 Welcome everyone to the Generations Like Guys podcast by LosterUM India. This is a series of podcasts where we discuss all things Gen Z. This is the episode 3 of the podcast and today we'll be discussing Gen Z's interaction with some of the key categories. If you're new to the podcast and you like listening to this one, you can go back and listen to the previous ones and also we'll be dropping a few more in the next few days so you can stay tuned for those ones. I'm Kunlunath and you'll be hearing my voice through the podcast and as always with me I have LosterUMC, our spread guru, our Mark Darshak, Aditya Mishra, Hayati. Hi Kula, glad to be here and this is a topic of great interest to all of us marketeers in terms of understanding this new generation, the Gen Z as we call them. Just a little bit of an introduction on how we have gone about understanding them and rather than doing a traditional kind of a research, we actually roped in what we call the Gen Z insiders, you know a group of Gen Z who have worked with us across the last two three years in terms of understanding what is important to them, how do they engage with brands, how do they consume media, what are the ways that they decide on different things and we hope that some of these findings would be of interest to all of you as well. We'll start ahead with today's discussion and today it's all about Gen Z's interaction with some of the key categories and there are multiple categories or many many categories under the sun but we have looked at four key categories here in this case. Firstly we'll be discussing on tech then we'll move over to auto industries and then we'll look at what we are calling health and wellness as a category and lastly we'll be looking at how shopping is evolving under the Gen Z so these four we'll be discussing starting with technology. Technology is present everywhere specifically in the times of today's generation Gen Z like they are born with a phone in their hands and that's that's one of the joke yeah so so that's that's the kind of generation that they are in and so they're definitely enjoying a lot of the comfort that technology provide a lot of the convenience that technology provide. They are tech or native I'm a millennial so I'm a tech pioneer as I'd like to call our generation so so they are tech native so they are very much tech is like ever present for them so therefore they are while they're enjoying the convenience they're also right now looking at some of the other side of the technology as well so there's a bit of dichotomy about technology is it over usage is a privacy intrusion and all that so that is also a bit discussed yeah so like you rightly said you know these are the digital natives in that sense and they have grown up with an extension and a seamless online offline kind of a world you know they don't really distinguish between the two worlds saying this is digital or this is offline and and it's a seamless I would say shift that they are very comfortable with so you have situations you know whether sitting in a group and they're chatting to each other while sitting next to each other on a phone which sort of seems a little strange but that's how it is and it's quite comfortable yeah so that is one thing that makes technology like an integral part of their lives and and that's the discussion that we were having earlier that you know is technology a thing by itself or is technology underpinning everything it's an enabler of them living a more rich a more fulfilled kind of a life and that's why when we look at some of the data that you know you'll be talking about they have all spoken about how technology makes their life better but at the same time yes there is a question on what is the information that people are collecting about me what is the information that I'm sharing and interestingly in India what we've found is that people are not so worried about what am I sharing as long as that is coming back to me to help me to get something better so you know you want my data because you want to give me special offers you want my data because you will tell me what best I can do next that is data or information that I'm okay sharing but I don't want technology to be intrusive or you know changing the way that I'm engaging with people around me so it's a my choice my way of using technology which is quite an important piece that has emerged yeah certainly certainly like you mentioned about how that it is for me and is it making my life better is it adding value to my life that is that is the main point and also the whole bit about that technologies everywhere and and it is kind of very democratic these days so everybody is familiar with technology it's not exclusive to a certain class or certain set of Gen Z's so and that kind of makes them at an equal platform so that enables them to reach or make them their lives better there or get them to get better information better education and all of that kind of stuff the other side which we were discussing that whole bit about how they are also conscious about is it over usage is it to do it like more intrusion of technology so that's where one trend that I observed some bit in India also some of the Gen Z's that we've spoken to they are also talking about that how they're also remembering the good old feature phones so yeah and turning it turning your smartphone off for a few days a lot of people have last two years after this whole bit about the data policies and all that and with Facebook and all then some of the people have started de-subscribing to those platform or getting out of those platform that has more so happened in the generation which is like millennials and the Gen X lesser so in Gen Z but nonetheless Gen Z's are aware of all these things and they're evaluating with a rational mindset and rational thought process and that's how they're looking at this other point that I just want to discuss is how when they think of technology they also think of more so in the product side of it then the technology backend of it like for example what we discussed that which are the brands that are very much into your mind when you think about technology then all the product related brands came out more strongly like and there are shades there also like how Gen Z prefers certain brands versus and we compared them with some of the millennials brands like Apple brand like OnePlus those are the brands which are Gen Z's prefer very much versus other brands in the similar space which is like Samsung is prefer more by millennials more so other thing what surprising band that emerged in this product tech space was Boat Boat because and something that we discussed previously that how rational functional they are and also they're constantly thinking about the value proposition as well so there I think Boat has found this sweet spot of providing decent tech at good value so that's why they're switching to all of those brands and those brands are appealing much more. Yeah so I think an interesting point which emerged and which was like a little surprising because typically you would think that you know when you ask for what do you think is a great technology brand automatically the mind went to product you know while everybody is using let's say a google or everybody is using some form of maybe meta whether it's facebook or ig or you know engaging through reels or snapchat they didn't mention these brands as in a way tech brands so it was a very I think a kind of sharp view into their minds saying that these are enablers these are things that you allow me to do what I want to do but when you ask me for a brand I'm actually thinking of a product so that was a I think quite an interesting lens that we sort of got. Also what we find is that GenZ is probably the quickest in terms of exploring new platforms exploring new ways of doing things I think the whole buzz around chat gpt and we were talking to you know some of the people saying that what is your view and most of them were quite open about yeah it's okay I can check this I can I can also try this great for projects great for you know those kind of things and the other thing that I also found when we looked at some of these interactions is that they are a lot more open and we did discuss it in you know their personality and how they engage with the world they're quite open about bringing their whole self so you know whether it's something like a real me where you're looking at what's happening right now without filters without any other engagement is what you're okay sharing with the larger world so so there is that sense of enablement which also comes because you don't feel the need to hide you feel that technology is allowing you to do a lot more things in the way you want. Yeah you mentioned about newer platforms and certainly they're open to try new new platforms that's why we see a sudden boom of discord as a platform and largely driven by Gen Z's and that community feeling and sense of community and also around the time of the pandemic when we were doing the first round of the research so people were talking about house party as a platform and then how they were able to engage and that can sail through the entire pandemics or time period also yeah but another point that you mentioned is how they're using all of these other technology platforms like Google and all that that is at the background and they're using it even when they're quoting that how technology provides solution the first brand is Google that they mentioned but when I asked about specifically brand there all the products come so yeah so we'll listen to Asta she speaks about exactly that how technology and per se Google has come to her rescue. It's like the drive I can take. I'm lost for sure but not all people with the drive have no data. So I just when I continue soon I could upload it once again in my phone download it, all the contacts, all the documents which were there, all the updated photographs were there. So technology is very like I can store all my data when the drive is in the video so it's very nice if anybody uses the phone you can just pass it on straight up. Actually So it was a time in the August last 2019 when our PM struck out the 370 article and Kashmir becomes the part of India constitutionally so at that point there was no direct contact between me and my father and I have to go to my home so I missed my flight so actually my father booked the ticket for me and then technology come to rescue me I booked my online ticket at the airport right then and there we had to check and go then just within half an hour. So because if I didn't have the exclusive technology it could take me like a week or something to do it again. So here like the exactly the point that we were discussing that how Google and such platforms or even Facebook Instagram where all of those platforms gives them a way to or enable them to engage with others or gives them a backbone to their entire life but yet as a brand they don't stand out too often versus the devices like for some lap one plus those are the first brands that comes to their mind. Yeah that was an interesting thing and how rationally they evaluate their lives and how balances their life and exactly that's where we'll move over to the next category which we want to discuss is all about auto and there what we found is auto is something one category that has with the growth of the nation it is becoming more and more common and more and more popular and people are so therefore beyond just a mark of success auto has moved over to also functionality also it's all about a rational choice and rationally coming down to their choice of brand their choice of product and how their rational factors are influencing a lot in their auto choices as well versus earlier days it was all about like buddy gari sort of a philosophy that was there like lumpy gari and all that we remember whole those sit-down ads long sit-down ads and all that now it is beyond that that is no longer good enough you have to give me a value proposition a strong value proposition a clear differentiation and not just a technology advantage but technology advantage that can add to my life so that's what yeah so i think mobility as a whole has you know sort of undergone this evaluation i would say especially in the younger audience because because they're also looking at how it impacts the world in a way you know because they're very conscious of you know wanting to have a better world and therefore this whole thing of do i want ownership or do i just want usage and am i am i okay with shared usage for example the the growth of EV so when we spoke to some people in delhi they spoke about you know this option of hire an electric bike for short these things that you just you know take and and depending on how you are using it you know you pay more or you pay less so there is this this more discerning understanding than it's what mobility gives me in terms of you know just going from point A to point B versus necessarily demonstrating my ownership of a better vehicle so yes i do want mobility but there are different ways of looking at mobility versus what you know generations before me have done yeah so that that's definitely come up as a point yeah for sure but clear standout aspects of the automotive when they evaluate which are like all more focused in terms of price and safety so those are the clear value proposition and strong benefit that is pretty much like non-negotiable for them and another aspect that you just spoke about is a whole about EV and how EV that they're evaluating EV there it is also to do with government is pushing a lot of major shift towards EV these days so that is happening but at the same time while the government is making this push towards EV genzies are very rational in their evaluation so they are talking about why EV is something a new technology new brands are launching new EVs these days but having said that are the charging station good enough for me is the charging network good enough for me to take it for a long drive or not and is it actually uh how much is the cost differential and where does the power source comes from and it's just not a way of greenwashing so those those are also conversations that's happening around EV and much led by the genzies so we'll hear from Karthike he speaks about these aspects about of automotive industry i've seen many electric cars coming up it's a very good way or like right now there's no state in the league we can say like in the other it would be a good run for electric cars as there's lack of electricity in many villages in the years but in the advance like how decade ahead it would be for electric cars so yeah so so lot of these new brands are coming and they're launching EVs and but without the infrastructure the these genzies are questioning EVs and also the fact that when whenever new product is launched since lot of the information is readily available so then they are able to discuss all of that stuff and see all the sites like if you notice Ola has launched their scooters and with that there's lot of this discussion around like how is it suitable for Indian condition or not because some of the there's some malfunction with the products and all that because of the heat and the Indian conditions are not suitable to that so there's lot of conversation happening on that side on the charging network side and is it suitable for me to drive long range or is it only for city commute all of those things are constantly that they're discussing evolve and because of access of information at the end yeah yeah so the one thing that we've learned about genzies is that you know when they are interested in a topic and because technology offers them the access they do get into a lot of research they get into a lot of discussions with different kind of people so EV is definitely an area which is of interest moving forward I mean there are a lot of clients that we work with and you're right I mean Ola versus let's say an Aether which is more an indigenous brand and grown for Indian conditions there are differences in performance and so on but the other thing which I think is also helping in the growth of EV is just one of course let's say the spread of what is the impact of EV understanding the fact that an EV vehicle is obviously less polluting but at the same time the the challenge of you know having a charging network and a lot of work being done by the government in terms of having independent partners not just the people who produce EVs but having independent partners who can provide multiple charging stations there are in fact societies who are now choosing to have EV charging stations inside them to promote this so this is probably a trend that we will see evolve very rapidly in the next two three years especially with the increasing cost of fossil fuel so that that is something that that we see impacting the world yeah for sure now with that we'll move over to the third category which is all about health and wellness they are genesis are always focused on health and well-being in their lives but it is when they talk about health it is not just their physical health and it is largely to do with a lot of mental health as well and how mental health is very much important to maintain a very good physical health healthy lifestyle other aspect of that is also to do with with the with the mental health and mental health focus it's also to do with a lot of focus on self and self-development and last two years people have had a lot of time to evaluate themselves and see where they are and where they want to head and specifically genesis they're in such a transitional phase of their life currently and yet they have been stuck with this whole thing of like two years of sudden pause so they they at home that they're sitting and they're thinking about how they want to progress in life and what they want to do next so they had invested a lot more on self-focus and self-development that has made them focus on themselves and also become more more compassionate as a human being yeah yeah that's very true and like you said you know that last two three years which have been challenging and now we don't know how things are going to evolve with the new news from China and you know the testing which now the government is introducing so they are more conscious they are you know evaluating what does it exactly mean to be in a world like this and because there is a lot more information there is no stigma attached to you know asking some of these questions because we've seen a lot of brands in fact talked about mental health across the last two three years where in this is an issue which is being brought to the forefront saying this is something we need to be conscious about as a society and we need to look for solutions we need to look for ways that we can make it easier for people to stay in a world which is challenging the other thing that we also saw is that you know because of this whole introspection and understanding about self the the way they look at gender you know traditional gender things to be done or roles there is a there is a lot more fluidity if we look at how they define their groups and tribes again there is a kind of redistribution wherein they are okay going with different groups for different kind of solutions it's not that you know this is my group and I have to do everything with them there are different teams or people in their radar where they bond on different kind of topics so that that's also I would say a redispersion of the tribe versus the traditional way which is also something that we saw with the agency yeah another aspect of their this whole thing about health and well-being and mental satisfaction is very important for them is also to reflecting in their career paths and career choices as well so where we've asked them what is the key criteria for you to choose a particular job and stay on a particular job it was to do with whether they are mentally satisfied or not that is the first right that's the largest criteria and followed by one of the another larger criteria is the desire to contribute and be make the society better around them so that's that's the other aspect of that like whole bit about self-focus and how the self-development is contributing to the development of the society and that cycle we'll hear from now another quote from one of the Genzi members that sort of a mentality is there then doing a work without calculating the mental satisfaction factor will be difficult so yeah also mental satisfaction, monetary benefits and ethical ground three factors like the intersection of the brain diagram of the circle will be the area I would like to okay okay healthy lifestyle I don't think it's my own view healthy lifestyle I don't think a person should be like symbolic from you means this should this kind of body he should have this kind of disease he should have I think you you are able to get hungry at times you are able to get food right food right amount of sleep you do not get depressed or angry I think that is healthy we are not addicted to any kind of bad habits just like smoking and all that you eat good home cooked food you don't eat junk food outside means overall you're happy means you're healthy I think so she eat and all that I don't think it matters that much if you have it there is a interest you are making career it's your personal okay but I don't one should get pressurized by the things like this I don't think so okay about it healthy I mean another reason another thing about healthy lifestyle one should be more productive you should create more ideas you should you should be able to produce more and work more that is I think healthy that is useful also for other and your own society so that's the that's the part of the mental satisfaction and health and well-being that they focus on and lastly we'll move over to shopping and how shopping is changing and and probably no surprise to that that definitely because of the entire pandemic situation and last two years people have stayed home people have ordered a lot of from home and online shopping is definitely on the rise and much higher one thing that I would want to talk about that eight ten years back around that time when online shopping was coming then most of the thing was around discount driven or deal driven and that was the key factor while still is there end of the reason sale or grading in festival all these properties are massive and like key time stamp in the year for people to shop around those are there but at the same time the whole bit about convenience of shopping from home that thing is kind of like it's it's ingrained in the Gen Z so they have really enjoyed it so they are enjoying that benefits and that's what they that was is the key benefit that they see of online shopping or factor that influence them to shop online yeah so that is actually what is rise you know leading to the rise of what we call fast commerce or quick commerce india is one of the markets where quick commerce is growing much much faster than the world and interestingly I was talking to you know somebody in the states a little time ago and there was this interesting chat on you know if I was to order something on quick commerce their concept of quick commerce is one day and you know we were we were laughing about how in india it's like 15 minutes and how you can actually you know decide to get up in the morning and say okay for my bath I need this and in the next 15 minutes it's there so this this whole convenience of quick commerce the ability to not block a lot of money and and you know therefore engage very quickly in terms of you know what's of interest this is this is what I want to do that that's grown very very rapidly in the last two three years wherein there's just more access it's much more convenient to do things on your mobile than you know maybe walk down to the grocery store around you but also what what we've seen is that at the same time this is okay when I know what I want to buy you know so typically in the marketing jargon we would call it you know the bottom funnel decisions say I know what I want to buy I have already decided I just need to place the order so it's the ordering which is shifting online but when we want to talk about you know why I need to buy a brand or what is the kind of thing that I want to do we still see a lot of engagement playing a critical role and therefore for brands this whole exploratory or the discovery part the top funnel part is not just going to be on commerce it's it's going to be an omnichannel story wherein you will have to create experiences which are which are richer which are more engaging which could be online or offline but then lead on seamlessly to this you know this last part of the journey wherein you purchase very quickly yeah and another part of that is maybe because they stayed home for two years the craving for touch and feel of a product that has also grown and also the fact that while advertising informs them a lot but at the end of the day also wants to get their hands on experience on something and then decide that that whole feel of the product and then is it for me or not that that they want to decide for them so that's actually what's something Nenad will speak about but then I know I can make a lemonade by myself with my own or I'm gonna buy myself with my own I'll try to understand the music it might change my perception to a web with that I think you change your perception do you believe in the advertising thing it's not anymore I do too but then there's a lot of thing that there's a lot of thought process that I put into it and I realized that it's just a brain and would you have to move not allow them to like for example there was this one time I went to a mall with my roommate and she needed to buy one toothpaste which was for some 50 rupees or 40 rupees right but she then saw an offer which advertises that if you buy four toothpaste together we'll get it for 150 rupees if you buy four individually according to normal mathematics so individual toothpaste would cost to 160 rupees but for that pack of four toothpaste which cost her 150 rupees so she believes she's safe 10 rupees but I saw it from the view that she in fact 110 rupees will cost something which was of no use to her so I think it's just a way to and I think you have to be sensible enough to not let that affect you you have to actually go into the pros and cons whenever if I'm going to be affected by advertisement also your product is fascinating I actually go online search about the pros and cons of it actually compare people from that field and then decide so no advertisements don't affect me so touch and feel of a product that is something that experience of that product is something that will eventually kind of gets them to finally decide and then eventually they might turn to quick commerce or any other platform that they decide so that's why it's like online offline the journey is throughout different platforms it's not just very linear that people will go online and search online place an order immediately it's a very linear it's very it's flowing from different different channels from one to the other yeah and you know interestingly the way we heard you know the quote that he spoke about I think it also gives us an insight into why D2C is such a rising phenomenon because very clearly you know they're not fixed to the paradigms just because I did a brand earlier doesn't mean I'll do it again every time I'm going to do the purchase I probably evaluate and re-evaluate and being younger being more exposed to information they they are more evaluative and and hence they're open to new brands or new ways of doing things and that's why some of the categories we are seeing such a rapid growth in terms of D2C whether it's you know brands like wow mama earth or even some of the traditional brands I mean samsung for example it's it's looking at D2C globally they are one of the largest D2C brands so there is this whole realization that brands and marketers have that while we are going to be available in traditional channels and and they will be very important moving forward because we don't see the the change in terms of econ become the largest but definitely there is a rationale for how D2C needs to play a role in in your entire channel mix and there is opportunity for newer brands to come and make an entry in some of these small areas you know so you may never have scale but but you can have a very sort of I would say engaged audience which is experimenting so in a way entry barriers to certain categories are reduced in a way there is a lot more potential to try and check out different kind of products formats so these are some of the things that as marketers and communicators we need to think about how do we make the journey seamless how do we look at multiple ways of engaging versus you know just one way of connecting to this audience yeah certainly and I think the whole bit about this pokon and on discord that sense of community and these some of these D2C brands they're able to like foster that sense of community a lot better and that has kind of given rise to such brands so so those are the four categories that we want to just quickly bring to you and discuss over any final thoughts or anything no I think the thing that we all need to consider is that you know the purchase remains a purchase so the only things that that have maybe got pulled out a little more is the rationality behind the purchase because while emotion is important it's not going to be the only thing so lot more evaluation on the promise that a brand or a product is making a lot more checks a lot more questioning whether it's through the community or whether it is through search that they're doing online and once you are deciding it's not that the consumer is yours forever so so a lot more you know agility and being on your toes is something that people like us need to think about the other thing I think we want to keep at the back of our minds is sometimes we get carried away with you know the latest shiniest tech solution while these are interesting and good in terms of capturing attention they may not be great in terms of you know building the kind of relationship you want so so balancing out the story or the authenticity that the brand is bringing to the table along with the experience that we are able to drive for the GNC certainly certainly and thanks for listening to us guys and if you want to listen to such podcast so please search add and follow us and we'll be dropping a few more in the next few days so thanks for listening bye bye