How Gen Z look at shopping online?

Young children have become an important target for online marketers. Companies are interested in children as their purchasing power has increased over the years, which makes them a significant primary market. Children are often portrayed as digital natives, comfortable with the latest technology and conversant with the use of the Internet. They also play an important role in family purchases. Today's children use the Internet at very early ages and start to develop consumer behaviour with the help of the surrounding environment and technology.

To develop an understanding of the children's perception toward online shopping, we did a total 50 in-depth interviews with 15 children aged 8 to 11 years, 15 with children aged 12 to 15 years, and 20 with parent, and got some interesting insights. Let's take a look at some of them.

Novelty Seekers

The younger group of children (i.e. 8 to 11 years old) was attracted to online shopping in search of new products. The fact can be explained simply by taking into account younger children's curiosity. They like to discover new things and are attracted to commercial Internet sites because these sites are colourful and appealing, and provide interactions and a variety of products. The Internet enables them to find information about the newest trends and products as well as to be updated about new product offerings.

'Shopping is fun'

The older group of children (i.e. 12 to 15 years old) appear to find enjoyment in their online shopping process. They expressed an interest in shopping and particularly online shopping due to the flexibility in time and location. As kids spend more time on the Internet, online shopping enables them to browse in many stores without leaving their comfort zone. In this process, group purchase is also favoured by the children as it helps to enhance their shopping experience. For example:

Score a bargain

Children believed that they could get almost everything online and at a lower price. They are apparently well aware of the nature of e-commerce and maintain their expectation of online product pricing. Both groups of children mentioned that online shopping is much cheaper and more affordable, which is an unbeatable strength of e-commerce sites. The perception could have been established when their parents talked to them about their online shopping experience.

Grabbing Generation Z's attention

Both children and parents were positive about the use of the Internet and held favourable attitudes towards the advantages of online shopping. However, the big question is: what eCommerce players and online retailers should do to further attract these young customers apart from maintaining the current strengths? They should adress their needs and wants. For instance, it is recommended for site developers to focus on image interactivity, which allows the creation and manipulation of images of a product or the atmosphere on a website. Image interactivity enables the website user to modify a product's design elements, background, viewing direction, or space and to replicate the way in which the product is operated. Image interactivity can also imitate the navigation in a certain environment, such as a shopping mall. This would improve the design of the website, making it more attractive to younger children and providing older ones with more information, enjoyment, and engagement via stimulated interaction with the products.

This article has been written by Dr. Park Thaichon, Assistant Professor of Marketing, S P Jain School of Global Management.

This article was originally published on ETBrandEquity. 
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital/how-gen-z-perceive-online-shopping/50481385