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The response is sharpest among Gen Z鈥�40% say they鈥檝e walked away from brands over DEI rollbacks, twice the rate of millennials and over four times that of boomers. Our take: By caving to pressure and scaling back DEI, Target not only alienated customers but also came across as inauthentic鈥攃ompounding its challenges.

Gen Z shoppers particularly rely on the opinion of online strangers. Gen Z consumers say online reviews are the most important factor when shopping, per a June 2024 report from NielsenIQ and World Data Lab. 87% of Gen Zers say online reviews had at least a little influence over their decision to purchase a product, according to January data from CivicScience.

Our take: Card-linked offers can help issuers attract and retain customers, especially Gen Zers. Issuers can use their customer data to develop personalized offers at merchants they鈥檝e shopped at before or for their top spending categories. JPMorgan Chase uses genAI to customize Chase Offers, for example.

Our take: If Apple doesn鈥檛 accelerate AI deployment, it risks losing Gen Z and millennial consumers who are already adopting AI-enabled assistants from its biggest rivals. Expanding its partnership with AI companies like OpenAI and Google could fill gaps in the short term, but it needs to address internal development problems to get back on track.

While 82% of all travelers in North America are enrolled in loyalty and frequent flyer programs, per an April OAG survey, just 65% of adult Gen Zers and 70% of millennials have enrolled. Over 6 in 10 Gen Zers said inconsistent travel through one brand was the biggest reason for not using a loyalty program.

Digitally native Gen Zers engage with healthcare in different ways from other cohorts鈥攅.g., they鈥檙e likely to turn to online channels for health information before going to a doctor. Providers and marketers must quickly adapt if they want to form lasting relationships with this age group.

But advertising around film and TV content on Snapchat is a significant opportunity to reach consumers where they鈥檙e more likely to be engaged and receptive to brands鈥攅specially Gen Z, which accounts for the majority of Snapchat users and represents the predominant source of digital buyer growth, per our forecast.

Gen Zers are flocking to emerging payment methods, but card-based options, led by debit cards, remain supreme. Payment providers must align offerings with Gen Z鈥檚 preferences now as their spending power grows.

But Gen Zers are less familiar with the company鈥檚 purpose, Cha said. Visa wants to remind consumers what it does and how it supports their everyday credit and debit card transactions, per Cha. Our take: Including creators in its campaign can help Visa make the most of its ad spend.

Lingering doubts: Although younger and older generations align on AI scam factor, they diverge on how interesting or novel it is for a brand to use the tech. 27% of Gen Zers said brands are 鈥渃ool鈥� for using AI content in their ads, but only 8% of baby boomers felt the same. Baby boomers were just slightly more impressed by AI鈥檚 novelty: 29% called it futuristic, versus 25% of Gen Zers.

The news: Forty-two percent of Gen Zers and 61% of millennials said they鈥檇 pay for AI if it meant better, more accurate answers, per Pearl鈥檚 2025 AI Accountability & Trust report. In the pursuit of accuracy, exactly half of US consumers believe AI platforms are legally responsible for the answers they provide, including 53% of Gen Zers.

In 2024, the proportion of Gen Zers and millennials who said they need life insurance was 95%, versus 72% of Gen Xers and baby boomers, per Limra鈥檚 US 鈥�2024 Insurance Barometer Study.鈥�. The interest is there, but insurers must convert it into action.

Why it matters: After several years of being seen as a camera-first platform with niche Gen Z appeal, Snap is reasserting its creative relevance to marketers at a moment when interest in immersive and AI-powered experiences is on the rise. Kao brings a brand-builder鈥檚 pedigree, having overseen Spotify鈥檚 鈥淪preadbeats鈥� B2B campaign, which swept the 2024 Cannes Lions.

Baby boomers are more likely than other generations to cite convenience as a top factor, while millennials and Gen Zers prioritize delivery speed more than other age groups. Detailed product descriptions are most helpful for online purchase decisions, followed by high-quality images, video reviews or demos, and styling or usage recommendations.

This share jumps to 81% for Gen Z shoppers. Our take: We expect to see many more agentic AI announcements this year as payment providers and retailers try to stay on the cutting edge. But while the majority of consumers have expressed interest in using AI to make purchases, consumer adoption of the tech may be slow. The tech will need to establish consumer trust before it takes off in the mainstream.

What this means for banks: Gen Zers are correct in thinking they need more money than their parents to feel financially secure鈥攖hey just may not need double. This highlights again the complex relationship between Gen Zers and their Gen Xer parents. If banks help either generation, the other will feel more financially optimistic.

Among Gen Zers, this figure jumped to 75%.

Younger consumers are particularly prone to switching, as 81% of Gen Zers and millennials changed brands in the past year鈥攕ignificantly more than Gen X (74%) and baby boomers (63%). High prices are the primary factor behind this shift, cited by 66% of respondents, well ahead of the second-largest issue, poor customer service (43%).

Online fashion resale remains a fast-growing retail channel despite ongoing economic headwinds鈥攁nd Gen Z is the driving force. How can brands and retailers venturing into fashion resale find success amid pullbacks on discretionary spending?

Gen Zers鈥� influence on banking will begin to emerge as more than 4 million of them per year become mobile bankers through 2026. Banks must adapt to provide the services these digital natives demand.

Additionally, Gen Alphas will be on the lookout for a platform they can make their own, like millennials did with Instagram and Gen Zers with TikTok.

The platform is especially popular among younger generations who represent key sources of buyer growth鈥攗p to 95% of Gen Z and Gen Alpha identify as gamers. Mobile game marketing platform Admazing shared key insights on how it helped PepsiCo brands transform their advertising. A PepsiCo study found that advertising within mobile games boosted ad awareness/recall to 21.9%, compared to the average 5.5%.