Greener marketing messages are more attractive to traditional Black Friday and Cyber Weekend brand advertising tactics, according to new research.
Conscious, ethical, purpose-driven and green marketing messages are more impactful than normal practices, noted the survey, which was conducted Prodege on behalf of Student Beans, a loyalty network for young people.
The study noted that brands continuously failing to showcase their ‘green’ credentials may be missing out on the lucrative target market of 18-to-24-year-olds, with this demographic of shoppers twice as likely as older generations to spend money over Cyber Weekend, which ends today.
Brands offering charitable donations or offsetting their impact on the environment are among those regularly sought after by Gen Z, the research found.
Student Beans also said that Gen Z shoppers who purchase discounted items from brands or independent stores that ‘give back’ via incentives during Black Friday increase consumer satisfaction by 41%. And this year, nine in ten Gen Z Brits hope to donate to charitable or sustainable causes when shopping for sales.
Some 4,000 people were surveyed between 25 October and 8 November 2021 to gather the results for this research.
Siobhan McGarvey, chief marketing officer at Student Beans, commented: “Our research shows that consumer demand for Black Friday remains highly popular, particularly amongst Gen-Z shoppers.
“For brands to win over young customers during peak sale seasons, they must consider what other incentives must be available alongside sale discounts.”
Last week, in the build-up to Black Friday and Cyber Weekend, Green Retail World covered several examples of retailers and brands adopting greener marketing messages rather than the traditional buy-now, big-discount campaigning.
In addition, fashion brand Raeburn even opted to turn its eCommerce function off on Black Friday, saying it was encouraging consumers to buy nothing new and “celebrating clothes already in circulation”.
The Raeburn Marshall Street store in London was also taken over by second-hand clothing platform, Responsible, encouraging consumers to buy pre-loved items.
[Image credit: Green Retail World]
