Marketing

Newsletter #42 - 4 Strategies to Attract and Retain Gen Z Consumers 🧸

Julie Cauville

July 27, 2026

Hello!

This week, I discovered the brilliant playbook How Gen Z Broke the Marketing Funnel published by Vogue Business.

It's a treasure trove of information about the consumption habits of young people (born between 1997 and 2012) who are shaking up the rules of traditional marketing 🧨

Say goodbye to the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)!

Inspiration, Exploration, Community, and Loyalty should become your priorities to attract this audience, who will dominate the market by 2030.

In this edition, I share 4 tips and examples to start connecting with your future customers now 🧸💖

Because the early bird catches the worm... except for teenagers on Saturday mornings 🤪

1. Spot Trends Before Everyone Else

Gen Z gets bored (very) quickly.

77% of young Americans seek new inspiration at least once a month, and social networks remain their favourite playground.

To capture their attention, I recommend staying active and responsive on their favourite platforms to adopt the latest trends.

A strategy very well applied by Glossier and Laneige, who are currently riding the Jane

J ane Birkinifying trend.

This trend involves personalising bags (often luxury ones) with charms, keychains, and all sorts of accessories to express one's personality.

American brands didn't hesitate to draw inspiration from this to easily reinvent their products and attract younger consumers 💅🏻

👀 The 5 favourite platforms and sources of inspiration for Gen Z

YouTube - 57%
TikTok - 53%
Instagram - 44%
Google searches/ads - 29%
Word-of-mouth - 25%

Source: ARCHRIVAL

2. Ensure Your Back with UGCs…

Before placing an order, the exploration phase is crucial for Gen Z:

70% won't trust you until they've done their own research on your brand...
...and 56% believe that "brands often lie about their products."
If they know you and already have a product in mind, 40% of Gen Z will trust influencer reviews more.

To gain their trust, offering enough UGC (User-Generated Content) is essential, even if it means hiring a dedicated person.

Djerf Avenue, Refy, and Rhode have understood this well and regularly use UGCs to showcase their products and reassure their younger customers.

💖 The secrets to doubling your revenue with UGCs like Djerf Avenue

UGCs are essential for gaining your prospects' trust and boosting your sales. To help you, Ana from the D2C Academy has decoded all the strategies of the best brands to create UGC campaigns generating over 3M in revenue! Here’s the link ⤵️

3....and Reuse Them to Build Your Community!

Despite being more connected than ever, Gen Z is the loneliest generation.

54% say their favourite brands are those that make them feel like they're part of a community.

Good news: to build your Gen Z community, there's no need to reinvent the wheel.

UGCs are enough because they allow them to leave their mark on the brand's story, even after purchase.

A tactic The Frankie Shop applies, which celebrates its customers "after purchase" on Instagram and TikTok, particularly to attract more Gen Z users.

According to Gaëlle Drevet, the founder, "Seeing pieces from The Frankie Shop on real people helps our customers get inspired and envision themselves with our products."

4. Give Before Receiving

Gone are the days when brands rewarded their customers solely based on the number of purchases or a certain average basket value.

Gen Z expects more interactions and needs to feel valued even before they place an order!

This approach has been tested and approved by Madhappy, an American clothing brand created in 2017 "for a community of optimists."

Beyond selling T-shirts and sweatshirts, Madhappy regularly offers activities and events related to well-being and mental health, often organised by its media outlet, "Local Optimist".

According to its founder, Peiman Raf, "Our goal was to create a brand that goes beyond the transactional aspect [...] by creating programs and ways to engage customers. From the beginning, we've always found it important to dedicate space to the brand's ethics."

To go further...

Here are three articles from the D2C Academy to understand the strategies of brands targeting Gen Z and to know everything about their favourite platforms ⤵️

I hope this edition inspires you to conquer this new audience!

See you soon,

Julie

E-commerce Expert @ Bigblue