LSN : News : Gen Z in China are using AI to transform themselves into collectable merchandise

NRF 2025 Retail’s Big Show Europe: Unified commerce and inspirational entertainment

Photo by Kirsten Bucher, Zalando, Berlin

Zalando, Berlin

Photo by Kirsten Bucher, Zalando, Berlin

France – On the opening day of NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe, the spotlight turned to unified commerce and the evolving role of physical stores in omnichannel strategies.

Gathering together global executives, industry experts and thought-leaders, the conference set out to address major challenges and opportunities facing the European and North American retail markets. This year’s theme, Retail Together, emphasised collaboration across the industry – from supply chain partners to in-store teams – to create more connected, resilient retail eco-systems.

Mauro Anastasi, partner at Bain & Co, shared findings from the firm’s latest report exploring the central role of the store in retail strategies. The study revealed that 75% of retail executives are planning large-scale store transformations within the next two years – signalling that bricks-and-mortar remains a critical growth driver, even in an increasingly digital-first market. In our Future Forecast 2025: Retail report, we unpack how consumers are fostering a renewed love of in-store experiences – from pop-ups to AI storefronts.

Also speaking on the importance of physical stores, Guillaume Motte, global CEO of Sephora, reminded attendees that ‘retail is a people business. It is all about our teams – that’s where the magic is.’ In his keynote address, Motte challenged the traditional distinction between physical and digital purchases, pointing out that a customer who buys online but collects in-store blurs the boundaries of the channel.

Laura Toledano, general manager, Western Europe, at Zalando, built on this theme by highlighting how customer expectations are shifting beyond convenience. ‘Today we have to go to the next level. Customer expectation has changed – the new generation want entertainment, they want engagement,’ she said.

Framing what she called ‘inspirational entertainment’ as the next frontier of retail, Toledano highlighted Zalando’s natural language search, which allows customers to ‘speak with their own words’ through its fashion assistant AI tool. This feature is designed to make shopping feel intuitive and conversational – a shift we explored in our Mood-matching Fashion report, where we underlined how emotionally attuned shopping tools are reshaping fashion discovery.

Strategic opportunity

Re-imagine physical stores as entertainment-driven destinations where AI-enabled discovery meets human connection, transforming shopping into an emotionally resonant experience that seamlessly links online and offline touchpoints in a way that digital-only platforms can’t replicate

The Future Laboratory presents The Synthocene Era macrotrend at Première Vision

The Future Laboratory

France – The Future Laboratory’s co-founder and chief creative officer Christopher Sanderson presented The Synthocene Era macrotrend at the fashion industry conference, Première Vision, on 16 September 2025 in Paris.

The trend talk explored how, through our interactions with AI, fashion brands will soon see a transformation that demands a complete re-imagining of how they connect and engage with consumers.

‘By 2030, our interactions with artificial intelligence, extended reality and biotech will propel us into a future where the boundaries between the real and the artificial will irrevocably blur,’ said Sanderson.

‘This is what we’re calling The Synthocene Era. It represents a profound shift in our understanding of intelligence and connection – not just as technological capabilities, but as deeply emotional, human experiences that brands must learn to navigate with unprecedented sensitivity,’ he explained.

The presentation highlighted how the tension between truth and artificiality is pushing consumers to increasingly seek out products and practices that reconnect them with their physical bodies, intuition and natural environment.

Strategic opportunity

Use AI as a creative partner, complementing human designers’ intuition and craftsmanship; AI can optimise sustainable materials and enhance personalisation alongside the need for human-led authentic brand experiences

Gen Z in China are using AI to transform themselves into collectable merchandise

Photo by Bi ravencrow via Pexels

China – Gen Z in China are using AI art tools and 3D printing to transform themselves into ‘guzi’ – personalised collectable merchandise.

Traditionally associated with anime and idol fandoms, guzi culture has hit the mainstream. Once limited to acrylic stands and plushies of fictional characters, guzi now includes personalised figurines, keychains and trinkets depicting the consumer, their friends and their pets.

Hashtags such as #我的谷子我做主 (My Guzi, My Choice) on social media showcase pet cats turned into tiny guardians or friends immortalised in acrylic. Artists and micro-studios are capitalising on the trend, offering bespoke commissions to meet this growing demand.

For a generation fluent in digital self-branding, the guzi trend provides a new avenue for self-expression and positions identity as a collectable commodity. In our Kidult Craze report, we explored the rise of Gen Z consumers gravitating towards playful, non-digital items such as plush toys, collectables and nostalgic characters to reconnect with and heal their inner child.

Strategic opportunity

Create a campaign that turns consumers into collectables through AR filters, digital avatars or limited-edition figurines, celebrating their identity while gamifying brand interaction

Stat: Gen Z stay indoors for days as screen time replaces nature

Modern Home by Rob Christian Crosby, New York, US

UK – Two-thirds of Gen Z in Britain confess they can go days without stepping outside, according to new research by Super, Natural British Columbia. The study of 2,000 British adults found that 67% of Gen Z and 57% of Millennials often remain indoors, with just a quarter of people across all generations making a conscious effort to get outside daily.

More than four in 10 parents (43%) believe their children spend less time outdoors than they did at the same age. Screen time was the most frequently cited cause, followed by safety concerns, bad weather and busy schedules.

A third of Gen Z say they do not see enough of nature in the films, tv and music they consume indoors, yet 70% report that seeing nature on screen inspires them to go outside. Programmes such as Countryfile and David Attenborough’s documentaries were most likely to motivate outdoor activity.

‘Encountering the wonder of [nature] through the content they watch… can spark a genuine desire to seek nature out in real life,’ says Maya Lange, vice-president of global marketing for Super, Natural British Columbia.

Read our Rebranding Nature report to see how reframing nature as aspirational and immersive can draw Gen Z outdoors, and our Gen Z Now and Next: From Vision to Contradiction report to better understand this cohort.

Strategic opportunity

Brands can bridge the nature disconnect by weaving the outdoors into digital platforms, campaigns and cultural touchpoints – using aspirational storytelling, biophilic design and phygital content to inspire young consumers to swap screens for lived experiences