Reaching Mid-Millennial Produce Shoppers at Whole Foods Market, Inc. in Texas

Abstract

Mid-Millennials are placing an increasing amount of importance on their health and aim to consume more fresh fruits and vegetables. However, little is known about what mid-Millennials desire when shopping for fresh produce. The purpose of this study was to develop early stage buyer personas that can be further developed to guide message development and advertisements tailored to mid-Millennial produce shoppers at Whole Foods Market, Inc. Thirty mid-Millennial produce shoppers were sampled at three WFM Texas locations. Data were collected using three data collection methods: participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and quantitative questionnaire. The buyer personas developed in this study can serve as a source of reference for WFM to use when creating produce related messages to communicate to the public. In addition, the personas developed in this study can help WFM better understand its produce shoppers and, as a result, improve their customers’ produce shopping experience. Although the buyer personas developed are not representative of the entire mid-Millennials population, personas developed in this study are meant to act as a foundation for future research.