By 2020, Gen Z is anticipated to be the biggest consumer generation, so retailers have a lot to lose if they can’t decode how this spending power operates. For example, Forbes reports that Gen Z is already worth $143 billion in potential spending money and that number is only increasing.
Likewise to millennials, Generation Z-ers let their friends dictate many of their spending habits. Furthermore, they’re greatly influenced by celebrities on social media platforms and YouTube because they are always active on these websites.
Interestingly, millennials and Gen Z differ in what they choose to spend their money on. For younger members of Gen Z (defined as those born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s), many have no income but still manage to spend money on candy, toys, movies, and video games. For the older Generation Z members who are now in the workforce, they care more about what their purchase choices say about them to others, more than even Millennials did at that stage of life.
Female Gen Zers are especially concerned with choosing brands that reflect their values and image, even if it means paying a bit more. They want to be associated with respected brands that are sensitive to diversity and gender. Male Gen Zers aren’t as concerned about this, but they still focus on products from reputable brands.
In many ways, Gen Z’s spending habits resemble their career choices. According to research conducted by the Levo Institute and the Adecco Millennial Economy Report, Gen Z views finding a job, paying for their education, maintaining personal and financial health, and paying for a place to live after graduation as very high priorities.
Debt is a super serious topic for Gen Z and they want to avoid it at all costs. According to a 2017 study by the Center for Generational Kinetics, one in five Gen Z respondents said that debt should be avoided at all costs. This is why Gen Zers are very risk-averse in their careers, more so than millennials. The Adecco report discovered that a larger proportion of Gen Zers is more worried about the expense of education than millennials (21% versus 13%.) Not to mention, with the amount of student debt currently at $1.4 trillion, it is unsurprising they have this approach.
According to the Kinetics study, Gen Zers are very saving-savvy, with 21% of respondents having opened a savings account before they turned 10 years old. Many Gen Zers have started saving for retirement and 35% say they plan to start saving in their twenties, displaying that this savings mentality is staying with them.
