Changing consumer dynamics: Brands are targeting young urban singles

A young woman is travelling alone across the country, sometimes continents. She lugs her backpack from train to buses and streets, humming a catchy tune and holding on to her water bottle. That’s Milton for you, one of the country’s oldest brand of flasks that has for long targeted traditional Indian homemakers in its ads. Its latest
campaign is aimed at the young urban single woman. 

Single urban men and women are changing the consumer dynamics in the country says a new report by Nielsen India. No wonder then the profusion of ads around this demographic; Axis Bank has long used Deepika Padukone as its brand ambassador and is also running a print campaign with single men and women talking about wealth management. Jewellery brand Tanishq was among the early brands to jump on the bandwagon and the list is growing. 
 

 

The Nielsen report says that India’s 440 million millennial and 390 million Gen Z population are a young and digitally forward segment that is evolving into a new consumer class with more disposable income than other cohorts. This one per cent of the country’s 1.3 billion population comprises wealthy single urbanites. These are salaried individuals earning upwards of Rs 50,000 a month, who stay alone, with friends, or are in live-in relationships. They are in the age group of 28 to 45 years and may be unmarried, divorced, widowed or separated.

As always, female shoppers are being targeted with more advertisements here, but the traditional narrative has changed. No longer are women looking for validation from family, peers or significant others. They are instead taking charge of their lives or indulging in pursuits that may have been considered beyond their ken earlier. 

“Our communication has been crafted to bring to life the fact that whatever women do, they do it in their own unique way. The critical aspect to keep in mind is that the space is a little crowded and brands have to work that much harder to be in the consideration set for her share of wallet,” said Bhavishya Kelappan, business head at Mia, Tanishq.

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As the pitch has evolved, so has the choice of endorsers used to target the community. For instance bag brand Caprese has Alia Bhatt, Axis Bank uses Deepika Padukone (who is usually depicted spending on food), e-commerce travel portal Makemytrip has Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt and so on. “Today, when it comes to women endorsers, Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt are the top two. Both have an urbane personality, are independent working women, and unmarried, so in that sense, single. When brands want to attract a target group with similar traits, they will approach a relatable celebrity for it. If it's the working, independent urban woman, they will go for Padukone or Bhatt.” 

The report by Nielsen said, “Wealthy, single urbanites most often base their consumption decisions on lifestyle considerations rather than functional needs. They’re also early adopters and super consumers across all categories.” They are keen consumers of premium lifestyle products.

A report by Myntra in March had reported that their premium category has grown by 4X in the last two years. The ‘Urban Trailblazer’ category of affluent shoppers now make up 14 per cent of the Myntra consumer base, their average age is 33 years and they like to splurge on spas, brunches and travel.