How TikTok Influences Teens’ Shopping Decisions
By Movieguide® Contributor
Not only does TikTok impact a teen’s mental health, but it also dictates Gen Z’s shopping decisions.
“Where past generations visited department stores or shopping malls to buy basics or check out new styles, Gen Z are looking for trends online, following idols and influencers and aspiring to wear the same clothing,” a report from KPMG said.
“The fusion of social media and e-commerce represents the frontier of engaging Gen Z in a way that resonates with their ethos,” Irwan Djaja, partner and head of advisory of KPMG Indonesia, said.
CNBC noted that Gen Z is the first generation “to grow up with the internet and digital devices as a part of daily life.”
KPMG’s study surveyed “attitudes and preferences towards emerging retailing and retail technology trends across 14 markets in the Asia Pacific region. About half of the respondents in each market were from the Gen Z age group (which we defined for the data collection purposes as 18 to 24).”
“Gen Z ranked social commerce (63%) and livestreaming commerce (57%) as important to their shopping experience,” the study found.
Because of this trend, many retail companies are shifting their focus to ways that capture the attention of Gen Z.
This is particularly true for social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram.
“TikTok business – strong in Asia – gets businesses to advertise on TikTok, using influencers and key opinion leaders and serving ads to direct viewers back to websites,” the report said.
“TikTok is a juggernaut,” added Eric Pong, co-founder of AfterShip, an e-commerce website for people and companies to track packages in real time. “It is still growing and has an unbelievable number of viewers and influence.”
In 2022, the hashtag “TikTokMadeMeBuyIt” went viral, garnering over 8.4 billion views. Psychology Today explained that TikTok is so effective at making us buy things because it is the “perfect mix of advertising and entertainment, often referred to as advertainment.”
Another study found that 85% of Gen Z respondents said that social media impacts their buying habits.
“Forty-five percent of Gen Z respondents named TikTok and Instagram as the top platforms influencing their purchasing decisions, followed by YouTube (38%), Facebook (24%), Snapchat (17%), Twitter (14%) and Reddit (7%),” Retail Dive reported.
Marketers will likely continue to use social media to reach younger consumers.
Movieguide® previously reported on how TikTok is driving young women into debt:
As Gen Z women spend more time on TikTok, the content they consume on the app is redefining how they shop and spend money.
Ellyn Briggs, a brand analyst at Morning Consult, explained, “TikTok is a Gen Z women-centric app, and it is setting the tone and the narrative for what is ‘hot’ online.”
“The bigger conversation is just how impactful our digital lives are on our real lives,” she added. “TikTok is driving consumption patterns in a very real way.”
“TikTok has significant influence on how the young generation spends its money, with #TikTokmademebuyit garnering more than eight billion views,” CNBC reported.
Morning Consult also found that “A larger share of Gen Z women, 75%, use TikTok compared to their male counterparts, 62%.”
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