Gen Z: Building New Beauty

What the next-generation consumer wants from your brand and your products.

We’re getting under the skin of the Gen Z consumer to help your brand travel alongside this multidimensional generation. Our latest white paper, Gen Z: Building New Beauty written by our in-house Insight experts Laura Saunter and Jemma Shin, exclusively launched during Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna 2019. This unique piece of research explores what Gen Z want from your brand and how you can navigate their digital (URL) and phygital (IRL) worlds.

What Gen Z wants from your brand

This generation are very familiar to us here at WGSN, as last year, our very own Sarah Owen and our Insight team interviewed over 40 Z-ers aged between 16 and 21 for our Gen Z Equation white paper. Gen Z defy stereotypes, making their own rules as a culturally agile, self-educated and highly allusive cohort. Therefore, when it comes to selling to them, brands need to fully understand their world. From Gen Me to Gen We, URL world to IRL world, we’ve identified six key drivers in consumer behaviour that are influencing Gen Z.

Meet your new Phygital Consumers

Radical Inclusivity

Gen Z defies generalisation and values diversity in all forms. We are starting to see a shift towards a more inclusive visual culture and increasingly diverse product offerings. Stereotypes and discrimination are no longer tolerated. It is essential for beauty brands to embrace multicultural communities and gender fluidity.

Purpose to Purchase

In our “Sustainability: Now & Next” panel at Cosmoprof Bologna, we explored the ways in which sustainability is deeply woven into Gen Zer’s worldview. This generation don’t see sustainability as optional, it’s not a trend, it’s a way of life. Does your brand live and breathe sustainability in the same way your consumer expects you to?

The Digital Wellness Space

As increased digital pressures elevate issues such as loneliness and “selfie esteem” into high-priority concerns, holistic wellness becomes increasingly important for Gen Z. They crave moments of calm, and actively seek out brands that go out of their way to offer support in this emotionally complex world. Are your staff well-educated about mental health when it comes to serving your consumer?

Knowledge is Empowerment

Gen Z are the most self-educated generation to date, with information and tutorials on every conceivable subject instantly available online at any time. Informed online communities continue to fuel demand for authenticity and transparency across the industry.

URL Convenience to IRL Experience

From Instagram in the west and Weibo and WeChat in the east, Gen Z predominantly use photo sharing apps. They use them to educate and influence each other, as well as research, discover and transact. How will your strategy adapt to ensure store experiences live up to phygital mentality?

The Internet of Beauty

AI and AR powered apps will begin to play a larger role in customers’ purchasing decisions. Extended reality (XR) is set to evolve the way Gen Z communicates, plays and shops, driving the demand for tech-enabled and playful interactions within retail environments. How is your brand planning to use the tech of the future to capture Gen Z’s attention?

Ultimately, brands need to understand the different sides of Gen Z, from using tech to enhance their experience to acknowledging the impact this digital world has on aesthetic expectations. This is just a taste of our research, read the whole white paper today.