How Generation Z shops in 2024

Gen Zers are big customers. These young adults consistently outpace the general population in spending on clothing, home furnishings and personal care products. This unrelenting discretionary consumption shows no signs of slowing down, despite a generation’s relatively low sense of financial well-being. This is partly because they enjoy it: 44% of Gen Zers say they greatly enjoy shopping online (46% in-store) compared to 36% and 37% of the general population, respectively.

Similar levels of satisfaction with shopping online or in stores are reflected in how we interact with brands and retailers: everywhere, all the time. Especially when it comes to discretionary spending, shopping is a form of entertainment. It can serve as a touchpoint, a status signal, or just a way to pass the time, whether the shopper is at the mall or on the couch.

Gen Zers are becoming more and more channel agnostic

The youngest members of Generation Z, ages 13 to 17, are more channel agnostic than any other cohort. Nearly 2 in 5 (38%) say they do not prefer shopping online or in stores. Overall, 36% say they prefer to shop online, while the remaining 26% prefer brick-and-mortar stores.

Gen Zers actually show a dominant preference for one shopping experience in certain retail categories. For example, even teenagers believe that shopping for clothes in stores is better than shopping online, indicating that the pain of buying the wrong size or an item that doesn’t look as expected is widely felt across generations.

Teenagers are less likely to prefer shopping than their older Gen Z counterparts in the 18-26 cohort. This is partly due to life stage factors, such as the fact that many do not yet know how to drive and do not have enough independence over when and where they can shop. This is also because of the pervasiveness of e-commerce in their lives, which will undoubtedly have an impact as they age. While this cohort will be the most e-commerce dependent we have ever seen, building differentiated brand experiences in stores must remain a priority.

Representatives of Generation Z are people who make big purchases

Gen Zers consistently shop more, especially in discretionary categories such as clothing, cosmetics and personal care, and personal electronics, compared to the general population. In the clothing category, 73% of Gen Z adults said they made at least one purchase in the last month compared to 62% of all respondents, and 13% said they made five or more clothing purchases in a month, down from just 7% of the population general. Home furnishings is the only discretionary category where volume trends are lower than other generations, but that’s only because they haven’t yet aged into home ownership.

Not only are Gen Zers likely to make at least one purchase per month in the categories outlined above, but they are actually over-indexed in the largest volume on our scale by making five or more purchases of clothing or personal care products in a given month.

This frequency of purchases provides retailers with ample opportunities to engage customers and strengthen customer loyalty. Increasing engagement through apps and texts that reach Gen Z customers where they are – on their phones.

Generation Z often tries new brands

Large numbers and frequent shopping encourage trying new things. When asked whether they have purchased a product from a brand new to them in the last month, Gen Zers consistently outperform the general population in all categories. Conversely, baby boomers tend to stick with what is known.

This behavior is not limited to the last month and is not only occurring among Generation Z. Shoppers of all generations are trying new brands more often than they were a year ago. This trend is reinforced by rising consumer confidence and fueled by the underlying desire to achieve social status and be part of the crowd, which is a common feature of Generation Z.