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Gen Z Personas in UAE - Types
After examining the shopping behaviors of generation zers in the United Arab Emirates, four different types on gen zers that are buyers of athleisure/streetwear clothing in the country have been put together. They include physical shoppers, online shoppers, social shoppers, and luxury shoppers.
Physical Shoppers
- There are about 1.4 million gen zers in the UAE. Although this cohort seeks out convenience while doing anything - including shopping, they prefer shopping for athleisure and streetwear clothing in physical stores.
- In the UAE, gen zers value the experience and discovery that comes along with shopping in physical stores.
- Around 80% of gen zers in the UAE "look forward to shopping in stores when they have time."
- The omnichannel experience they get from shopping in brick and mortar stores is undefeated. In addition, shopping for clothing in physical stores has become a way for gen zers in the UAE to "hang out" and connect with their friends.
- Due to the large Muslim population in the UAE, athleisure brands like Nike have started offering athletic clothing with hijab. This has led to more teenagers in the country buying them.
- Adidas and Nike remain the top athleisure brands in the UAE. These companies have physical stores that gen zers flock to in Dubai and other cities.
- Top streetwear brands like Undefeated and Fear of God are housed in several retail stores in the UAE.
Social Shoppers
- Gen zers in the UAE are also known as web watchers. Daily, they consume more content from social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram than other generations.
- Due to the amount of time gen zers spend on social media, they now use these platforms to learn about new streetwear and athleisure clothing.
- They are also heavily influenced to shop for products based on what their favorite social media influencers/celebrities have on.
- Several athleisure and streetwear brands in the UAE retain social media influencers that show off their clothing to their target audience - millennials and gen zers.
- Arwa Al Banawi is a popular streetwear social media influencer in Dubai among gen zers. She recently collaborated with Adidas for streetwear and athleisure clothing in the country.
Online Shoppers
- In the UAE, the gen z cohort was brought up in a digital world - as evidenced by their moniker, Digital Natives.
- Gen zers seek out convenience while doing anything - including shopping. This explains why 77% of the generation likes to shop for clothing online as much as possible.
- They spend more than 10 hours daily online and are on their mobile devices more than any other generation.
- Athleisure brands like Lululemon have e-commerce websites and apps that make it easier for teenagers in the UAE to shop.
- Several athleisure and streetwear brands offer 24-hour customer service. This enables gen zers to get the personalized experience they want while from shopping online.
Luxury Shoppers
- Currently, the growth in the luxury clothing industry in the UAE is fueled by gen zers in the country.
- According to a study by Deloitte, teenagers in the UAE are richer than the average teenager in other countries.
- In the UAE, streetwear depicts "hip-hop’s affinity for luxury brands." The most common streetwear items include snapbacks, sidewear, and colored sunglasses.
- Luxury streetwear brands like Off-White, Stella McCartney, Z Zegna, Kenzo, and Amongst Few are some of the most popular brands among teenagers in the UAE.
- Adidas, Lululemon, and Gymshark are some of the most popular luxury athleisure brands among teenagers and youths in the UAE.
Research Strategy
In order to determine the three types of gen zers in the UAE who buy streetwear and athleisure clothing, we first searched for existing information on gen z personas in this country based on their streetwear/athleisure buying behavior. We examined credible news websites in the United Arab Emirates such as Gulf News and The National. None of these websites had any compiled gen z personas. We further expanded our search to include personas of teenagers in the UAE to no avail. Next, we turned to data intelligence platforms like Statista. We hoped there'd be a breakdown of the different types of gen zers in the UAE based on their clothing shopping behaviors but this was not provided. We then combed through surveys/studies done on the shopping behaviors of gen zers or teenagers in the UAE and any segmentation of this cohort. We found studies by Deloitte and Nielsen. While these studies had important information on how gen zers shop, there was no set in stone segmentation of their personas.
Our next approach involved expanding our search to the different kinds of gen zers in the Middle East who buy athleisure and/or streetwear. Using the above-mentioned strategies, we only found relevant data on their overall shopping behavior and what they look out for when shopping.
Since none of our strategies provided the results we needed, we decided to manually compile a list of gen z personas in the UAE based on their streetwear/athleisure shopping habits. To do this, we thoroughly reviewed the data we found on how gen zers and teenagers in the UAE and Middle East shop for clothing, we then selected the shopping behaviors that appeared/was corroborated by several other sources. For example, it is a known fact that gen zers in the UAE are digital natives and seek out convenience in shopping for streetwear/athleisure. Using this information, we formed a persona called "online shoppers." We also sought out the most popular streetwear and athleisure brands in the country and narrowed down their target audience and where most of their sales comes from. We found that teenagers account for a large share of the sales made by some of these brands. Through this, we were able to create four gen z personas in the UAE that are buyers of streetwear/athleisure clothing. Since online and social shoppers are somewhat similar, we provided a fourth type of persona.