While every industry has been busy keeping an eye on the millennials and their behavioural patterns as business opportunities, a whole new generation with a fresh mind-set is fast emerging, ready to push the millennials into the background. Welcome to the world of Generation Z – a brigade of youngsters born post-1990 and now entering the workforce, exerting their preferences and beliefs. So even as the retail industry is still trying to figure out how to capture and retain the attention of the millennials, a new challenge that is different and complex has already reared its head! Many retail analysts believe that the‘ Millennial’ cohort is really two generations – Generation Y( born between 1978-1989) and Generation Z( born between 1990-1999; some even prefer to include only those born post-1995). According to estimates, Gen Z represents about 60 million people in the US and about 2.6 billion people worldwide. As of today, this group makes up a quarter of the US population and by 2020, will account for 40 % of all consumers. Understanding them will be critical for companies wanting to succeed in the next decade and beyond. In
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the meanwhile, media and market research companies have already labelled them as“ screen addicts” with the attention span of a gnat( a recent study suggests that Gen Z attention spans have shrunk to eight seconds).
No wonder, many analysts also refer to them as‘ Net Gen’. On a personal level, Gen Z seeks immediate validation and acceptance through social media, since that’ s where all their peers are and where many of the important conversations happen.“ Never before has there been a generation incapable of remembering the world without the internet,” said Goldman Sachs analyst, Christopher Wolf, in a presentation recently. However, ironically, these are the same people who are also looking to differentiate themselves professionally. Research suggests that Gen Z is also the‘ entrepreneurial generation’ who like the idea of working for themselves, the majority of them being riskaverse, practical and pragmatic. Significantly, these youngsters are also very cautious about their privacy and are less inclined to share information without understanding the consequences.
According to Goldman Sachs researchers, this bunch of highly
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According to estimates, Generation Z represents about 60 million people in the US and about 2.6 billion people worldwide. As of today, this group makes up a quarter of the US population and by 2020, will account for 40 % of all consumers. |
informed, but restless consumers will be the biggest influencers for retail trends in the future.“ That’ s because( their) diversity, fluency with technology and conservative attitude toward money will have profound social and economic implications,” reasons Wolf. In fact, the diversity of this generation is the most dynamic in the history of the US. Research provided by Frank N. Magid Associates suggest that Gen Z comprises a mix of 55 % non-Hispanic Caucasian, 24 % Hispanic, 14 % African-American, 4 % Asian and 4 % multiracial people. This interesting mix of cultures and influences will also be reflected in their retail choices.
Having seen how their elders struggled through the recession, Gen Z is very conservative in its financial approach, a major difference from the millennials. It is a group that will rely on debit payment systems, and not credit cards. According to a market research by The Center for Generational Kinetics, 29 % believe personal debt should be reserved for a few select items and 23 % believe it should be avoided at all costs. The focus is on getting maximum value
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