Millennials love avocados.
They love avocados enough to spend $453 million in 2018, according to a new study by the Hass Avocado Board.
The Hass Avocado Board (HAB) conducted a study to understand the impact millennial households have on avocados, and it found that millennials spend more on avocados than any other group. For the purpose of the study, millennial households were defined by households in which the head of the household was born between 1981-1996. Non-millennial households were all other households over the age of 18.
According to HAB’s research, the average annual avocado spend of $24.99 by millennial households is 5% higher than the non-millennial spend per household of $23.75. However, $24.99 is a 7.9% decline from 2017, according to HAB.
Millennials are not only spending the most, but they also purchase avocados more frequently than non-millennials. HAB estimated that about 80% of millennials bought avocados more than once in 2018, while 77% of non-millennials made repeat purchases.
Nevertheless, avocado purchase frequency increased for both groups. An average of 6.9 avocados were purchased among all households, and trip frequency rose 9% for millennials and nearly 14% for non-millennials. But who’s spending more per trip on avocados? Millennials. The HAB found that millennials spend an average of $3.65 per trip on avocados, while non-millennials are spending about 6% less at about $3.42 per trip.
Millennials may have spent more money on avocados per household and per trip than non-millennials, but non-millennials spent more overall last year. Non-millennials spent a whopping $1.142 billion on avocados last year, which is an 8.4% increase from 2017. The $453 million spent by millennials was actually a decline of 7.2% from 2017.
“Millennial households are clearly a high-value segment of the avocado category on a per household basis,” the HAB said. “Leveraging the insights in this study can help marketers and retailers enhance strategies aimed at expanding sales.”
The Haas Avocado board got its data from the National Consumer Panel, which consists of a representative sample of U.S. households who record all of their purchases.
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Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.
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