Gen Z is changing the way people shop and how influencers strategize their marketing efforts. This generation ranges in age from 9 to 24-years-old and is the largest generation in American history, making up 27 percent of the US population, according to Insider Intelligence.
Gen Z’s shopping behavior is important to understand, as they are the newest generation to join the workforce and have major purchasing power. Paired with their tech savviness and earning potential, Gen Z shops across all digital channels. Currently, 40 percent of Gen Z are influential shoppers, according to the LTK Gen Z Influential Shopper Study.
Influential shoppers are consumers who regularly make purchases based on social media recommendations. According to the LTK Influential Shopper Study, 38 percent of the US population shop via influencers regularly. Influential shoppers amplify LTK Creators’ earning potential two times more with engagement and sales.
LTK Insight: 73% of influential shoppers do the majority of their online shopping on their phone
Gen Z is a unique generation of shoppers who firmly believe they don’t have to compromise quality for price, while being attuned to cultural trends and seeking relevance. Gen Z’s shopping habits are based on convenience and ease, and ultimately they are online-first shoppers. According to our Gen Z Influential Shopper Study, 73 percent of Gen Z do most of their shopping online, with 57 percent shopping online on their phones.
A glimpse at Gen Z’s shopping behavior
- 92% of Gen Z shoppers make purchases based on influencer recommendations versus 75% of the general population
- 40% of Gen Z are influential shoppers
- 42% of Gen Z influential shoppers originate the majority of their shopping on social media
LTK Insight: Influential shoppers impact LTK Creators’ total recommended sales by 2X through their reposts and engagement.
Gen Z credits social media influencers with being the most significant factor when making a purchase. The top three social media sites that Gen Z uses to consume influencer content are:
- YouTube
- TikTok
LTK Insight: Discover how Urban Decay partnered with LTK Creators to drive awareness, engagement, consideration, and positive reviews of a new Urban Decay product with a TikTok campaign.
In true fashion to their shopping habits, Gen Z prefers shopping online for its convenience and the recommendations provided by influencers, before factoring in selection and price.
LTK Insight: The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, think beauty, cleaning supplies, food and beverage products, is one of the most saturated markets. And influencer marketing provides the perfect platform for CPG businesses to go straight to already engaged consumers who trust influencers over traditional commercial content. Explore how influencers can drive a CPG brand. This is a good thing since Gen Z’s income is up, 22 percent of Gen Z has a net positive income compared to 2020.
Gen Z is a massive and influential generation that will continue to dominate and influence shopping behaviors for years to come. As a generation they have spoken and choose to look toward their peers–influencers and LTK Creators to decide what they shop for and how they shop.
Earn more with LTK
LTK is the one-stop destination that puts influencers in business. More than 165,000 fashion, beauty, fitness, home and lifestyle creators use LTK to monetize their content across the entire social ecosystem—all through their flagship LTK Shop. LTK Creators have access to tools and technology that make it even more efficient to manage their LTK Shop and market their content across the web to drive their earnings.
Own your Gen Z audience with your LTK Shop:
- Post all shoppable content to your LTK Shop where it’s available to search and shop.
- LTK converts followers to shoppers 3.5X more than social channels, so your time is well spent when optimizing your LTK Shop, and there is no need to re-post content over and over to capture scrolling followers.
- LTK is uniquely positioned to ride the inevitable rise and fall of social media platforms, leaving the control with you.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing has emerged as one of the most impactful marketing strategies a brand can implement. There has even been a rise in influencer marketing agencies that specialize in this vertical of the marketing and advertising world. It goes to show the need for professionals to handle this line of work. Influencer marketing continues to grow, allowing more people to leave their 9-to-5 jobs to become an entrepreneur and full time-influencer.
The best part about this? Anyone can do it! As long as you have a passion behind what you are sharing, you can create digital content on just about anything. For many LTK Creators, what began as a fun hobby or creative outlet, has evolved into a full time business as their following has grown and they have optimized their shoppable content with LTK.
Explore how to become a full-time LTK Creator, propel your business forward, and sustain your lifestyle by doing what you love!
LTK drives sales
At LTK we power Creator Commerce™ for more than 165,000 top-tier creators, 1 million brands across 100 countries, and 8 million LTK Shoppers.
Creator Commerce™ is a subset of e-commerce where content creators, influencers and bloggers share, promote and sell their favorite products to their followers. As the original pioneer of Creator Commerce™, LTK was founded to empower influencers to support themselves and their families by doing and sharing what they love.
By pioneering a proprietary ecosystem of innovative technology, strategic growth consulting, global brand partnerships, and expansive shopper distribution, we’ve done more than just monetize influencer marketing. We created the industry and are now defining the next decade. So what are you waiting for? It’s time for you to join our network of entrepreneurs.
