Dive Brief:

• InMarket reviewed the mobile location data from more than 50 million U.S. consumers to see where users, when divided by generation, shop most frequently as well as which businesses over-index by generation and which ones are struggling to drive visits. The findings, now available in a report, were made available to Mobile Marketer in advance. 
• For Gen Z, fast food chain Jimmy John's is a magnet, attracting young customers 49% more frequently than other age groups. The category overall is seeing strong Gen Z foot traffic with the top 10 businesses visited most frequently by Gen Z including five restaurants: Jimmy John's, Chipotle, Panda Express, Chick-Fil-A and Taco Bell.  
• The report also found that Gen Z over-indexes at mall-based stores like UGG, Gamestop, The North Face and Sunglass Hut. Big chains like Target and Walgreens are seeing 15% lower than average Gen Z foot traffic. 

Dive Insight:

Gen Z consists of consumers born after 1995 who don't know a world without the internet. While currently too young to account for a large portion of spending, marketers are still watching them closely because these consumers are expected to shake up the path to purchase as they become the major spending demographic.

The inMarket report is interesting because by leveraging mobile location data coupled with other consumer information, it uncovers some unique insights.

For example, the businesses Gen Z visits most frequently are quite different from other generations, pointing to opportunities for some marketers to engage these consumers now and build loyalty as they age and have more disposable income.

While Gen Z frequents mall-based stores, millennials clearly favor discount retailers like 99 Cents Only Stores, Ross Stores and Rainbow Shops, possibly a reflection of their growing up during the Great Recession. Millennials are also more likely to bypass fast food chains in favor of fast casual chains like WaBa Grill and Ono Hawaiian Grill.

So far in 2017, interest in location-based data has surged, possibly a sign that marketers are starting to derive meaningful insights from a relatively new source of information that didn’t really exist before mobile phones. At the same time, mobile platforms like InMarket, PlaceIQ, RetailMeNot, xAd and others are finding new ways to package location data to provide value for marketers.