Millennials and Gen Zs are putting their values into action to evolve many aspects of how we live – including how we shop. We get e-commerce entrepreneur Anthony Kwok to delve into how AR is driving the retail shift from “traditional” to “immersive”.
In our Connect With the Snapchat Generation series, we delve into the psyche of Gen Zs and Millennials – and how technology is transforming everyday lifestyles, while helping younger people put their values into action.
Luckily, because we’re no strangers to bright young people who are leading the charge, we enlisted a few of our 2022 B&T 30 Under 30 winners to help us break down the insights from the Snapchat report.
Enter: Anthony Kwok, CEO and co-founder of ZILIO, a 3D virtual fitting room plugin for eCommerce fashion retailers, and one of our Entrepreneurs category winners. Since its formation, ZILIO has quickly been leaving its mark in the fashion industry, with nine brands already signed as their foundation clients and getting accepted into Startupbootcamp, Milan’s Emerging Talent program in 2020.
For Kwok, “Being a Millennial means that we have the best of both worlds – savviness with tech and still being old enough to remember a time without tech to enjoy the simple things in life.”
This tech savviness means that this generation naturally engages with personalised and immersive content and advertising. Here’s what he has to say on AR in retail.
B&T: You have talked about how “incorporating AR experiences helps ads be more personal and engage audiences”. Do you find that yourself – that you’re more engaged if something an ad is personally targeted?
AK: I’m a sucker for buying into targeted social media ads. If my eyes happen to be sore from looking at screens all day? Boom. Here’s a portable eye massaging machine that you didn’t know you wanted. What did you say… your back’s sore from gym? Here are a billion ads for portable massage guns.
B&T: Let’s look at AR specifically. A few people have expressed concerns over when it is and isn’t appropriate to use AR for ads. What are your thoughts?
AK: I like being sold to only if I’m being sold to well. Most of the time, ads just feel spammy because they’re so generic.
If done correctly, I think incorporating AR experiences would help ads be more personal and engage audiences in a way where they get to offer experiences and grow a relationship between the brand.
B&T: What would be a compelling reason for an ad to use AR for you that would make it effective?
AK: I’d definitely want to use AR for buying things that are visually and aesthetically important, like clothes or furniture for example. It’d be so handy to be able to try on clothes virtually when I shop online and know exactly how the garment will fit.
I get really excited for online deliveries to arrive which makes it so annoying when my online clothing purchases fit me like women’s activewear – crop tops and booty shorts, which is most of the time by the way.
B&T: That’s why ZILIO exists! So once a brand has you impressed, how do you typically show your favour?
AK: I often talk up the brands that I love to everyone when I get a chance, they just don’t know what they’re missing out on!
B&T: Is there anything in particular that makes a brand stand out to you?
AK: Brands that align with my values and helps me live up to them resonate highly with me. The pandemic was the perfect opportunity for a ton of reflection and shined a light on the importance of a strong identity – who you are, what you stand for and what you’re here to do. Not having a strong identity foundation is a sure way to invite chaos into your life.
B&T: And what would you say are your values?
AK: Optimism, success, kindness, loyalty and most importantly, humour!
You can hear more from Kwok and the other 30 Under 30s in our complete Connect With The Snapchat Generation Series.
