New Data: Gen Z Embraces AI for Social Media Spending

Gen Z is fueling a social shopping explosion, with 39% now having purchased and 76% having discovered products on social media platforms, according to Salesforce’s latest Connected Shoppers Report. 

Why it matters: The future of retail hinges on capturing the market for Gen Z, a demographic group born between the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2010s that is expected to command up to $9 trillion in global spending power by 2034 – more than any other generation. Social media shopping — a fragmented landscape comprised of dozens or even hundreds of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube — is a key battleground. Retailers need a deeply unified commerce platform that combines AI capabilities, a centralized data foundation, and seamless application interoperability to manage these increasingly complex shopping journeys.

Driving the news:

• 53% of all shoppers now discover products through social platforms, up from 46% in 2023.
  • Gen Z is leading the charge, with 76% using social media to find products.
  • While YouTube dominates overall, TikTok is a Gen Z hotspot, attracting 40% of younger shoppers compared to just 4% of Baby Boomers, a demographic group born between 1946 and 1964.

What they’re saying: “Social commerce is the latest channel for digital spending that is fragmenting across a constellation of marketplaces, retailer websites, brand sites, and delivery apps, rather than consolidating into a single channel,” said Michelle Grant, Director of Retail Strategy and Insights at Salesforce. “Brands that fully embrace its potential will be in prime position to capture their share of the growing Gen Z market.”

The AI effect: Gen Z is also adopting AI to find and evaluate products at a much higher rate.

• More than half (54%) of Gen Zers have used generative AI to discover and evaluate a product, versus 39% for the total population. 
• Gen Z shoppers are also 10x more likely than baby boomers to frequently use AI to discover new products and 2.7x as likely to want product recommendations from AI agents (63% vs 23%).

Between the lines: The Salesforce Platform provides a comprehensive suite of solutions to manage social shopping in the era of agentic AI. It integrates Salesforce’s trusted digital labor platform, Agentforce, the Data Cloud hyperscale data platform, and applications like Commerce Cloud into a cohesive solution that is context-aware and scalable. This enables retailers like Saks to target specific demographics, optimize marketing campaigns, and deliver seamless customer journeys across all social channels with digital labor.

And with 24/7 digital labor enabled by the Platform’s agentic layer, Agentforce, companies can manage these omni-channel journeys at scale – without adding significant headcount.

Michelle Grant, Director of Retail Strategy and Insights at Salesforce

• “The deeply unified Salesforce Platform empowers businesses to engage customers across every touchpoint, from TikTok to YouTube, maximizing reach and driving sales. And with 24/7 digital labor enabled by the Platform’s agentic layer, Agentforce, companies can manage these omni-channel journeys at scale – without adding significant headcount,” Grant said.

More information:

• Read the full Connected Shoppers Report 
• Learn about Salesforce Retail Cloud