How to Adapt Your Online Experience for GenZ Shoppers

With Black Friday around the corner marking the beginning of the festive retail rush, 'tis truly the season to connect with Gen Z, your most valuable demographic from a business-growth perspective.

Check out our 5 Tips to Adapting your Online Experience this shopping season and optimise your business to connect with Gen Z.

Tip 1: 85% of Gen Z Discover Brands and Products via Social Media

The first question your business needs to address is whether you're having your marketing, retail and review-focused brand conversations in the spaces where Gen Z spend their time.

Gen Z marks the first truly connected generation. Their contextual retail and brand experiences have all been defined by social media. Therefore, they are far savvier than previous generations in deciphering media messaging, cutting through the 'noise' and rewarding brands that stand out.

As a result, there are no mere platitudes and generic marketing communications for this generation. They expect authenticity, originality and sincerity from their social brand connections and engaged brands that offer individualised interactions and engagement.

Current trends reveal that rich media and user-generated content are key in creating connections with this cohort, as they demand Social Proof before action.

Check out our Hellopeter tips on building your business's social media strategy towards growth. 

Tip 2: 58% of Gen Z Demand Personalised Products, Services and Experiences 

According to the Fresh Relevance Customer Loyalty report, "1 in 3 Gen Z consumers want retailers to make it easy to discover more products they might like".

That's at least one-third of your most valuable demographic who demand that your business is invested enough in their customers' success to offer individualised customer experiences. 

This means, for example, leveraging customer and browser data as well as shopping histories to offer personalised offers, communications and services or taking advantage of Google's targeting algorithms to introduce Gen-Z-focused communications collateral into your marketing mix.

"First-party customer data – such as actions a customer takes across your website – is the backbone of any good personalisation strategy, as it helps you to tailor the experience for each individual." – Arthur Rakovskis, Partnership Manager for Fresh Relevance.

A faster, affordable way to immediately begin creating personalised experiences for your loyal customers is by simply tapping into your consumer review community. 

Identifying specific trends, both positive and negative, allows your business to drill down and define exactly what experiences your customers are looking for.

Tip 3: 68% of Gen Z Expect Brands to 'Care'

One of the defining characteristics of this current retail age is the expectation, especially from younger consumers, that the brands they associate with and champion are focused on more than just the bottom line. 

This cohort has inherited a myriad of issues such as climate change, geo-political uncertainty and pollution, to name just a few, and Gen Z demands that your business makes a difference.

According to First Insight, "73% of Generation Z consumers are willing to pay 10% more for sustainable products", so wearing your sustainability on your sleeve will have an actual, real-world impact on your connection and viability with this cohort.

From internal, worker-first policies to your packaging, shipping and entire product life cycle, ensure your business is geared to making a difference and actively communicating your efforts to Gen Z.

Tip 4: 66% of Gen Z Consider Product Quality and Value as Priority

When it comes to product quality, Gen Z is not the demographic to take chances with. Due to their digital nativity, and their access to viable, consumer-generated information, Gen Z has far more insight into your business and your products than you may think. 

A ten-minute Google search can reveal everything about your product line, from source to shipping. And if Gen Z senses they are not receiving fair value, they will not only stop frequenting your business but also share their negative experiences across their network. 

If quality is indeed one of your selling points (as it should be!), you should leverage sites such as Hellopeter.com to ensure that you communicate this message to your motivated, engaged customers and potential customers.

Tip 5: 62% of Gen Z Will Avoid Slow Apps or Websites 

Gen Z grew up super connected. From the moment they become viable consumers, they are inundated with marketing messaging across all their platforms and quickly become experts in differentiating and evaluating their options. This means that they are very much aware of the differences in site quality between you and your competitors. 

Ensuring you provide an intuitive, fast and accessible user experience across your digital platforms is non-negotiable, as this cohort will not hesitate to abandon your page or platform in search of a more convenient, intuitive solution. 

To underscore the point, Gen Z is 60% more likely than other demographics to end a phone call attempt if you don't answer it timeously. 

Many older business owners and consumers interpret this as a lack of patience when it's really just an awareness of their range of choices and alternatives.

Partner with the Experts 

Hellopeter not only provides your business with a curated space to engage your younger, connected customer base. Hellopeter Business also provides a host of customisable, affordable tools and solutions to improve your digital communications and engagement protocols, offering Social Proof of your service and quality standards. Furthermore, it allows you to easily create user-generated content and marketing collateral that shows off the value you can offer Gen Z.

Partner with South Africa's number one online review and reputation-management platform today and say 'hello' to Gen Z customers finding you, buying from you, and becoming your biggest fans.