Move over, Gen Z. Brands are already working to tap Gen Alpha as influencers. Earlier this month, Claire’s introduced The Collab, a year-long marketing campaign featuring five Gen Zers and two Gen Alphas, the youngest of whom is seven years old. In May, the girls’ clothing brand Evsie created an ambassador program for those ages seven to 14. Meanwhile, the skincare brand Bubble lets anyone at least 13 years old apply to be a brand ambassador. The initiative is so popular that it had a waitlist of some 41,000 people as of July.

Face value: The global foundation of Beauty insights report combines Worldpanel’s global beauty purchase and usage datasets to paint a rich picture of industry dynamics. Simplified beauty routines are a global trend amid a transition to work-from-home and more relaxed social environments. Compared to 2019 and according to Face value: The global foundation of Beauty insights report, the usage of products among women overall declined by 7%.

Baby Boomers currently represent 20% of the US population, account for $78 trillion of the total U.S. $156 trillion assets, and have an average net worth of $1.7 million. In 2022, they accounted for just under a quarter of US spending. Yet, they are the least-mentioned segment across the marketing landscape, and 1 in 2 don’t feel represented in advertising.

When it comes to digital products and experiences, Boomers are often overlooked based on the assumption that they are overwhelmed by technology. “Digital Boomers,” Razorfish’s qualitative and quantitative study, in partnership with GWI, aims to debunk these myths. In reality, 1 in 2 boomers describe themselves as digital natives, 1 in 2 say they have an active interest in new technology, 9 out of 10 disagree with the notion that technology overwhelms them.

Uncover the hidden drivers and expectations of today’s consumers from Generation Z to Baby Boomers. Go beyond opinions with data from 1,500 consumers and gain actionable insights on CX expectations across generations and industries that you can use to future-proof your business.

Get answers to these important CX questions:

• How can you provide positive customer experiences that are memorable for each generation?

Transform your marketing and brand strategy by learning how Americans across generations engage with social media, including variations in platform usage, preferences in content, and engagement with influencers and brands online.

Media engagement differs significantly as we look across the spectrum of generations in America today; From linear media that is dominated by Baby Boomers, to social media—the media of choice for Gen Z. Brands and advertisers across industries must understand generational nuances in media usage to excel in the attention economy.

We asked 1,000 American consumers 15 questions about their preferences regarding online and offline shopping, multichannel retail, and self-checkout technology. Some insights were surprising. For example, Millennial participants integrated technology into their shopping behavior to a slightly larger degree than respondents from Gen Z.

Get a closer look at the survey questions and the participants’ answers by reading our eBook.

As marketers, we love categorizing people into demographic groups, especially by generation. Unfortunately, this tidy little way of targeting constituencies might be coming to an end with the group we call Gen Z. These 11- to 26-year-olds are less likely to share similarities based on events, activities and consumption habits than older generations.

So Many Paths, So Many Viewpoints

In my generation (Gen X—I know you forgot about us, right?) events like the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Watergate scandal, the Challenger disaster, the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, and many other circumstances created a shared history for nearly everyone in my age group. We generally all received our news from the same few sources, so we had shared experiences surrounding both the accounts and interpretations of these big events. In addition, many of our cultural touchpoints were the same: We read the same books in high school, listened to Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 on the radio and watched MTV voraciously. John Hughes movies from the era (e.g., The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) resonated with us because the experiences of a Gen X high school student were practically universal.

Shopping habits have drastically changed over the past few years. For instance, while most of us previously browsed retail stores on a Saturday to find great deals, we now turn to Instagram to find discounts offered by influencers. And rather than watching TV ads to find out about new products, nowadays, most of us stumble across ads in between YouTube videos.

Here, we’ll explore the shopping trends of 2022 to ensure you’re able to meet customers where and when they’d prefer to shop. Plus, we’ll uncover the shopping differences between generations. Let’s dive in.