BLOG

Keeping Up With Gen Z: How to Build a Promo Strategy for Next-Gen Shoppers

August 19, 2021
Jump To

Bonus Material: Promotions Insight Survey 2021: Shoppers Edition

As a digital marketer, you are constantly faced with new algorithms and platforms, data changes,and so much more. At the heart of it all, it’s understanding what consumers want, and how you can market your offering to them in a way that’s attractive to them. 

Gen Z, a consumer market born between the mid 90’s and early 2000’s, has certainly received the short end of the stick when it comes to reputation. But this generation is the latest to enter the workforce, and their economic force is one to be reckoned with. Gen Z comes into the market with the highest growth potential and high spending power, making them one you need to pay attention to – and fast.

Why should marketers pay attention to Gen Z?

Gen Z is fast becoming a major percentage of all consumers. According to Forbes, their buying power is estimated at around $143billion – and that’s excluding the influence on their parents’ spending. As this consumer market enters the workforce, the spending will be high and fast.

At Namogoo, because we’re in the business of making unstoppable customer journeys, it’s important that we stay on top of the latest in all things consumer-centric. That’s why we have some valuable insights on the smartphone generation from our latest consumer survey report.

This past May, we surveyed more than 500 consumers on their attitudes and purchasing habits around promotions. We further dissected the data according to the different generations, especially Gen Z, to better understand these next gen shoppers. 

Here’s a deep dive into the general mindset of a Gen Z shopper in terms of what they expect from promotions when they shop online. 

The Gen Z Shopper Profile

According to IBM and Fast Company, Gen Z consumers aren’t only about technology. They have expectations around value and choice, too. Below are some key points to note about the typical Gen Z shopper: 

  • Gen Zers expect seamless interaction with brands: Having 24/7 access to information and digital resources has made them more educated, knowledgeable, and self-reliant in deciding which products and services to choose or brands to support.
  • Consistent delivery of retail essentials: They expect accurate information, good value, and choices when shopping online.
  • Technology that provides value and convenience: They appreciate innovation, but only if it serves a purpose for them.
  • Individualized shopping experiences: They want shopping experiences that are tailored to them.
  • Gen Z have short attention spans: They want the information they’re looking for fast, or they’ll simply move on. 

So, How Should You Build a Promo Strategy for Generation Z?

Before we dive into specifics, let’s go over what we know this generation wants in terms of online shopping. From our survey, we were able to deduce that 62% of Gen Z shoppers would purchase more, if promotions were personalized. What will drive them to purchase? A site-wide 30% off or 30% off a pair of jeans they’ve been eyeballing?

On top of that, 49% of the Gen Z market we surveyed said that they think highly of brands that offer promotions or discounts. Therefore, incorporating promotions into eCommerce conversion strategies should be key, specifically when targeting Gen Z shoppers.

Impact of Promotional Offers when Shopping Online

Talking about promotions, free shipping is the one that stood out in terms of what attracted them to purchase. A dismal 4% of brands only offer this.

What type of online shoppers are Gen Z?

When we dove into the data, we saw that Gen Z are mainly bargain hunters and browsers.

From Bargain Hunter to Practical Shoppers – Six  Shopping Traits

As no strangers to online shopping, Gen Z can easily sniff out what’s valuable and what’s not. This is where the personalized shopping experience comes into play. Targeting them based on past products they view, gives them the push to purchase. Gen Z trusts the sales promotions they see. Because they’re tracking the products they want online, they’re constantly looking for the best price – therein comes the bargain hunter trait again. 

Trust In Promotions Reflecting a True Discount

Gen Z considers promotions to reflect a real discount and they trust the brand that offers this. 

How do Gen Z find out about promotions? 

Marketing your promotions to them is another aspect of your strategy to keep in mind. There is no one way to advertise your promo. Gen Z sniffs out these promotions in various ways:

  • On your website
  • Email
  • Online advertisements
  • Social media influencers

Top Channels for Learning About Promotions

Be sure to integrate your advertising holistically, so you don’t miss out on catching their attention. 

How to leverage intent-data to personalize the Gen Z shopper experience

So we now know that Gen Z wants personalized shopping experiences.? However, we found out that Gen Z were the most skeptical about sharing personal information to receive a promotion. Although 21% are willing to, the rest are only sometimes, rarely and never give away their personal information, accounting for a total of 79%. It’s no surprise as these savvy shoppers are aware of giving out their personal information and how their data might be used.

Sharing Personal Information for Promotions

So how can you do it for anonymous users and without them sharing personal information? Despite GDPR and the new PII regulations, there is still plenty of data to leverage for a more intelligent promotional strategy.

The more obvious is campaign source or geographic location, or data gathered from the user actions, such as filling out a form, conducting a search, and adding an item to the cart . When combined with online behavior such as browsing history, viewing patterns, time spent on each page and so forth, this can provide you with the right information needed to deliver the right promotion.

Create successful Gen Z promotions 

Marketing to GenZ is all about intuitive digital experiences. Having grown up in the digital age, this generation is much more in tune with technology, and thus, an entire new set of “rules” come into play. They expect more. With the valuable data we’ve accumulated above, you are well set to begin your journey on incorporating this new generation into your marketing strategies.  

From Boomers to Millennials and now the elusive and technology-driven Gen Z, are you ready to serve them all?

Shiri Bentovim
The Namogoo Team

Giving brands of all sizes the power to create unstoppable customer journeys