In a
joint press conference with the Humane Society yesterday, Macy's Inc. said that
it will stop selling and storing fur in all its affiliated stores (includes
Bloomingdales) by early 2021. (Forbes, 2019)
Needless
to say the activists were pleased. But
what about the less engaged?
Research
tells us that Gen Z is more passionate about causes than are previous
generations. 53% say they have bought a
product to show support for a brand. 23%
say they would consider it. 40% have
stopped buying a brand, and 27% would consider doing so if the company behaves in
a way that doesn't align with their values. (Hessekiel, 2018)
Research
also tells us that 14-24 year-olds appears to have a fondness for
brick-and-mortar shopping. In fact, 81%
prefer to shop in stores. And, 58% of
them say that they consider it to be an opportunity to disconnect. (Wu, 2019)
That's
probably bad news for companies that want to serve them mobile ads while they
walk around the store. But it could be
good news for retail as a whole.
And it
could be the reason why Allbirds just announced plans to open 20 new stores in
2020, bringing their total to 35. (They are also going to start offering
clothing.) (McDonald, 2019)
So
what do you think? Will Gen Z be motivated
enough by Macy's new policies to shop there?
How important is it if a store sells fur or not? What other changes might a store make to
attract Gen Z's who care about the environment?
Do you
think that Gen Z has a preference for brick-and-mortar? If yes, is it because it allows them to deal
with stress? Or are there other reasons?
Forbes,
T. (2019, October 22) Animal-Rights Activists
Hail Macy's Decision To Stop Selling Storing Fur. mediapost.com. Retrieved October 23, 2019, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/342309/animal-rights-activists-hail-macys-decision-to-st.html?edition=115795
Hessekiel,
D. (2018, June 26) Engaging Gen Z In
Your Social Impact Efforts. forbes.com.
Retrieved October 23, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhessekiel/2018/06/26/engaging-gen-z-in-your-social-impact-efforts/#1e421bde6499
Wu, J.
(2019, September 17) Gen Z shopping
habits can fuel a brick-and-mortar resurgence, report says. cnbc.com Retrieved October 23, 2019, from
McDonald,
S. (2019, October 9) Digitally Native Allbirds Doubles Down on Brick-and-Mortar
Expansion. footwarenews.com. Retrieved
October 23, 2019, from
9 comments:
The new policies implemented by Macy’s may not be enough to influence Gen Z consumers, as it is only one small step towards the end goal or solution. While 53% say they have bough a product to show support for a brand, this 53% may not include those passionate about fur being used in products. Its also more likely that Gen Z shows support for a brand that supported their ideals from the start rather than adapting the companies policies to fit with the consumers ideals they are trying to reach. If environmental protection is the goal then there are many other steps Macy must take to show Gen Z they are serious about positive change. Macys should consider their shipping costs (and the impact to the environment), their products packaging, and their partnerships with specific brands that may not care for the environment. This decision to ban furs seems more like a marketing ploy than an actual desire to want to change.
While statistics show that Gen Z prefer to shop in Brick and Mortar stores I personally believe this will be short-lived. Generation Alpha or kids under the ages of 9 are showing increased tablet and electronics usage, so much so that their entire world is based digitally. I predict that this group will be so attached to the digital and online communities that they will buy most if not all of their goods online. Growing up in an age, being parented by millennials who already spend an increasing amount of money online, this will come naturally.
As Dillon pointed out, Macy’s is using the fur ban as a marketing strategy to attract anyone who is passionate about environment. No wonder they want to build up a social responsibility public image. For myself, I don’t shop for any fur products. Thus, this announcements will make me feel better about Macy’s, but it is not strong enough to attract me to shop with Macy’s.
However, I do not think this plan will work out with Gen Z because this fur ban is the only one minor way to show their favor of environment. On the other side, Macy’s is still selling hundreds of fast-fashion products. These unsold products may need to be burned every year to clean up the storage. I think a clearer action can help May’s to catch the attention from Gen Z. For example, Macy’s can contribute a portion of their sales to an environment-based charity.
I think Gen Z has a mixed shopping behavior, and it is depending on the specific products. I personally will shop literally anything online. Sometimes I came to the physical retailer store, I may even end up with requesting them ship the products to my apartment since I don’t want to carry all these bags. In addition, the Allbirds retailer store expansion may be credited by their overall retailer performance. In the past few years, more and more retailer stores had been shut down due to the lack of sales, such as Sears, JCPenney, and Macy’s. Besides, the modern retailer store which is focus on experience will be likely to succeed because the experience is the trend.
Gen Z being more passionate about causes than other generations is a real fact. Whether it's Ahed Tamimi, becoming a symbol of the war between Israel and Palestine at 16 years of age or more recently with Greta Thunberg, a young climate activist accusing the world's leaders of destroying our planet in front of the entire United Nations, younger generations are becoming more and more involved and engaged. It almost became a trend to care about the environment, our planet, the fauna and flora...
If Macy's are stoping to sell and store fur, it's mainly because they want to get on that trend and seduce youngsters. I highly doubt this will work though... I personally enjoy going shopping in actual stores but I definitely don't check prior to that if the store sells fur or not. I do care about the environment, I do my part but I won't be operating any kind of boycott on a company based on whether it's eco-friendly or not. If we start thinking like this, we might as well not get dressed at all. Whether it's Nike, Adidas, Levi's, LVMH, Kering, they all perform in some sort of shady way towards the environment or towards their employees.
I can see how shopping in an actual store can be a stress relief, this sense of liberty and freedom you get when walking in the store's alley in something you don't get when shopping online. Although, with a world now becoming more and more digital, I don't see any potential sustainability for shops only operating in brick-and-motar schemes.
Allan C.
I for sure see the behavioral habits of Generation Z, my little brother is a Gen Z and he is always doing things for a cause. I think Macy's idea to ban fur is a great pitch to market to Gen Z. Online shopping has become more and more popular by the years so retails stores like Macy's and Bloomies have lost major numbers of consumers. I also feel Gen Z is straying away from traditions that Millennials have made the norm. It was interesting to see that a whooping 73% of Millennials use their phone to shop (adweek,online). I think that all retail stores need to jump fast to attract to the new age Gen Z shopper. The purchasing habits of Gen Z are very appalling because they go against whats been popular. It was fascinating to see that 81% of Gen Z prefer to shop in store and 73% of Gen Z like to discover new products in store(cnbc,online). Are Gen Z going against the automated system? Do they want to establish a new trend? Anyway you cut it retail stores may be back in business even better than before. I think this move from Macy's will indeed spark Gen Z to shop at their stores because of the connection they will make. I think selling fur can go both ways, yes some people might lash out but other people that have money love fur and will make purchases. I think overall Gen Z are just a generation that like to interact with people, are friendly and like the actual experience of going and meeting people unlike Millennials I feel who are trying to automate everything to make it easier on themselves.
Adweek.com, Sammy Nickalls
Multimedia, Online
1/8/2019
https://www.adweek.com/digital/infographic-73-of-millennials-use-their-phones-to-shop-online/
cnbc.com, Jasmine Wu
Multimedia, Online
9/17/https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/17/gen-z-shopping-habits-can-fuel-a-brick-and-mortar-resurgence-report-says.html2019
I don't think this decision is enough to improve GenZ's marketing environment in Macy. According to the survey, half of GenZ shows that they will buy products to support their favorite brands. Macy's policy is to ban the fur supplies, which is more like a slogan-type policy. This policy is very good for the external environmental appeal, and Macy store is fast-moving fashion, so GenZ will not pay for this policy.
As a part of GenZ, if I have a favorite product, I will buy it, but I will not specifically purchase the product in order to support the policy. GenZ's spending habits are cumbersome and therefore they cannot be generalized. I usually like to go shopping, go to the physical store to buy products, I usually go shopping in the big mall like Macy. Macy's strategy of putting out the fur is a correct decision in the political direction, but whether consumers will pay for this decision should separate analysis. For environmental defenders, the rejection of fur is something that will make them happy, and they may be more supportive of Macy. For trend-lovers, if they don't pay much attention to fur products, they may not have much impact on the policy.
Huiwen Xu
I'm not sure if banning fur will be strong enough to motivate Gen Z to shop at Macy's. First of all, if one did not want to shop at Macy's in the first place, banning fur may not make a difference to them. This new policy may bring back the old customers who used to shop at Macy's but stopped because of the fur problem. However, this is just the older generation. In addition, I think for Macy's to attract Gen Z who care about the environment, they need to market it well. Macy's has been a large department store for years, and they were not known to be environmentally friendly. A store to not sell fur is important to Gen Z, but that store needs to have done this from the beginning of its establishment. This way, their business motto is known from the start. For Macy, not everyone will know about them stopping fur, so just doing this alone is not enough for Gen Z to shop there. Some other changes a store might make to attract Gen Z's who care about the environment is not giving out bags so freely, because this is a waste of plastic. Another change that stores can make to attract Gen Z's who care about the environment is starting a campaign on social media based on an issue, for example, the #MeToo movement. A store can start adding in hashtags about an environmental issue like #NoMoreFur as a way to market to Gen Z that this is the store's policy. In addition, to Gen Z, the idea of brick-and-mortar vs eCommerce isn't one or the other. Gen Z likes when their shopping experience is combined with both. Technology helps Gen Z with the research, but retail offers the immediate gratification of trying on the clothes. (https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/334229/gen-zs-retail-eye-they-love-brick-and-mortar-sho.html)
The banning fur policy of Macy’s might motivate Gen Z to purchase stuff from Macy’s. Actually, I find the research result saying Gen Z is more passionate about the causes than any other generations is pretty truthful. Some of my friends are vegan. They have a fondness to shop at Lush just because their branding image: “fighting animal test” “ethical buying” “100% vegetarian” “naked packaging” “handmade”. It seems that their concepts are somehow more attractive than products. I feel this is the similar case to Macy’s. The enforcement of this new policy suddenly build up a brand new image of Macy’s, one of the oldest department store in the world.
Some luxurious department stores which aims to older generations with more purchasing power often sale fur products. However, if they want to swift to younger generations like Gen Z, they might consider stop selling those.
In order to attract more Gen Z who cares about environment, stores should build up an ethical brand image. Good example are the emerging clothing brand Everlane, which addresses a concept “human transparency”; makeup brand Glossier with “people-powered beauty ecosystem” brand position. Those ethical and clean brand are more attractive to Gen Z.
As a Gen Z myself, I do prefer brick-and-mortar shop. Sometimes I value the shopping experience and atmosphere more than products. The shopping experience sometimes help me to relief stress
LH
Generally speaking, I do not think Gen Z will be motivated by Macy’s new policies to shop there. Gen Z is big on activism, but I feel that they focus more on human and environmental issues (equality and climate change) as opposed to those regarding animals. “57% of Gen Z say it’s more important that they personally care about the cause a brand is supporting than it is that a company just supports a cause”. Not to say they don’t care about animals or wouldn’t appreciate Macy’s fur ban, but in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn’t influence them much. Even if they do care, only 18% of Gen Z choose brands from which they buy based on shared values.
81% of Gen Z prefer brick-and-mortar shopping, because “73% like to discover new products in stores,” it gives 58% of them the opportunity to disengage from the world wide web and allows them to deal with stress. To actually get them in-store, Macy’s needs much more information on this target. Gen Z’s primary deciding factor when shopping is price, this is true for 60% of them. If Macy’s wants to attract more of them, I suggest they increase coupons/sales and/or increase the quality of some of their clothes to match or even exceed their price points. Gen Zers don’t define themselves with brands, so this may be feasible (even more profitable) if Macy’s brings in high quality lesser known brands. For Gen Zers who care about the environment, Macy’s should carry lines of sustainable clothing made from natural fibers (hemp, bamboo) or recycled materials. Gen Z is more inclined to purchase from companies that they feel “understand them and reflect their values,” which include diversity, youth empowerment, and inclusivity. Macy’s may want to convey their understanding in new online ads, since Gen Zers spend about 10.5 hours online per day; 82% of which will likely recommend a favored brand/company to a friend. Macy’s also needs to focus on making their customer service and shopping experience at the very least satisfactory for Gen Zers because unsatisfactory services/experiences were reported to prevent 24% of Gen Zers “from making a purchase three to five times in the past year.”
https://www.fusemarketing.com/thought-leadership/future-consumers-views-cause-marketing-social-activism/
https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-shopping-habits-kill-brands-2019-7
https://www.business2community.com/social-media/what-marketers-need-to-know-about-gen-z-social-media-habits-02222668
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/17/gen-z-shopping-habits-can-fuel-a-brick-and-mortar-resurgence-report-says.html
Generation Z has been found to be more passionate about causes than any other generations and there is evidence of it today. Young activists with interests such as political and environmental keep coming up among this generation. They are also more aware and keen to support products that do not harm the environment. This is why I think that Generation Z will not be motivated enough by Macy’s new policies to shop there. I think Macy will need to take more actions to convince this generation that they are interested in preserving the environment. Though they are in the right direction, a more convincing step would be to encourage other corporations to do the same and also take part in donations towards preservation of environment. It is important if a store sells fur or not especially now that more people are conscious about preservation of environment and animal protection. I think Gen Z has a preference for brick and mortar especially when they want to walk around in the stores with their friends and experience the new trends. There is something special with this experience unlike while doing online shopping. This experience comes in handy as a stress reliever and to connect with their friends and trends.
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