GZV #34: A Hot Sector and New is Always Better for Gen Z
Welcome to all of our new subscribers! If you ever want my opinion or thoughts on something associated with Gen Z, just shoot me an email.
Let me introduce you to… DR!P.
Problem:
Current technology solutions trying to combine content and commerece focus on two specific customers, Brands/Retailers and Creators/Influencers, this leaves out everyone else.
Solution:
“DR!P is a live commerce service that makes it easy for anyone to earn money by creating shoppable content.”
“Our platform gives users access to millions of products to connect on their stream & sell directly to audience”
Gen Z View:
For the past year, this digital commerce trend has been exploding. Like I’ve mentioned in previous issues, most of Gen Z gets our clothing ideas from our peers.
In each group of 100 Gen Z’ers, 10 set the trend while 30 follower their lead, and the other 50 follow those 30. The last 10 is independent and does whatever they want. The idea is that the top 10 can influence a large amount of consumption power.
The amazing thing is, these top 10 know who they are, and when they see a platform like this they can leverage their influence and turn it into cash.
Other Notes:
CEO is Former Fead of Global Partnerships at Tencent America. His first startup, TheFutureParty, was acquired by NVE
Multiple angels committed, along with a great team of advisors and developers
Fundraising?
Yes, $2 million pre-seed @ $7 mil val. Looking for strategic investors, email steven@futureparty.co.
New = Better. Why every company needs a product innovation team.
Now, we all know the logo above, it’s Apple. Since it’s inception Apple has stamped itself as the biggest company in the world by doing one thing better than anyone else; innovating.
Unfortunately for some companies, I don’t see this same energy. Of course at the end of the day most companies do innovate, but a good portion need to do a lot more. Almost all humans like new and innovative products. I believe this resonates the most with Gen Z. We grew up in the age of the internet and Amazon, nothing in our life moves slowly. For companies to match this, they have to constantly be innovating in order to keep us satisfied.
Facebook is an example of a platform who failed at innovation for Gen Z. In high school all my friends and I were on Facebook, now I barely go onto the platform. Now, they do own instagram and connect with a lot of Gen Z, so they aren’t at total failure, but they still had a massive churn rate for some of Gen Z.
I will give some examples of simple innovations that companies can do that will be attractive to Gen Z.
Peloton:
Open Peloton studios and give it an OrangeTheory type of vibe. Peloton is a very popular brand within Gen Z, but not everyone can afford a bike. A way to combat this would be to open a few studios within large cities. This can simply be an add-on to the Peloton digital service and could do very well in a post pandemic era.
Snapchat:
Bring E-commerce to Snapchat. Allow users of the app to interact with the brands they love, let the brands Snapchat user with new products and deals, have snapchat be the customer service rep for Gen Z’ers. Most of our social platform have added a commerce aspect, but none have really hit the right note yet. Snapchat now can give a crack at this while also opening up a new revenue stream.
Spotify:
Make podcasts more interactive for the fans. When my favorite podcast, Spitten Chiclets, is talking about a youtube video they made, that link should be a push notification to my screen. Same thing with a famous news piece. This makes the podcast more interactive for listeners if they want it, and will help the hosts generate more engagement with fans.
These are simple ideas I have thought of in the moment and in the past, but the point is they are simple innovations that make products new and exciting for Gen Z. I am a big supporter of companies creating “innovation teams” just for this reason, it’ll help to have a team always focusing on making products better.
Cheers,
- Tom