Research: M&S More Popular With Gen Z Than Baby Boomers

Our latest research has found that Marks and Spencer (M&S) is more likely to be considered a ‘fun’ shopping experience by ‘Gen Z’ than by the baby boomer generation.

The survey, commissioned by Saturn Visual Solutions and carried out by OnePoll, asked 2,000 UK-based, adult full-time and part-time workers what the three most ‘fun’ stores they’d visited were. The British clothing, food and homewares retailer was ranked eighth overall, well above department stores like Selfridges (11th) and Harvey Nichols(19th), with eight per cent of all respondents naming it as one of the three most fun stores they’d been to.

Whilst popular amongst all of the age groups, it was most popular among the research’s 18- to 24-year olds, with 15 per cent naming it is as one the most fun stores they’d been to.
This could be considered a surprising result given that around 50 per cent of M&S shoppers in the UK are over 55, according to GlobalData’s Q3 2021 Consumer Survey. For the over 65 age category, a lower percentage (12%) of respondents named M&S.

Another surprise in the research was M&S being named as being a fun shopping experience by a higher number of men (9%) than women (7%).

Saturn CEO, Chris Welsh, said: “We were a little surprised that M&S was so popular with the younger generation, but it stands to reason. With many high-street department stores, such as Debenhams, having closed down their physical premises, there aren’t that many retailers of this type that offer choice, affordability and quality in a single large store. M&S has also been working on gaining wider relevance and attracting younger consumers in its marketing, which is evident in its latest ‘pump up the jam’ advertising campaign.

“However, if M&S wants to keep appealing to the younger generation, it needs to ensure that its stores can compete with brands like JD Sports and Foot Locker in look and feel to increase popularity with the younger generations.”

Saturn Visual Solutions is a digital signage consultancy and works with retail businesses to help them make their in-store shopping experience more engaging and fun to increase profitability.

Saturn has created the statistical research to produce a white paper called ‘Re-energising retail – How the 2024 in-store experience is changing and what to do about it’ which can be found here.