Gen-Z Consumer Behaviour

I want to just chat quickly about how you look at consumer behavior and how that’s evolved in the 13 years that you’ve been working in this space, and the new Gen Z’s. How do you look at that evolution of consumer behavior?

I think a lot of consumers, especially consumers who are younger and who use social media heavily, don’t like to feel as if they are being marketed to. With social media, it’s very much building relationships with your demographic; it’s very much the lifestyle idea. You’re buying this lifestyle, as opposed to just buying the products. You have to do the easier sell, as opposed to the harder sell. It’s not, send out a newsletter, with the eight products you have this season and expect people to just click through and buy them. It really has to be that people are buying into your whole brand, buying into the ethos of it and buying into that relationship with your company that is doing good things. A lot of younger people, especially, are very much more environmentally conscious now than other generations, so that’s an important factor to them. Is your brand doing things that is positive for the environment? What is your brand doing about that? Those things are all important.

That’s where that trust element, with the influencer and your community is crucial?

Definitely. I think that’s something that a lot of brands are looking at now, as well, when they are looking for influencers who are a good fit is, do they fit it in with that same ethos and how can we, together, create content and partnerships and do influencer marketing strategies that portray all of those values.

What are big mistakes that influencers make, in breaking the trust?

Some influencers break the trust by not following the brief. Some influencers might break the trust by just writing extremely negative reviews or doing something negative about the product, if they didn’t like it. Some influencers might break the trust by not disclosing. That’s been a big topic in the influencer industry, within our own circles. Do you name and shame people you know are promoting paid products and they’re not disclosing it? Those are all kinds of things that will get talked about and, obviously, do break down trust when people find out that they are happening. Or they can break down trust between the influencer and their audience and the influencer and the brands.