(WBM) - A common question amongst wine marketing professionals is, “How do we capture the Millennial market?” Despite the volumes of research on the subject, new data suggest that perhaps they should be asking that question about Generation X instead. Generally an ignored generation due to its small size and early preference for cocktails, Gen X has now begun to spend much more money on wine. Perhaps the new question should be: Is the wine industry missing an opportunity by failing to market to Generation X?”

Characteristics and Purchasing Power of Gen X

Generation X is a term derived from the 1991 book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland. Born between the years of 1965 and 1980, Gen X has only around 66 million people, compared to the Baby Boomers at 75 million and Millennials at 71 million strong (Pew Research Center, 2018). It is partially this smaller size that has prevented many marketers from focusing on this generation, along with negative portrayals of Gen X as being ambivalent, apathetic slackers who prefer to follow, rather than lead (McElligott, 2013).