Giving consumers an enticingly close-to-the-action window onto pop culture – particularly music – smart brands including Vans and Belowground are making creative pursuits central to flagship success with in-store recording studios and radio broadcasting. Others are responding to Gen Z’s content creation side hustle via co-creational performance spaces, empowering their creativity.

Shrewd brands including American-Singaporean gaming company Razer and Berlin fashion think tank/store Platte are offering local support to Gen Z creatives across art, fashion, gaming and music, to create subcultural IRL (in real life) bonds atoning the ‘lost years’ of the pandemic. With many Gen Zers feeling overwhelmed by social media (see Key Stats), nurturing offline communities is a smart tactic.

Reacting to Covid restrictions (which constrained Gen Z’s social lives) and pervasive millennial-driven design codes (perceived as bland by many of their generational successors), luxury brands are courting next-gen big spenders with physical activations and store designs that fetishise all-out, Y2K-style fun. 

Triggered by Gen Z interest in Web3 (the next phase of the internet, including the shared virtual worlds of the metaverse), astute brands are creating beyond-functional, tech-centric retail spaces. From metaverse-aping flagships to activations riffing on the spatial web, the best re-imagine the physical store for a hyper-interactive online era.

Many Gen Zers prioritise equitable brand engagement, with 72% of American Gen Z-ers saying they’re now more likely to buy from a purpose-driven brand (WP Engine, 2022). Catering to this cohort, smart retailers like Gen Z-owned American underwear brand Parade are playing out eco-ethical and inclusivity-pushing agendas in-store. Strategies include AR celebrating relatable bodies, male-gaze-countering maximalism, and climate-conscious recommerce, among others.