How to Adapt Your Online Experience for GenZ Shoppers

03.03.26 12:04 PM

Hellopeter

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 GenZ Discover Brands and Products via Social Media

For businesses with smaller paid media and engagement budgets and capabilities, focusing on their local community and consumer-catchment area will stretch their marketing buck.

Your local community is the lifeblood of your small business, and during Black Friday, the support and buy-in from the locals could be the difference between a successful or unprofitable festive shopping season.

Of course, you can't build rapport and community buy-in overnight. But throughout the year, there are many ways to prove your value to the community, including charity drives and getting involved with community projects.

In South Africa especially, there are numerous ways to get creative. With the local skills shortage, perhaps initiate a skill development or youth-mentorship programme for unemployed youths or recent graduates, or get in touch with your local councillor to find out exactly where the most pressing needs are.

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.

6. Get Creative

Small businesses must avoid the generic approach to marketing, engagement and awareness for super-competitive periods like Black Friday and Black November.

Larger businesses do not have to take risks or embrace innovation because they more than make up for their generic marketing by scaling their reach and communications.

Smaller businesses who simply copy and paste their festive season campaigns, however, don't have the reach to get away with this and will get lost in a sea of individually-indistinguishable ads.

Hellopeter Tip:

Do your research and figure out which approach the experts suggest, then tailor that approach to your specific context. For example, businesses with a largely younger customer base may consider deploying consumer-created content across their social and shopping site pages.

4. Get an Start Early and Make it Worth Their While

Why not get a head-start on other businesses by offering deals for the entire month of November? Also, make it worth their while. Customers won't necessarily buy from you if your discounts are only up to 10% off.

7. Prepare Well-Trained Staff for Action

There's no more sure-fire way of losing sales than employing unqualified or untrained staff to handle the expected festive season rush.

Just think back to how often you've hung up on a sales consultant or walked out of a restaurant or store simply because of to bad service.

Now, multiply that potentially sales-ending frustration by a hundred, and you'll have a good idea of what your business can expect during Black November unless your team is capable, likeable, well-informed and customer-focused.

Hellopeter Tip:

It goes without saying that you should optimise your hiring protocols, but even the most capable sales staff need occasional refresher training. Make sure your team has the knowledge and skills necessary to represent your brand positively, especially under the incredible festive shopping season pressure.