Technology continues to permeate the way we live. Along with this, we have a generation which fully grew up immersed in all these innovations. They are the Gen Z, those who were born from 1996 onwards — the successors to the millennials (Gen Y). As the sphere of influence of technology continues to expand, so does the Gen Z in the different aspects of society.
Now, they break the rules of advertising and marketing.
Refocusing
For a long time, advertising seemingly lost its grasp on the older generations and millennials who appear to disdain advertising. However, advertising is making its comeback, as studies reveal that Gen Z are significantly more receptive to it.
Nevertheless, the old ways of advertising are still out of consideration. The way the Gen Z consume has gone digital. Some rethinking is required in order to capture this new audience.
Hulu Chief Marketing Officer Kelly Campbell in an interview with Digital News Daily perfectly encapsulates this, “Brands need new ways to get their message and their product and their worthiness across. Content and storytelling is going to be the way that happens, whether it is integrated into other stories or stands on its own.”
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At present, these stories come from social media influencers and vloggers. This is evidenced by how there is an increasing number of companies partnering with social media influencers to act as brand ambassadors.
Changing Gears
In China, Gen Z started taking over. It has been found out that 13% of the household spending in Chinese households are attributed to their Gen Z members. This young generation primarily dwells in the mobile world, buying products that are advertised by the influencers they follow. This caused a spike in e-commerce sales. We can see that this is also clearly demonstrated during the Single’s Day event where big companies rake in billions in e-commerce sales. Sales are projected to skyrocket to $ 413 B, up from 2017’s $ 90 B. Other countries are also keeping pace. We expect that the online market will only get more massive.
With this trend, one might think that traditional selling methods can be tossed off the window. This is not true at all. Instead, what this situation demands is an infusion of the online and offline selling platforms. It appears that a huge proportion of Gen Z still likes to go to physical stores. They appear to not like the idea of buying things if they weren’t able to touch it first. With this being the case, a seamless connection between the online environment where the Gen Z-ers discover new products and the offline world where they prefer to purchase must be established. Alibaba is one of the leading companies who pioneered this new retail experience in their Hema superstores where they seamlessly combine technology with its brick-and-mortar stores.
New Wave
For companies, this means improving the experience for this growing demographic. This involves making sure that their online platforms are accessible. This is also the case for their physical outlets. In this quickly-changing and continuously improving technological world, keeping up with the new wave is a must.