Think you know your customer? When it comes to the sharp, sceptical, digital-first shoppers of Gen Z, furniture retail’s traditional model is dangerously wide of the mark, writes retail expert (and mother of two) Clare Bailey …
Let me start with a slightly uncomfortable truth – even as the mother of two Gen Z children, I don’t fully understand them.
Mine are turning 20 and 22. I live alongside their world, hear their conversations, watch how they shop, what they ignore, what they value. And still, there are moments where I think, ‘That’s not how I would do it.’
Part of that is generational crossover. I’m Gen X by birth, Millennial in mindset, and I’ll happily adopt Gen Z behaviour when it suits me. But true Gen Z? They are wired differently.
They question everything. They skip traditional routes. They don’t follow the patterns retail has relied on for decades. To many in our industry, they can feel inconsistent, even contradictory.
They’re not – they’re just operating by a different rulebook.
And that matters, because while much of furniture retail is still focused on a ‘core customer’, Gen Z is already shaping the market. Not just as buyers, but as influencers, researchers, and decision-makers within households.
They might not always pay. But they are very often deciding what gets bought.
Here’s the uncomfortable bit. Much of furniture retail is still set up for someone else. Showrooms, sales processes and brand language are built on assumptions that worked brilliantly for Gen X and older Millennials.
They don’t always land now.
Gen Z starts their journey on a phone, not a shop floor. They are fast, informed, and highly sceptical of anything that feels too polished or too sales driven.
They don’t just want to know what something looks like. They want to know where it came from, how it was made, and whether your brand stands for something beyond shifting product.
This is not about ignoring price. They are commercially sharp. They want great design, strong value and pieces that fit their life. But they are making decisions through a wider lens. Ethics, transparency and purpose sit alongside price.
And loyalty? It works differently. Furniture retail has long relied on relationships, repeat purchase and promotions. Gen Z doesn’t follow that script. They will engage with brands they trust, but the second something feels off, they walk. Trust is built slowly and lost quickly.
For a category built on considered, higher-value purchases, that shift is significant. The fundamentals – trust, reassurance, service – still matter. But the way you build them has changed.
A beautiful showroom and a good sales team are no longer enough on their own. Gen Z expects to meet your brand long before they ever step through the door. They have researched you, compared you and formed an opinion. So, if your website says one thing, your social shows another and your in-store experience feels disconnected, they notice. And they judge. That’s the gap many retailers are still underestimating.
So, what needs to change?
First, transparency. Not buried, not vague, not dressed up. If your sourcing is strong, show it. If your materials are better, explain it. If your pricing reflects quality, own it.
Second, experience. Yes, they want speed and ease. But they also want real. Not scripted selling, not polished theatre. A genuine conversation.
Third, alignment. This is not a marketing tweak. You cannot social media your way into relevance. Product, pricing, sourcing, service and messaging all must stack up. Because they will join the dots faster than you think.
None of this means abandoning your existing customer. But it does mean recognising that the next wave of influence is already here, reshaping expectations from the inside out.
Spending time watching my own children has made one thing very clear – Gen Z is not a future customer, they are already changing how retail works.
The question is simple. Are you evolving with them, or still optimising for a customer who is slowly ageing out of the market?
Subscribe to Clare’s Retail Reckoning podcast here.
