Younger Consumers: ‘Woke, Broke and Complicated’

Today’s young people have thin wallets and expensive tastes, reports a recent feature by The Economist. “As these youngsters start spending in earnest, brands are trying to understand what these walking paradoxes want and how they shop,” the global business magazine states.

Indeed, the numbers of such shoppers are noteworthy. The European Union is home to nearly 125 million people between the ages of 10 (who will become consumers in the next few years) and 34, and America has another 110 million of these Gen Zs and millennials, a third of the population.

Among such shoppers, brick-and-mortar stores still play a central role “as long as the experience feels personal and, ideally, integrates virtual and physical worlds,” the magazine reports.

Nike, it notes, successfully connects with younger buyers by allowing them to design their own shoes on its website and pick them up at one of its stores – and then encouraging them to tag the brand in a review on TikTok or Instagram.

Click here for the start of the article. (Note: the complete feature is behind a pay wall.)