Marketers Shift Focus to Generation Z

For the past few years, many retailers have focused their marketing efforts on Millennials, the largest group of consumers since baby boomers. But now many retailers are starting to shift their focus to Generation Z.

Gen Z includes people born in 1995 or later and now accounts for over one-fourth of the U.S. population.

Already Gen Z has distinguished itself from Millennials in very significant ways:

Social media savvy: Similar to Millennials, Gen Z connects with their peers and asks their opinions via social media before purchasing a product. A huge percentage of them have a Facebook account, however, their social platforms are rapidly changing. According to Marketo, 25 percent of 13-to-17-year-olds left Facebook in 2014 and now prefer anonymous media platforms such as Snapchat, Secret and Whisper, as opposed to the millennial or “me” generation, which prefers Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This means when marketing to Generation Z, it’s best to keep your content short and sweet.

Multiple screens are the norm: Right now, the majority of Millennials use two screens to connect and shop. Generation Z more than doubles that total using an average of five screens per day. Gen Zers are more likely to communicate with images and look for product transparency. Authenticity and offering a tech-savvy experience to this generation is key when marketing to them.

Online usage on the rise: Gen Z spends a lot of time on the internet – researching, using social media and shopping online. In fact 41% of Gen Z spends 3+ hours a day on computers for no-school work related activities.

Given these behaviors, what is the best way to market to Gen Z?