back to the word 'experience.' It's called experiential retail, and people are ready to go to a store if they're going to get something out of it."
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Produced by Samira Mohyeddin.