Gen Z shows there is life in retail yet as industry prepares for new administration
Life
Shutterstock via Dennis
US President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs especially on Chinese suppliers could have a negative effect on the consumer electronics market. Brian Comiskey of Consumer Technology Association (CTA) warned on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The purchase of laptops and tablets may drop by 68%, that of game consoles by 58% and that of smartphones by 37% due to sharply increased prices.
Some fear that Trump is starting one of the worst trade wars since the 1930s, having announced that on his first day on the job that he would impose import tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China – the US’ three largest trading partners. Together, they account for more than a third of the country’s imported and exported goods and services.
It was a somber sound in an otherwise fairly optimistic presentation on the Tech Trends Forecast report, which predicts retail sales of $537 billion in 2025 in the US, up sharply from $520 billion in 2024. Of that, $353 billion is expected to be hardware and $184 billion is software.
This year, AI functionality should provide growth. For example, 64% of US consumers already use AI tools to shop online and 40% are interested in AI personalisation.
In addition, the report found that 93% of American adults are familiar with generative AI and 61% use AI tools at work.
Zoomers, born between 1995 and 2010, are leading the way. Gen Z’s digital natives already comprises one-third of the world’s population, mostly in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. In the US, this generation tells us that tech is essential to their existence. In addition, this group is more willing to trade in devices for something new. On average, this generation in the US already has 13 devices in their homes. Also notable is that Gen Z not only orders online, but equally goes to stores. This makes Gen Z the first truly omnichannel generation.
Emerce
