Creatopy has released a new whitepaper revealing Gen Z’s preferences when it comes to shopping habits, social media usage, and advertising. 

With Gen Z becoming financially independent and having more purchasing power, and expected to make up to 20% of the U.S. population by the end of 2022, the team at Creatopy decided to run a survey to see how this generation behaves as a consumer. The survey ran on more than 1,100 U.S. Gen Z individuals between the ages of 18 and 26.

The whitepaper can be found here: What Clicks with Gen Z.

Here are some of the key findings:

• Gen Z votes with their dollars. The survey revealed that the majority of respondents prefer brands that take a stand on social issues such as environment, feminism, LGBTQ rights, and racial discrimination; 47.45% agree with this statement, while 19.34% strongly agree. 
• Their top 3 favorite social media platforms are YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and one explanation for this is the fact that Gen Z is not just about consuming content; they are also content creators themselves. The majority of the respondents (42.08%) said that they spend 1 to 3 hours on social media per day. 30.80% of them spend somewhere from 3 to 5 hours, while 16.47% spend more than 5 hours daily. Only 10.65% of Gen Z spends less than an hour on social media. 
• 50.40% of the respondents search for the company or product after they see an ad that’s relevant to them. They are digital natives and will take their time researching products and brands because they have certain expectations from them. They will tap into a variety of digital channels like social media platforms, online merchants, and mobile apps to learn more about products. 

The whitepaper also contains expert advice on matters such as advertising and branding from LA-based NinetyEight, a culturally-driven strategic impact consultancy built by and for Gen-Z, and London-based The Z Link, the first Gen Z-led social media agency that helps brands market to [their] generation.

Bogdan Carlescu, VP of Marketing at Creatopy, declared: "Understanding customers goes far beyond achieving better sales. It is about how an organization can deliver value to customers. It is about how it can communicate so that the intended audience gets the message. It is about creating connections. While the research confirmed many things that we were keenly aware of, it also revealed information we seldom overlooked, like the strong connection between Gen Z’s buying intentions and brands’ stand on topics of high interest."