Millennials are fickle beings, and the “psychologically scarred” generation is killing once-thriving businesses due to their precarious purchasing habits.
“I think we have got a very significant psychological scar from this great recession,” Morgan Stanley analyst Kimberly Greenberger told Business Insider.
READ: The List of Things Millennials are Choosing Over Church is Really Sad
One of the industries millennials are negative affecting is – surprisingly – cereal.
Cereal sales dropped from $13.9 billion in 2000 to $10 billion in 2015, according to The New York Times.
A survey by Mintel found that 40 percent of millennials said that cereal was an inconvenient breakfast choice because they had to clean up after they ate it. Millennials are instead choosing convenient options such as yogurt and fast-food breakfast sandwiches that require minimal cleanup and are easily eaten on the go.
Body Buddies’ short, but enriching, past https://t.co/8frXmwivpT #cereal #history #archives pic.twitter.com/WYPrNQsm41
— General Mills (@GeneralMills) August 24, 2017
At the Kellogg Company, we take our cereal box eclipse viewers very seriously! Hope everyone is watching safely! #Eclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/CDjGWcGdrk
— Kellogg Company (@KelloggCompany) August 21, 2017
Casual dining chains like Applebees and Buffalo Wild Wings are suffering at the helm of millennials as well, who prefer to cook at home or order delivery, Business Insider reported.
“Millennial consumers are more attracted than their elders to cooking at home, ordering delivery from restaurants, and eating quickly, in fast-casual or quick-serve restaurants,” Buffalo Wild Wings CEO Sally Smith wrote in a letter to shareholders earlier this year.
Homeownership is also at record lows among the younger generation. Experts credit a delay in home ownership to tighter credit standards as well as lifestyle changes such as delayed marriage and children.
Because of the tendency for millennials to delay marriage, the diamond industry is suffering as well. Sales of diamonds have slowed globally, Business Insider reported.
(H/T: Business Insider)