Charities are not making the most of social commerce opportunities and could be missing out on revenue and awareness amongst the 18 – 24 year olds that make up Generation Z.
Research into charity retailers using social media was undertaken by retail software company, Cybertill, with Gen Z research run by YouGov and commissioned by Cybertill.
Never before has there been so many opportunities for charity retailers to reach all demographics. Gen Z are a group who love social media, they feel part of a global community, are more socially conscious and have more in common with their grandparents than they do their parents. Charity retailers need to reach out to this generation using social commerce to gain more interaction and ultimately, revenue, from this age group.
The report also finds Gen Z-ers are heavily influenced by social media and ecommerce when buying in-store fashion purchases, with 49% stating they look online before buying in-store. Instagram is very popular with Gen Z, as 31% of worldwide users are aged 18-24, along with Millennials they make up 61% of global users, but there are still 15% of charities without an Instagram account.
Charities also have to get online: Not all charity retailers have an ecommerce offering, 55% of those researched are yet to open an online shop and 45% use eBay as a means of selling. But one trick charity retailers are missing out on is linking their social channels to their ecommerce URLs.
But, warns the study, don’t put all your eggs into the Facebook basket. More than 90% of Gen Z who use Facebook also use Instagram, the two go hand-in-hand. Although there is still a high percentage of Gen Z with a Facebook account, they spend more time on Instagram, averaging 330 minutes per month.
Rob Finley, Business Development Director and Head of Charity at Cybertill explains: “Charity retailers need to engage more on social media with Gen Z, these are their new volunteers, shoppers and donors. They need to make the most of these free social media tools to enhance their ecommerce and extend their reach across all people of all ages. Charities have goods that are simply not available anywhere else, you have unique products but they’re only available in one charity shop. If you have an item that has a particular personal value to someone, then they won’t see it unless they walk into that one charity shop. If we can take that item and have it in store, online, on eBay, on Amazon then you can ensure you’ll get the maximum value for it. Promoting this on social media with ‘shop now’ features, particularly on Instagram will reach a wider audience and can only benefit the charity.”
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