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Generation Z consumers like to shop for food, love variety and want an interactive shopping experience.
Those are among the highlights of a new study by Chicago-based market research firm IRI Worldwide.
According to IRI, 47 percent of older Gen Zers (ages 18-21) participate in their household’s grocery shopping. And households with a Gen Zer bought 12.4 unique UPCs in the cold cereal category, demonstrating younger consumers’ love of variety. (For those households without a Gen Zer, it was just 7.6 unique UPCs.)
IRI also found that 38 percent of Gen Zers like getting ads or promotions in their social media feeds for products based on their interests and shopping habits, compared to 21 percent of young millennials.
“Gen Z is deeply motivated by authenticity and a brand’s ’emotional DNA,’ which we define as how completely a product or brand aligns with the values shoppers attribute to it,” says Robert Tomei, president of Consumer and Shopper Marketing and Core Content Services for IRI. “Because Gen Z shoppers rely more on brand recognition to make purchase decisions than their millennial counterparts, it is critical that manufacturers and retailers create transparent and authentic relationships with the Gen Z population early on to build loyalty as their purchasing power grows.”