The Impact Of Influencer Marketing On Gen Z Consumer Behavior: Micro Vs. Macro Influencers And Traditional Advertising

Abstract This research study on consumer behavior towards the purchase decision-making process among Gen-Z (12-27 years). The focus was on how purchases were being driven by micro-influencers (having 1K-50K followers) and macro-influencers (50K-10 Lakh followers) over traditional forms of advertisement. The results of this study were gathered from surveys sent to 2,847 consumers in four different markets and analyzing purchase data over eighteen months. The key findings revealed that three and half times more engagement and almost twice purchase intent was driven by micro-influencers as compared to macro-influencers. Both types of influencer marketing drove significantly higher results than traditional advertising did in terms of all loyalty metrics. An incredible return of ₹940 was driven for every ₹100 spent on micro-influencers and ₹571 for macro-influencers, as compared to only ₹151 from traditional display advertising. In terms of drivers for purchase, authenticity was the single biggest factor for this Gen-Z audience, beating even price and brand image.