Is your online store ready for Generation Z?
For online retailers, understanding your target audience is imperative to business success. But is your online store ready for Generation Z? Just when you thought you finally understand ‘Millennials’, along comes ‘Generation Z’. Ultimately, you’ll have to create an entirely new message to craft and experiences to create. Generation Z comprises a big portion of the audience we market to, so understanding their nuances is critical.
Who is Generation Z?
Gen Zers have never seen a world without the internet and mobile phones. They have a strong affinity for conducting communications via online platforms and mobile apps. Sometimes, choosing online communication over face-to-face interactions. Having grown up with smartphones from an early age, Gen Zers spend hours a day on their devices absorbing information all the time. In addition, they stay well-versed on all manner of topics. How Gen Z respond to offers and marketing campaigns is a whole new playing field for marketers.
How to interact with Generation Z
They expect more innovation
Generation Z has grown up in an age of rapid innovation and expect more innovation from businesses.
Tip: Don’t be afraid to push the boundaries when advertising to Gen Z – they expect to see wildly different from past techniques. How you advertise must resonate with them.
They are not easily sold to
As a result of growing up absorbing large quantities of information, Gen Zers are not easily sold to.
Tip: Gen Z expects to be able to find instant information at their fingertips (mobile is the number one device that they use). They are impatient, expect things to be there when they need it, and want instant gratification. According to the recent IBM/NRF study “If your information is irrelevant, they’ll block you”. Therefore, make sure you are providing relevant, easily digestible and omnichannel information. Currently, Gen Zers are turning to YouTube for answers to just about everything.
They are focused on Entrepreneurial Pursuits
Having grown up in an economical depression, Generation Z is more focused on entrepreneurial pursuits and saving money than their Millennial predecessors. This will make them even more debt-averse and searching for alternative payment solutions such as the service Payflex offers.
Tip: Focus on marketing the long-term value, and how your product is the smartest investment. Make sure you are helping your customer maximise the value of every Rand spent. To have meaningful engagement, you really need to be a part of their lives.
Sustainability is Paramount
Generation Z is even more attuned than millennials to issues like sustainability and believe in their own power to make a difference.
Tip: Every item purchased need to make an impact on the lives of Gen Z and be useful, including the very packaging products come in. There is a worldwide rapid drive to switch to recyclable packaging and alternatives to single-use plastic as a result of the pressure from this generation. Put simply, gen Z is highly sophisticated in their buying decisions.
In conclusion
Generation Z wants access to helpful information, whether it be in a brick-and-mortar store, or online. This means that retailers need to meet them in the spaces that they are at. Apple is a good example of what really great retailers are doing, offering an array of options for online research, online purchasing, delivery options, or in-store purchasing with face-to-face interactions. The seamless and integrated experience offers a deep connection and has made them a global star.
The major challenge for companies will be to emulate Apple in engaging with customers in a genuine way that proves beneficial and valuable to both sides. Gen Z is connected, informed and ready for business. you should be too!
