Why the “Marketing Norm” Is Done

2020 Changed Everything

We’ve had a pandemic, all of our economies are a mess, massive war activity has caused shortages and lack for all, and we think that John Smith is still the John Smith from January 2020? Uhm, no.

Those nicely stacked files of paper you had of statistics and best practices and personas has been thrown up into the air never to be set in place again.

Those of us in the thick of it are a hot mess and we will be for a while. I know that I purchase differently than I did pre 2020, but I’m also purchasing differently than I did from 2021 and 2022. And I have no idea how I’ll purchase going forward or when I’ll feel like I’m in a normal state of operation again. The word to describe me and probably most of the people my age would be — cautious; now and for quite a while from now.

So my generation may not be the ones to target.

Gen Z; The Target Market

According to the National Retail Federation, 87% of parents say that their children influence their purchasing decisions. Gen Z (those born between 1995–2009) is involved in about a third of their family’s household purchases. 48% are included in the purchasing decisions for the child themselves. The majority of that purchase power, 72%, is within the beginning stages of purchasing.

This means, GenZ is doing the scouting and the research. They are watching what YOU market and then sending what they LIKED back to their parents for purchase.

Here’s a crazy statistic. $500 million+ of purchases are influenced by kids under 12 (That’s Gen Alpha- born between 2010–2024) and 46% of kids under 16 have access to an Amazon Prime account. This is also apparently their favorite place to shop.

These numbers came from 2019. So you’re probably thinking, not relevant anymore right?

Wrong.

According to this 2021 Consumer Culture Report, $347 billion was spent online in the first 6 months of 2020. That was an increase of 30% from 2019.

The influence and purchase power of Gen Z and Gen Alpha is only increasing. While Gen X and Millennials are stressed out and scrambling to recover some kind of routine again, thier…