Yconic wants to know what Millennials are thinking
Yconic president Rob Henderson says Millennials – ages 13 to 30 – should not be underestimated. Even if many Millennials can’t afford cars, they have a say in what their parents are buying.
He explains “Often, it’s the Millennial who does all the research when the family is car shopping and gives their input. Our research shows the Millennial will add one to two more cars to the list, making them a third and important voice.”
Yconic research, done by offspring Uthink, finds the group looks for cars that are fuel-efficient and offer high-tech devices as standard equipment. He adds that when they go shopping for themselves, they are price conscious as well. Beyond that, he says group member opinions are constantly changing.
Henderson says Uthink taps into the thoughts of nearly 550,000 Millennials, making it the largest youth-focused market research panel in Canada.
“We have a range of people and ages and a 32-point profile on every participant.”
By points, he means factors such as ethnicity, place of residence and education level and courses studied.
Recognizing that students weren’t aware of all the scholarships available, Henderson opened in 1998 a scholarship listing service and called it yconic. Over the years, he built Uthink with the names and other information culled from all those contacts.
He says OEMs are interested in what that age group is thinking and for good reason: they are car buyers of today and the future.
But Millennials have a problem when it comes to car buying. They can’t afford insurance.
Henderson warns that offering student discounts is not going to impress. They want money to help them lower those premium costs.
He has another warning: “Millennials are looking for an authentic (car) buying process – an open process because they have all the information at their fingertips,” he says.
“They will know what things cost and if they feel someone is taking advantage of them, they will tell the whole world about it on social media.”
