Guest Speaker 2: executive director, jewelry group
Once again I make the claim that finance is helpful in any profession.
This is the second part to a five part series of the things I learned from guest speakers during my fashion merchandising class at Parsons.
While our next guest is working in industry relations with a focus in sustainability for a major jewelry group, her background is actually in finance.
The financial background may not foreshadow a career in sustainable design, the background does contribute to her success.
“Why do you spend money on the things that you do? It costs the same amount for a new Gucci purse and a 3-week trip across Spain – which one are you choosing?”
It’s very important to brands to know which side of the spectrum their consumers are on. If an associate is given a sheet with demographic information about a certain buyer (educational background, age, gender, work history, etc.), the associate should be able to have a general understanding of how and where that buyer will spend their money. Knowing the habits of buyers and using that to your advantage is key because the fashion industry makes money from consumerism.
Recently, there was a $500,000 study done by First Insight about the buying habits of Gen Z (born between 1997-2012) to understand their buying habits now that the majority of the generation has their own money to buy things. The economic influence of Gen Z will only continue as they get older.
The study revealed a number of things that will be important for fashion companies to take into consideration in their business operations and marketing strategies.
The primary finding was that Gen Z is willing to spend money sporadically, even during a period of high financial anxiety, but they are very deliberate on what they are buying and the corporation that is getting their money. This stems from the weak economy that they grew up in and the difficulty of having discretionary income at this point in time with inflation and high costs of living, along with most of them still being on an entry level paycheck.
Almost 73% of Gen Z says they are willing to pay 10% more to ensure a product is sustainable.
Compared to Millennials, Gen Z is buying less online and more in person, despite the online characteristic of the generation. What they are using this tech-savviness for is researching items they want online, comparing the items to similar items at different stores, and learning about a corporation before going in person to purchase the item.
The last important point comes in the marketing side of things and the increase in influencers in the past couple years. Compared to older generations, Gen Z is less likely to trust companies and instead choose to follow influencers who they deem trustworthy, as 70% of teenagers find social influencers more relatable than traditional celebrities (Google study) and 65% of Gen Z have purchased something based on an influencer's recommendation.
Generations are a community that everyone is a part of. As someone born in 2002, I’m part of Gen Z, but there are a number of other communities that I’m part of as well. Whether that be my class, my roommates, or my family back home, or the community that comes with being 20 years old, or being a female. Everyone has heard the saying, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” Maybe it’s not that cut and dry, but community has a major impact on one’s goals and values. To use Gen Z again, most of us were born around 9/11, grew up with the 2008 financial crisis around elementary school, iPhones were predominant by the time we were in middle school, the Climate Crisis started being talked about more prolifically, and then COVID during high school. Even though the entirety of Gen Z has never gotten on a conference call to discuss our collective goals and values, because of the community we forged just by growing up around the same time, the majority are on the same page.
The importance of community has come into view for companies in recent years. It seems as though CEOs often forget that consumers are actually individual people and not just data points on a year-end report. There has been an uptick in companies spending money on enhancing the consumer community, building a consumer-based brand that builds loyalty by listening to customers and then executing their needs. While this seems like a marketing strategy, in reality it is just a business strategy. With a stronger brand community, it will not only serve the consumers, but also the business.
There are four major ways that our guest speaker brought forth for fostering connections.
1. Curiosity – having a genuine interest in meeting people in your community
2. Listening – learn from other peoples’ experiences
3. Follow-up – check in from time to time
4. Give back – offer assistance, information, or resources
In these instances where you must use a four-step process to get in with a community that must be created instead of one that is assigned, such as generation, it can be useful to be very deliberate about personal brand. Especially in the age of social media, everyone has a personal brand whether they have created it on purpose or subliminally. The way you look (appearance, clothes, hairstyle, etc.), how you sound (tone, clarity, tempo, accent, etc.), and how you act (mood, response, leader/follower, etc.) all have an effect on others and will attract like-minded people. For example, passion is often broadcasted through tone. If you’re on a networking call but you sound like you just woke up, it appears as if you’re bored with the call. In this sense of a networking call in comparison to a night out with friends, your personal brand stretches depending on circumstance, but the root of your being, your top 5 values, remain the same. You have agency over your personal brand, You choose what to wear when and how to act in certain situations, so make sure that your brand is on par with who you want to be.
Yours truly,
Calihan