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If you're not between the ages of 12 and 27, it's hard to understand what motivates those Gen Z consumers to shop and buy as they do. At the recent Shoptalk conference, Berns Communications sponsored a panel of Gen Z consumers who discussed their thinking about shopping.
Very likely these panelists were more interested in shopping, fashion and being consumers than most of their contemporaries and maybe they’re not representative. But their insights are illuminating.
Probably the most significant difference between how Gen Z consumes and how older consumers do it is TikTok. Its persistence in the lives of Gen Z'ers is hard to overstate.
The appeal of TikTok isn't about one thing, it's about everything.
Panelist Clay Lute, 2023 graduate of LIM College and Associate Merchant at Calvin Klein, put this question to the audience: If you had a few ingredients in your kitchen and you wanted to make dinner, where would you go to find a recipe? "I would TikTok it," he said. He added, "If I'm trying to see how something fits or where I should go for dinner or what to see in a new city, I'm looking at TikTok first."
Kristen Wiley, Founder and CEO of influencer management company Statusphere, told me at the recent Global Pet Expo that TikTok right now is like the early days of Google search" and presents a true challenge to Google hegemony in search. Younger consumers search on TikTok and Amazon. They are a lot less likely to ever use Google.
When you talk to Gen Z'ers about shopping, it doesn't take long before personal values come up.
One is authenticity. Panelist Niki Maragos, Usability Manager at Citizens Bank and Founder of clothing rental service The Astral Closet, says that on TikTok, she looks for videos where "they're not just reading off a script and they might throw in some of the things they don't like about the products."
Another concept is expressed in a word pair: "sustainability" and "resale" (or if you prefer, "vintage" or "thrift"), and "rental" often follows closely. Those new modes and motivations for shopping were a consistent part of the panel's conversation and high on their desirability list.
Another priority is niche brands and an avoidance of mass, ubiquitous fashion and consumer products. As industry analyst Marie Driscoll says, “big is the enemy of cool.”
Unless you’re a super luxury brand like Gucci and Chanel. Those are the exception, they’re still desirable and buying them vintage is the coolest way to get it.
But even purists are often motivated by price and price shopping will likely never go away as a part of every consumer’s shopping habits. Maragos said "Zara is hardwired into my stylekit" and the growth of Shein and Temu is also driven by younger consumers. And of course, part of the appeal of resale is the price.
Wiley points out that on TikTok, videos appear not because they’re created by someone with a lot of followers but because the video is proven to be compelling to similar users. It’s more likely on TikTok that a user will see consecutive videos that are compelling to them than on other social media where a narrower range of creators make most of what a consumer sees.
Olivia Meyer, a senior at Kent State and an intern at fashion brand Valentino, said "it's very easy to get caught into the loop of Tiktok." The app has a number of tools to help users monitor their own usage and it restricts screen time automatically for users under 13. Meyer sets a timer for 15 minutes so she gets an alert and has to make a conscious decision about staying on or not.
The average TikTok user is on the app for 82 minutes every day. It's likely that the average younger user is on for much longer.
Lute is not bothered by the possible ban on the app and the related privacy concerns. He's been on social media for 15 years and he's confident that his picture, address and phone are available anywhere, and very likely his credit card is as well.
"There are other things I'm worried about," he said. "I'm worried about the economy. I'm worried about whether the weather is going to change and if I'm going to have a summer in my future." He calls the proposed legislation on TikTok a "band-aid" and finds it hard to believe it's "working to protect me and you."
Gen Z doesn't just want its own brands and products, it wants its own way to find them and buy them. If these trends continue, Google will not remain the leader it is today and many established brands will become tired and fade.
Brands need to relate to personal values to remain relevant to younger consumers.
As always in retail and consumer adapting to change is the key to survival and success. Brands and retailers are facing a challenge of finding the right balance of staying the course and changing in ways that remain true to themselves and that continue to have public appeal as younger consumers age up.
Sourced from Forbes
