he ZBD Gen Z Payments Study, based on a survey of over 2,000 18 to 27 year olds in the US and UK, sheds fresh light on what this vitally important generation wants from its interactions with payments, banking and fintech providers. The deep-dive exploration of what shapes Gen Z’s payment behavior reveals that a staggering 86% of Gen Z believe that cashback and loyalty rewards are an important part of making a purchase, and 99%say financial education is important.
Gen Z will likely be the largest and richest generation in human history. Having grown up as digital natives, there’s a tendency to assume they’re exclusively digital and only want to embrace the new. Based on the study, Gen Z regularly use both debit cards (62%) and cash (57%), though usage of digital-first payment methods such as apps (45%) and digital wallets (48%) has overtaken credit cards (41%).
This new study reveals that, far from automatically adopting emerging technologies, Gen Z values diversity and flexibility in their finances across established and emerging methods. They invest in cryptocurrency (24%) as much as equities (22%), yet trust traditional banks (35%) far more than online-only neobanks (5%). Amid seemingly contradictory trends, Gen Z’s interest in rewards and education is a common thread that binds together everything they do.
Ben Cousens, Chief Strategy Officer at ZBD, commented:
“Our research shows that Gen Z is far from unreachable for the financial services industry; however, it’s true that there’s no one single touchpoint for them. What’s clear is that they expect their engagement with and loyalty to retailers, merchants, platforms and providers to be meaningfully rewarded, not just acknowledged. This paradigm shift is both being powered by and is set to radically alter the payments and fintech landscape, and is why we’ve labeled Gen Z ‘The Reward(ed) Generation’. As an industry, we need a diverse, multichannel proposition that - crucially - rewards Gen Z for the time and money they spend with us.”
