If you don’t have an e-commerce strategy, you’re already losing genYZ. For “digital natives,” online shopping is increasingly the default option in many categories. And as new breakthroughs destroy the barriers keeping young consumers in-store, digitally-native brands will have two competitive advantages:
First, online prices can’t be beat. Digital prices are already lower than those of offline products, and the myriad of apps and browser extensions offering cash-back, rebate, coupon, price-matching & and other similar services keep pushing these real costs down. With less spending money and more debt than older generations at their age, Millennials and Gen Z have every financial incentive to shop through online retailers.
Second, online direct-to-consumer brands are going physical. No longer content to reach consumers solely through digital means, these brands are displacing traditional stores with experiential, aesthetically-pleasing, and minimalist pop-ups. These holistic, simplified shopping experiences appeal to anxious Millennials and Gen Z shoppers in a way that traditional retailers often don’t have the flexibility to emulate. (Read more about the anxiety felt by Millennials and Gen Z in our America in 2018 research)
So if the competition is outperforming your brand in both the digital and the physical realms, what should you do?
To support Collage Group members, we conducted a nationally-representative survey of 2,758 respondents. With your input, we designed a series of questions testing key hypotheses on how consumers engage with e-commerce, with a focus on behavioral and attitudinal differences among generational segments.
Takeaways and action steps from our research include:
- Social and experiential shopping helps develop Gen Z consumers’ identities: tap into social media and (micro)influencer culture to boost the experiential dynamics of your brand
- Gen Z shops online for the products they can’t find in-store: streamline this process by helping in-store shoppers purchase what they want on your own online platforms, rather than through a third party platform
- Most Millennials use their phones to aid in-store shopping: leverage tech innovations like geolocation, QR codes, and augmented/virtual reality to communicate with shoppers’ devices
- Young consumers prefer recommendations for “people like you”: let consumers voluntarily exchange personal information for curated & personalized shopping experiences
- Millennials want better logistics, while Gen Z wants to enjoy e-commerce: lock in Gen Z brand loyalty with experiences, but maintain mature consumers with more practical features
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