How to Capture Gen Z: Design Strategies for JD Supermarket

Consumer Market Overview

In the new consumption era, the young Z‑generation (born 1995‑2010) accounts for 27% of the national population and is becoming the focus of the internet and consumer market. They view consumption as a source of satisfaction rather than savings and are willing to spend on interests.

JD Supermarket’s user base shows that users under 25 have a low order share but a rapid year‑over‑year growth, representing a promising "opportunity market". This article explores design opportunities to capture this demographic.

Z‑Generation User Analysis

These internet‑grown users pursue personal happiness, have distinct personalities, and are eager to express opinions. They prefer brands with culture, stories, and character, and are willing to pay for brands and interests, favoring instant gratification. Their main traits are personalization and diversity.

Key keywords derived from research include experience‑oriented, high purchasing power, preference for distinctive personalities, brand identification, and interactive expression.

Design Opportunity Exploration

Based on these traits and current supermarket issues—low browsing decision efficiency, unclear channel personality, and single‑type marketing scenarios—design proposals focus on user, brand, and marketing layers.

1. Product Experience – Higher Efficiency

Users are divided into three groups: browsing, seeking promotions, and viewing recommendations. Low revisit rates stem from inefficient purchase, decision, and interest‑discovery processes. Improvements include visual noise reduction, flow optimization, organized layout, and streamlined planning, combined with micro‑interactions to enhance immersion.

Visual Noise Reduction: Segment UI elements by relational hierarchy and use container cards to clarify information.

Flow Optimization: Highlight benefits and flash‑sale information, use a Z‑shaped browsing path, and apply special typography and lightning icons for flash sales.

Organized Layout: Collapse coupons into horizontal scroll, prioritize exposure, and use distinctive styles for exclusive coupons.

Streamlined Planning: Remove underperforming sections based on business importance and data, integrating decision‑support sections into the feed to enhance immersion.

2. Brand Awareness – Personalization

Research shows users often confuse JD and JD Supermarket, indicating a branding challenge. The goal is to personalize brand perception without breaking the parent brand identity.

First, the brand color was refreshed: increasing saturation and brightness, shifting from orange to a vivid yellow to appeal to youthful color sensitivity.

Second, an attempt to create a new IP was considered risky; instead, the existing shopping‑cart imagery was leveraged to develop a lightweight shopping‑cart IP, reinforcing brand recognition across refresh controls, error states, and bottom navigation.

3. Marketing Scenarios – Systematic

Current issues include single‑type marketing formats and chaotic style. Solutions involve a suite of marketing mechanisms and a cohesive style that blends offline supermarket characteristics with contemporary trend culture, using clear benefit icons and straightforward promotional copy (e.g., "discount", "flash sale").

Reflections on Exploration

The redesign process revealed many problems and innovative ideas, yet implementation faces business direction and technical constraints. Balancing brand consistency with channel individuality remains an ongoing challenge.

Ultimately, the consumption potential of young users and the trend toward youth‑focused branding cannot be ignored; designers must stay insightful and maintain a youthful mindset to remain effective.