Fast fashion marketing tactics influence Gen Z buyers
Generation Z is the most likely age group to buy clothes impulsively online, according to new research.
Buyers aged 13 to 28 are more susceptible to fast fashion marketing and make frequent, impulsive fashion purchases through fear of missing out.
Researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Glasgow examined the buying habits of Generation X, Y and Z for a new study in an academic journal.
They found fast fashion retailers targeted Generation Z customers with limited-time offers to instil a sense of urgency and prevent them from making mindful decisions.
In a series of interviews, one participant admitted: “TikTok is bad for my bank account.” Another described getting clothes delivered as “like getting a present from myself” and that she was “on first-name terms with the delivery man”.
One female added: “Our age group cannot be seen wearing the same thing twice; there's social pressure. I need to buy a new outfit for everything I go to.”
Dr Elaine Ritch, Reader in Fashion, Marketing and Sustainability at Glasgow Caledonian and one of the authors, said: “Generation-Z present with insecure fashion identities, seeking solutions from social media fashion marketing, where frequent-impulsive fashion consumption reflects an urgency to maintain in-the-moment fashion identities.
“Life experience brings a stronger sense of individual fashion identity that reduces the urgency for fashion consumption and therefore reduces the potency of fashion-marketing tactics.
“It became clear that fashion marketing targets younger consumers, encouraging frequent-impulsive fashion consumption, which was less pertinent for Generation-X and Y, who expressed a disconnect with fashion marketing.”
The study concludes Generation-X, born from 1965 to 1980, were less engaged with the fashion industry and often make purchasing decisions around sustainability and value.
Generation-Y, those born from 1981 and 1996, feel their choices are ‘limited’ when they buy garments and prefer to cultivate their own personal style.
The paper, co-authored by Dr Ritch, Catherine Canning, senior lecturer in Fashion and Marketing at Glasgow Caledonian, and Dr Noreen Siddiqui, of the University of Glasgow, appears in the latest edition of Business, Strategy and the Environment.