They’ve been shaped/scarred by not one but two global economic traumas — the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and the COVID pandemic — and they’ve grown up with social media playing an increasingly large (and loud) role in shaping culture, including how these consumers shop, research and purchase products and services.
They’re Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012 and comprising 20.69% of the U.S. population — just a bit fewer than Baby Boomers (20.93%) and the largest current group, millennials (21.71%), according to Statista. That’s approximately 67 million people in the U.S. alone — an enormous, and increasingly powerful, consumer group.
So what are brands and retailers doing to engage this cohort, as the oldest among them enter the workforce and the youngest unleash their teenage angst on their parents and the world? They’re drawing on a variety of strategies that align with some of Gen Z consumers’ key commonalities, including the opportunity to use their own creativity and entrepreneurial spirit as well assupport for sustainability, authenticity and inclusiveness.
E.l.f. Cosmetics, Claire’s Tap Gen Z’s Desire for Self-Expression
E.l.f. Cosmetics launched E.l.f. UP! on Roblox in November 2023, giving users a place to dream up their own startups that represent places and causes they care most about as well as fostering self-expression in a gamified environment. The Roblox activation features a recording studio and karaoke bar, a crystal cave jewelry and art gallery, an extreme climbing gym and tech startup and an underwater sea life charity and animal rescue.
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The brand relies heavily on consumer data, including insights from its 3 million-member loyalty program, to guide its actions. But data strategy is only one of the beauty brand’s many “superpowers,” according to Ekta Chopra, E.l.f.’s Chief Digital Officer: “We don’t give our consumer just one thing — we learn from our community and then we bring on new superpowers that they want,” Chopra said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “[Becoming] fair trade is a great example; being vegan and cruelty-free is a great example.”
Claire’s also has gone directly to the source, so to speak, creating The Collab as a platform for young creators and influencers. The year-long program will allow seven members of “Gen Zalpha” (the group bridging the gap between Gen Z and Gen Alpha) to participate in the retailer’s branding in multiple ways, including styling photo and video shoots, creating content, hosting events and sharing their personal stories to motivate others to do the same.
Brands also are finding it’s helpful to bounce ideas off of actual members of this generation. “Shein is very Gen Z oriented, so we bring in as many Gen Z team members as possible,” said Marisa Runyon, Director of Creative Content and Production at Shein. “We spend a lot of time in brainstorming sessions, asking them, ‘What are you watching? What are you listening to? What do you think is funny online?’” Shein spoke during a panel discussion at the recent FUTR conference in New York City.
Why Coach Built Sustainability into its Gen Z-Friendly Brand
Nearly half (47%) of Gen Z consumers want the brands they shop at to support environmental sustainability, according to the ICSC report, The Rise of the Gen Z Consumer. And a majority are willing to back up their preferences with purchase choices: 56% of respondents said they are willing to spend more to buy sustainably sourced products.
Coach has taken these concerns to heart, creating an entirely new brand, Coachtopia, a sustainable label that taps into the edgy, fun designs Gen Z loves, all made from leftover textiles from the brand’s full-line products. Coachtopia has developed a scalable model for reusing leather and other materials to create standout fashion items.
“Younger shoppers are demanding value-based brands — social and environmental missions that resonate with them,” said Marie Driscoll, Adjunct Professor at Parsons The New School in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “Coachtopia has done an amazing job speaking to this generation of young shoppers who care about consumerism, circularity and the environmental impact of their shopping choices. By designing products from inception with a circular mandate, Coachtopia is truly differentiating the brand and the product in the marketplace and has become a brand that younger shoppers are eagerly wearing and advocating.”
Brands Tout Inclusivity to Woo Gen Z
Gen Z has come of age at a time of increased visibility for historically marginalized groups, including LGBTQ+ and disabled people, as well as those with unconventional body types. That’s changed the look of both marketing and the products retailers sell.
For example, Walmart recently relaunched its $2 billion No Boundaries private label apparel line with styles, sizes and features specifically designed to appeal to Gen Z consumers. Sizing ranges from XXS to 5X for women and XS to 3X for men, and the line also will feature its first plant-based bra pad, made from more than 75% sugarcane, in select top-selling styles. The retailer added to its Gen Z street cred by introducing the No Boundaries brand within its Walmart Discovered experience on Roblox.
The “changing social acceptability of diverse bodies” has been present on fashion catwalks and also affected marketing, in large part because younger consumers are looking for more diverse and authentic brand representatives, according to Mark Pingol, SVP at market research firm Savanta. In an Instagram post, Outlander Magazine noted that including older models and brand sponsors has an “opposite-influence effect” for brands, indicating that “OG” actors, models and everyday people are garnering more attention and virality on social media than their younger counterparts.
Change is a Constant for Gen Z
Supercharged by social media, Gen Z trends move fast, so brands need to pick up the pace to keep up. “I’ve had the privilege of being at some brands where the CMO sat in the ivory tower and determined what audiences would like,” said Craig Brommers, Chief Marketing Officer of American Eagle during the Retail CEO Forum in NYC. “Now it’s the inversion. It’s my responsibility to activate the Gen Z audience, both external and internal. You have to have some guardrails of where you want to go, but you have to be willing and able to pivot almost immediately if they want to go in a different direction instead.”
Future Stores, a new immersive brick-and-mortar retail concept that’s scheduled to debut on Oct. 30, 2024, on London’s Oxford Street, has been designed to change quickly. “How can you capture someone’s attention in today’s world, where information is flowing so fast?,” asked entrepreneur Ariel Haroush in Vogue Business. “People love their Instagram or TikTok because it’s always interesting; there’s always a fresh reason to look. That’s what I’m trying to achieve with Future Stores.”
The 4,680-square-foot store will feature a rotating lineup of brand activations that will change every two to six weeks; the space can be used by one or more brands and can be divided into two rooms. Brands also can use the space one way during the day and transform it for an evening event.
Along the back of the space’s ground floor are floor-to-ceiling high-definition micro-LED displays, and the store’s glass frontage allows passersby to see the head-turning screens. The space also features an integrated payment system, allowing brands to use it as a point of sale, with products stored in a basement floor stockroom. Cameras are set up to capture granular shopper behavior data, including footfall inside and outside the store, dwell time and shopper gender, with age and sentiment tracking scheduled to follow next year.
