The Next Generation: Who They Are and How They’ll Change Business
The internet and smart devices are parts of our lives many of us take for granted. Millennials and Gen Z have been brought up enjoying these technologies through their academic lives, while the generations preceding them have quickly adopted technologies like laptops, high-speed internet, and smartphones. Now, they’re simply a part of our daily lives.
But as the Gen Z students who have used these technologies their entire lives leave education, and enter the workforce and make purchasing decisions, they’ll introduce new ways of thinking, working, and buying, leading to massive changes in business.

Influencer Marketing Will Continue to Rise
Platforms like TikTok, Twitch, and others continue to rise in prominence. TikTok had more than 2 billion downloads as of August 2020, and has risen quickly to become the world’s 7th most used social network, according to Hootsuite. It has more than 100 million monthly active users in the US alone, while Twitch – the live-stream service most notably known for providing video game streamers a platform – made an estimated $2.3 billion last year, with its 9+ million monthly user count. Both platforms promote influencers heavily, with top figures on both platforms earning healthy incomes, and personalities on Twitch and YouTube regularly endorsed by endemic brands. According to figures by GWI, 18 percent of those people in Gen Z discovered brands in 2018 via celebrities or well-known individuals, and 25 percent used social media alone to follow celebrities and related news. Modern marketing has removed barriers between influential celebrities and the normal person, leading to much more engaged, active audiences that marketing departments will want to tap into. Businesses involved in video games and the like have quickly picked this up, and other industries are quickly understanding they’ll need to find similar methods of reaching this new audience if they want to maintain their customer base.Social is the New Search
This year, 30 percent of Gen Z said they primarily use social media to follow keep up with news. YouTube accounts for a large percentage of this, with 65% of 13-19 year olds pointing to the platform as their preferred news source. Social media offers quicker access to stories, multiple viewpoints, and access to personalities that don’t normally have a platform on traditional media. Millennials and Gen Z are using platforms like Twitter and YouTube to stay connected to each other and to the wider world. Businesses looking to connect with these audiences will need to adapt, reaching out via video content – according to Statista, YouTube has 283.5 million daily active users as of Q2 2021 – and providing shorter, more digestible content in their communications and marketing messages.Gen-Z and Millenials Purchase More Eco-Consciously
In 2015, a Nielsen report found that 73 percent of millennials were willing to pay more for sustainable goods. FirstInsight’s report indicated the same, uncovering that most were willing to spend 10 percent or more on sustainable products, and are more likely to purchase based on values or principles than solely price or the quality of the product. What does this mean for businesses? It means they’re facing a generation that are less concerned with the price of what they’re buying, and more concerned with how the product has been made. Businesses will need to change not only the way they build and develop their goods, but also how they market them, as this new generation of customers digs deeper into the story behind what they buy.Digital is Here to Stay, and It’s Only Getting Stronger
Step back a decade or so, and there were clear distinctions between smartphones, tablets, laptop devices, and desktops PCs. Look around now, and those lines aren’t so clear. Phones that double as tablets and 2-in-1 touchscreen laptops that have enough performance to replace desktops are just two examples. Millennials and members of Gen Z have been raised with this technology - GWI believe that 98 percent of Gen Z own a smartphone – and they’re ready for what’s next. Gen Z will make up 30 percent of the global workforce by 2030, and it’ll be their preferences that will dictate how we work. Thin and light 2-in-1 devices like the ASUS Expertbook B3, B5, and B7 Flip notebooks, powered by Windows 10 Pro, are the future of the digital workplace; the lines between devices will continue to blur as new generations of the workforce discover and develop new ways to work. We’re only just beginning the new decade, but recent events have already resulted in monumental shifts to the way in which we work. As we move further into the 2020’s, expect similar shifts as younger generations surge ahead with new, ground-breaking ways of working, purchasing, and living. Want to keep pace with the evolving world of work? Discover the ASUS Expertbook range.