Understanding Consumers: Gen Z’s Influence on Fashion Marketing

Table of Content

• Need Recognition and the Marketing Idea Shift (Then v.s. Now)

• Generation Cohorts: Understanding Gen Zs

• Targeting Gen Z as a Fashion Brand

  • Consumer Decision Process

  • Consumer Psychology and Behaviour

• How Gucci Targets Gen Z

• Key Summaries

I don’t know about you, but the amount of times I’ve walked into a store and thought “I need this” to a piece of clothing, or maybe jewelry, shoes, or even a bag, is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous because 9 out of 10 times, I most definitely do not need it.

Need Recognition and the Marketing Idea Shift

When that “need” is recognised and fulfilled, the business’ mission is accomplished. Businesses today target consumers like you and I. Most of the goods and services in the market today are ones that we didn’t know we needed, until they were placed in front of us. Even then, they are usually more desirable than essential. This marketing strategy often targets Gen Zs.

RunwaytoRevenue, 2023

Generation Cohorts: Understanding Gen Zs

Gen Zs, born between 1997 and 2012, are the most racially and ethnically diverse generation ever, and the first true digital native generation. Accounting for approximately 25% of the global population, Gen Zs are known to be open and socially-minded, and they hold a spending power of over $140B. They are the ones you want to target.

“Luxury fashion brands are targeting Gen Z with novel digital marketing strategies that meet this important group of consumers’ preferences throughout their journey from awareness to purchase”

Zhu Junming and Gemma Calvert, Nanyang Business School

Targeting Gen Z as a Fashion Brand

Gen Z has reinvented the design process for fashion brands. The marketing idea shift is present in the fashion industry, where Gen Zs are adapting pieces representative of trends and aesthetics like Cottagecore, Dark Academia, Pink Princess, and Barbiecore, into their own personal styles (bottom-up approach), instead of following trends (top-down approach). This is important for brands to understand in order to be prominent at each phase of their consumer’s decision process.

RunwaytoRevenue, 2023

Many fashion brands have been successful in capturing what their consumer is thinking, feeling, and doing at each stage of their decision process through understanding consumer psychology and behavior. Let’s look at Gucci for example. Gucci has been proven to be the #1 luxury brand that Gen Zs want to own, with reasons such as “quality and lasting products,” as well as its uniqueness. Here are 3 ways Gucci targets Gen Zs:

1. Tik Tok

The Italian house is the most popular luxury brand on TikTok where 70% of the user population is Gen Z. They thrive from user-generated content and both paid and organic marketing. With hashtags like #accidentalinfluencer and #guccimodelchallenge, the brand is ranked at the top for luxury fashion companies on TikTok, and other platforms such as Instagram.

They are familiar with their target audience. They join in on the fun and leverage memes from the Internet like the “Gucci Model Challenge” which generated over 292 million views.

mkochnova on TikTok

2. Gamification

An expert in the gaming industry, Gucci has partnered with Feceit, the largest competitive gaming platform in the world and expanding its footprint in the market. The brand has partnered with The Sandbox for an interactive retail experience “Gucci Vault,” and has collaborated multiple times with Roblox, launching “Campaign Sneaker Garage” and “Gucci Garden,” and most recently, “Gucci Town” - a digital destination for players to discover more about the House and its heritage.

Gucci Town, 2021

3. Diversification

Gucci is known to stand out. They have managed to create a unique and recognizable brand identity, enabling them to create a loyal following and target specific groups of consumers. A recent example is their partnerships with influencers outside of the fashion space like lifestyle creator Lisa Asano and British trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, as well as collaborating with non-luxury fashion brands such as The North Face (a Gen Z fav). By tapping into these circles, they’ve welcomed new perceptions and diversified potential customers.

The 2021 release of crime drama film House of Gucci starring Adam Driver and Lady Gaga was also a successful reach into a new market, showing an increase on digital shopping platforms by 31% and searches up to 70%.

HighSnobiety Presents Gucci X The North Face

Key Summaries

Consumers are the heart of marketing. As Seth Godin states in his book This Is Marketing, “If we do work that matters, for people who care, then we don’t have to spend a lot of time relying on many modern-day marketing methods like ‘attention-stealing ads and spammy email funnels’.”

• Businesses have to meet consumer needs in order to ensure stable growth and stay relevant.

• Gen Zs have a spending power of over $140B and are the main target group for many businesses, especially in the fashion industry.

• The consumer decision process for Gen Zs in retail is unique and have achieved a new bottoms-up approach.

• Not many luxury fashion brands have been successful in reaching the Gen Z target group, except for Gucci as they enter TikTok Marketing, Gamification, and Diversification.