Students of today are having to watch what they spend, with their biggest headaches fuelled by financial and sustainability concerns, rather than alcohol.
By Sarah Britton
You might think being a student is all about rinsing the bank of mum and dad and nights out on the razz, but with costs and stress levels rising, these days many Gen Zs are having to watch their pennies more than ever.
Financial concerns and cost-of-living pressures were on the minds of half of students quizzed in the 2023 NatWest Student Living Index. The research found that Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Coventry were the four regions with the highest cost of living, with Edinburgh coming out on top for the second year in a row.
Around a third of Brits aged 18-24 do not drink alcohol at all (Mintel’s Lifestyles of Generation Z UK 2023), but with Freshers Week fast approaching, it’s always going to be worth stores in student areas stocking a good selection of spirits and alcohol multipack deals to help students celebrate the start of their university journey. However, overall, students are spending less on booze, with Natwest reporting a drop of 29% to an average monthly alcohol spend of £30.96. The bank says: “This could be an indication that they are finding cheaper deals or cutting down on drinking entirely.”
Research also shows that putting food on the table is a battle for a worrying number of students. Money website Save the Student (STS) found that UK students spent £133 a month on groceries on average – their second biggest expenditure after rent. This breaks down to around £31 a week. But many are struggling to afford a good, balanced diet, with 18% using foodbanks, according to the 2023 STS Student Money survey. That’s almost double the one in 10 using food banks in the site’s 2022 poll.
So if you are based near a university then ensuring value for money on the basics is a must. Ashok Pothugunta has just taken on two stores within 1.3 miles of each other in the heart of Edinburgh and is very mindful of student budgets.
He is hopeful that he can draw in plenty of students come September by ensuring that prices remain reasonable. “Immediately I’m going to target price, so I’m going to check my competitors and what they’re doing, so that at least we can compete with them,” he says. “I’m going to target students with ready meals and meal deals. Maybe at the moment they’re £4.25 and I’m going to speak to Nisa and they may come down to £3.99 meal deals.”
He’ll also be stocking a good selection of global dishes to cater for a diverse range of tastes. “We’ll have more international lines because it’s a mixed community with students from all over the world,” he says.
In addition to value for money, sustainability is a high priority for young people of today. In fact, the Deloitte 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey shows six in 10 Gen Zs (62%) say they have felt worried or anxious about climate change in the last month, up two percentage points from last year. As a result, 73% of Gen Zs have taken action to minimise their impact on the environment. What’s more, 79% believe that businesses could and should do more to enable consumers to make more sustainable purchasing decisions.
The convenience store at Dundee University Students’ Association, Premier DUSA, has tapped into this need in multiple ways, including making a dedicated display of health-, social-, and sustainability-conscious products. The store also houses a vape recycle bin sourced from the Scottish Grocers’ Federation. “As part of our sustainability aims, it is vital that our customers can dispose of their vapes responsibly and with ease,” says the store. “We are delighted to work with socially responsible partners and improving sustainability is at the heart of what we do as part of Dundee University Students’ Association’s strategic plan.”
So while alcohol is undoubtedly still a key part of the student mix, it is worth keeping in mind that cost and sustainability are also student essentials for today’s mindful Gen Z crowd.
