20 things millennials have been killing off in the last decade

Millennials don’t go in for giant gyms that offer every piece of exercise equipment on earth; instead, they want a tailor-made experience that lets them connect as a community, such as F45, Yoga by the Sea, Flow Athletic and Code 5. “Boutiques have successfully created the concept of ‘you show up, we will do the rest’ – all the person has to do is consistently get themselves to class and everything is set up for them to succeed,” says Conor O’Loughlin, CEO and founder of boutique fitness management software company Glofox. “In addition, the class-based nature of boutiques means that members are driven by the motivation and support of their fellow members.” This smaller membership base creates a tighter knit community, allowing members to feel part of something. “This explains why boutiques are good at building distinctive tribes their members are proud to show off and tell their friends about, which is why they are growing so rapidly,” he says.

But don’t count out big box gyms for good – if they can adapt. “Many of the big-box gyms are becoming more class-based and member-experience focused,” O’Loughlin says. “They also have the ability to price local independent studios out of the market, assuming they can modernise their programming, pricing and member experience.”

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Millennials are picky about their condiments and as a result, this favourite of potato salad lovers everywhere has spoiled. Between 2012 and 2017, mayonnaise sales fell 6.7 percent and a viral US article claimed that the finicky tastes of millennials were to blame. But of course, mayo isn’t actually good for you, so those looking to eat healthier – which millennials are – may eschew the condiment. Companies like Heinz are now coming up with alternative mashups for basic mayo: Mayochup (mayonnaise and ketchup), Mayomust (mayo and mustard) and Mayocue (mayo and barbecue). The original is also getting a healthy mayo makeover: “Real Mayonnaise” is made from cage-free eggs, lemon juice, oil and vinegar.

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Another staple of the childhoods of many an older generation that’s being squashed by millennials? American cheese, which is often laden with preservatives or made with so little actual cheese it can only be called “cheese product.” Millennials strive for nothing if not authenticity, so they prefer real and more expensive, cheeses like asiago, gouda and fontina. Sales of Kraft Singles and Velvetta, meanwhile, are down 1.6 percent and have been dropping for the past several years. But if millennials are broke, why are they going for expensive cheese? “I see re-engaging with food choices and challenging the status quo around food, to be acting in one of the spaces where they are able to exert control,” Skinner says.

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Without mayo, how can we have tuna salad? And without American cheese, how can we have tuna melts? Oh, wait: canned tuna itself is another food millennials are turning their back on, with sales dropping 42 percent over the last three decades. Why? It could be because for convenience-driven millennials, opening a can of tuna is too much work – and they might not even own a can opener, one exec from tuna company StarKist told the Wall Street Journal. In addition, fresh fish sales have increased, in keeping with the millennial trend of eating less processed food.

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One industry that may have successfully adapted after being “killed” by millennials is soap. The bar variety was considered icky, harsh on the skin and less convenient than liquid options and sales dropped 2.2 percent from 2014 to 2016. Now, though, “bar soap, previously killed by millennials, is actually making a resurgence,” Flehinger says. “They killed it originally because formulations hadn’t been changed for years and millennials are very aware of using products that work best for their skin. Now though, soap companies have adapted with better and different formulations and less of an environmental footprint – i.e., less plastic – than liquid soaps, so millennials are adapting and switching back.”

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Although older generations may view wine bottles with screw caps as lower quality, millennials don’t, according to a report in the Atlantic. And actually, the convenience of screw caps – and the lack of need for a corkscrew – may be a selling point for this wine-loving generation. In addition, a concern over cork spoiling issues (now mainly rectified by cork producers) may have been responsible for corks losing an estimated 40 percent drop of the wine closure market in the last generation. Yet millennials may find more to love about corks, including their sustainability: Only the bark of the cork tree is harvested, allowing the trees to flourish and provide environmental benefits.

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Sales for motorcycle giant Harley-Davidson have stagnated, with recent analysis showing millennials just aren’t buying bikes at the same rate as previous generations. Why? Besides that riding motorcycles is more dangerous than you thought, millennials just aren’t into motorcycling as a hobby; instead, they would be most likely to ride for “ease of transportation.” But in another example of “adapt or die,” Harley-Davidson is viewing this change as an opportunity to offer new products, such as an electric motorcycle, to the younger generation. “There’s nothing new here,” Harley-Davidson told CNBC in a statement. “Our advanced analytic capabilities allow us to deeply understand rider migration trends. In fact, our knowledge of riders informed our strategy to build the next generation of Harley-Davidson riders globally.”

What is fabric softener really for, anyway? According to recent reports, millennials don’t actually know. Could that be a result of not learning how to do their own laundry, one of 34 little life skills everyone needs to be a grown-up? Liquid softener sales fell 15 percent between 2007 and 2015, with Procter & Gamble’s Downy brand plummeting 26 percent during that time period. For millennials, this might be due to financial reasons (why buy an unnecessary product?) as well as environmental and health concerns with the chemicals in fabric softener. The product is also less needed because new detergents, washing machines and fabrics make clothes come out less rough than before.

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While this isn’t exactly a scientific study, a viral Tweet that garnered over 126,000 retweets and nearly 600,000 likes pointed out that millennials don’t ring doorbells anymore – instead, they just text the word “here.” Is this anxiety over face-to-face interaction? Fear of who could be at the door? True, texting makes sense if you’re picking someone up in a car (why get out?) and texting also doesn’t wake sleeping babies or make dogs bark; doorbells also tend to get broken. But in the words of one millennial Twitter user, “The doorbell legit scares me now. I jump every time. It just seems so aggressive now when you could just text.”

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Beards – and now moustaches – are trendy for millennials: With less formality comes less judgment of not maintaining a clean-shaven appearance. Facial hair is authentic and razor blade replacement cartridges are expensive. Both might be reasons why Procter & Gamble again blamed millennials for slumping sales and an $8 billion write-down. “Lower shaving-frequency has reduced the size of the developed blades and razors market,” P&G Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller said on a call with analysts, reported MarketWatch. In addition, the market for men’s shaving products shrunk by over 11 percent in the past five years.