Doing market research for Jewel-Osco has required me to get insights about the grocery shopping habits of millennials. In order to do that I interviewed two millennial aged shoppers. One interviewee is one of my good friend, Dave’s older sister, Kim. Kim is twenty-nine years old with a husband and a one-year old daughter. I conducted my interview with her via text message since she is busy with her daughter and lives in Plainfield, IL. The second millennial aged shopper that I interviewed was a man named Brian who I ran into at a local Jewel-Osco and when I told him I was an Illinois State University student trying to do market research for Jewel-Osco he was nice enough to briefly answer some of my questions.
I’m going to start by saying if I had more time to conduct market research for Jewel-Osco and interview more people then I think I would receive more useful information. I am not done gathering research however I will continue to learn more about millennial grocery shopping habits and why Jewel-Osco is falling behind for millennial shoppers. That being said I do believe that some of the information that I uncovered I think is very valuable. For starters, I asked Kim where she shops for her family’s groceries regularly. She told me that when she shops for her family, especially her one-year-old daughter, she goes to Walmart because baby food there is cheaper and she can get all their grocery needs under one roof. Next I asked her if she shops at Jewel-Osco for any reason at all. She then explained to me that she goes to Jewel maybe once every couple months to get specialty items for certain occasions. For example, the last time she shopped at Jewel-Osco was right before Labor Day to get ingredients for potato salad and certain marinades for a cookout with their family. In Kim’s opinion and experience Jewel-Osco has good quality products and solid customer service but is a bit too expensive to shop there regularly.
The next millennial aged shopper I interviewed about Jewel-Osco was Brian. I met Brian while I was walking around the Jewel-Osco in Normal, IL on the corner of Hovey Ave. and Cottage. Brian is twenty-six years old and is in the homestretch of his electrician’s apprenticeship. When I asked Brian about his grocery shopping habits he explained to me that he always shops at Jewel-Osco for his grocery needs. He told me he has never thought too hard about where he gets his groceries because he’s always lived right around the corner from Jewel-Osco so it was the most convenient location wise. He said he doesn’t mind shopping at Jewel-Osco because at this point he knows most of the employees and they are always nice and helpful. For Brian, Jewel-Oscos prices haven’t been an issue for him because he spends time every week budgeting his groceries and is familiar with Jewel-Osco’s promotions and specials. He says in his opinion Jewel-Osco is not overpriced if you know how to shop there correctly. He also gets Shell gas rewards for shopping at Jewel-Osco which is a perk I’m sure many people are unfamiliar of.
I thought it was very interesting getting information from two different millennial aged shoppers, one who doesn’t not shop at Jewel very often and one who shops there regularly. These two different points of view definitely broadened my understanding of millennial shoppers and why some might shop at Jewel-Osco and then perhaps why most don’t. Like I stated before I am curious to talk to more people about their shopping habits and Jewel-Osco specifically. Some new questions I have after these interviews are if there are more millennial shoppers like Brian or if he is a minority in his demographics.
