How to Market Your Smoke Shop to the Growing Gen Z Demo

So you’ve been hearing the rumors huh? Silent whispers in the night haunting you with the phrase “Zoom, Zoom”. Now if you're old enough to get that reference then you are not the audience we are going to be talking about today, which is of course Gen Z, otherwise known as the Zoomers. As we get further into 2024 the number of Zoomers who have succumbed to the never ending march of time and become *gasp* adults are growing each day.

Yes Gen Z is now working in offices, filing taxes, and may even be behind you right now, ah! But most importantly to us, Zoomers are now financially solvent enough to be able to make their own purchasing decisions. While generational categories are not set in stone for the most part it’s agreed upon that those 21 to 27 years old today are Gen Z, and thus are bound to be some of the customers wandering upon your shops. So let's take these newbies' purchasing power seriously and listen to a couple of tips from Got Vape Wholesale on how to better market to Gen Zed.

Table of Contents:

What’s a Zoomer Again?

Zoomers or Gen Z for short is the most recent generation to graduate to full flung adulthood and the spending power it (sometimes) brings along with it. This diverse swath of the world's population will only be growing more and more as they slowly push the Millennials out from the mainstream to the elderly. That means your smoke shop is going to have to slowly adapt its marketing to reflect the change in times and audience, lucky for you we have a couple tips on just how to avoid completely screwing it up.

The Online Thunderdome

A key point to remember about Gen Z is that they grew up in a time when the internet was fast, readily available, and constantly improving. Thus when a Zoomer comes to your shop you have to understand that they have already looked at the competing prices and are looking for any reason to turn around and order it from Amazon or another online retailer. While complete price parity is probably going to be impossible, it’s important to think of ways to sway Gen Z into purchasing it at your brick and mortar shop that is more than just it’s here right now. Try incorporating some bundling, a discount, or a version of in store credit to assuage them to your side.

Environmental Stability

If there is one thing that Zoomers take notice of it is that they are hyper aware of our current ecological environment and due to a host of scientific challenges approaching are more cognizant than ever in choosing companies based on their sustainability. Highlighting what you do to bolster our environment is a great way to get people invested in your shop by letting them feel good about spending their money there. Some easy ways to boost your green appearance is to have a recycling set up either outside your shop or within to encourage the proper sorting of trash. Another great way is to reduce the amount of plastic packaging that you have within your shop to demonstrate that you are committed to walking the walk of climate conscious business.

Seeing is Believing

In a world inundated with instagram filters, deep fakes, and A.I. plagiarism, it may come as a bit of a surprise to you to hear that for Gen Z, seeing is believing. Yes nothing today beats good old fashioned showmanship even if the medium has changed ever so slightly from always in person to now a mix of online videos (Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts) and word of mouth. That’s why we recommend reposting brand videos that show the vapes, pipes, or accessories actually being used by someone to connect the neurons in Gen Z’s brain that say “Oh that looks cool, I’d try that”. Other great examples of this would be to have videos in your shop showing the operation of the device or going the next step and making your own.

Give Your Shop a Story

Lean into your own personal life story and make that more apparent in everything from your shop's design to the individual products you carry. By doing this you are building your brand story within the minds of Gen Z who are very interested in using their capitalistic power to boost businesses that they believe are righteous in their intentions.

The reason this may seem a little bit self indulgent is because well, it is! Yes in a world of me, me, me if you sit on the sideline hoping someone will realize your heart of gold, well pall I hate to break it to you but your going to be watching your business go elsewhere. So swallow your pride, put yourself out there, and lean into the twists and turns of your own life in order to gain the trust of your customers through crafting a genuine story that resonates with people on a much more personal level than just being another smoke shop.

Just Say No to Memes

If there’s one pitfall in marketing to the next generation, it is trying to market to the next generation. “What?!?” You may exclaim as you clutch your dab pearls. Calm down, take a deep breath, and peel back the layers of your memory to a far flung time when you yourself were navigating your twenties to realize you don’t want stores to match your level, just acknowledge it.

That's why we say ignore any and all challenges, memes, and other here today, gone tomorrow nonsense that will have you looking dated quicker than referencing LaserDiscs at a Betamax convention. Instead, lean into your own style of doing things to make sure you appeal to customers as a real life flesh and blood human instead of just another NPC shop owner that they skip the dialogue to hit “show me your wares”, stock up their health potions and leave.

Generational Generalizations are Overblown

Despite our current zeitgeist obsession with all the ways our ages supposedly differentiate us, it’s important to remember that we are all here alive and living in 2024; ultimately that’s all that matters. To put it simply, if you were in a sinking ship with a zoomer, a boomer, and a millennial would it matter what music we like? Whether or not you grew up with cellphones? No, all that matters is we take turns plugging the hole with our thumbs until we reach shore.

So it’s always important that no matter what generation you come from we’re all just people with our own random thoughts existing on this massive spinning rock we call earth. Which means that more often than not the best option is to follow the golden rule and treat others how you want to be treated, unless of course you're some sort of deviant but that's a problem for another day.

In Zummation

Now that we’ve zoomed through our crash course on Zoomers it’s time to take a deep breath or hit depending on your preferences and see what we’ve learned today. The members of Gen Z wandering through your smoke shop are going to be from 21-27, represent a more informed purchasing contingent, are invested in environmental sustainability, and are most swayed by seeing the proof in the pudding. If you lean into these ideals and don’t go overboard, watch as your sales climb up thanks to you being a smoke shop that embraces the changes of Gen Z instead of meeting them with scorn. Make sure to check out the rest of our insights over here at our Got Vape Wholesale Vaporizer Blog to keep the knowledge flowing!