Gen Z & Millennials Fuel £41B Emotional Commerce and Local Luxury

Flowwow, a global gifting marketplace for local shops, reports a striking shift in British retail: emotional spending and local luxury are now dominant consumer forces. Brits spend over £41 billion annually on mood-driven impulse purchases, with Gen Z and millennials leading the charge. At the same time, 41% of UK shoppers now choose locally made goods over global luxury brands — a 10-point rise from 2023.

Emotional Commerce Is Here to Stay and Growing Fast

Emotion-led buying and local preference are quietly reshaping what Brits buy — and why. Rather than waiting for traditional occasions, consumers are giving “just because.” With household disposable income still 5.2% below pre-pandemic levels and 64% of UK adults reporting higher stress than last year, emotional commerce is on the rise. Brits now spend over £41 billion annually on impulse purchases to reclaim small moments of joy.

For Gen Z and millennials in particular, emotion is not just a side-effect of shopping, it’s the driver. Over 52% of UK millennials and 42% of Gen Z make monthly purchases based primarily on how they feel. These digital-native consumers browse by mood, not by season or schedule and they expect the retail experience to mirror their emotional landscape.

This behaviour is amplified by social commerce. TikTok and Instagram have become not just tools of influence, but platforms of real-time, mood-driven commerce. As social commerce heads toward £83.27 billion in UK value by 2029, brands are responding with emotionally resonant content from behind-the-scenes storytelling to creator-led gifting formats that blend narrative and transaction seamlessly. Seasonality adds another layer to this trend. Between last April and June, UK retailers consistently report surges in unplanned spending — much of it triggered by sunshine, social energy, and seasonal sensitivity. In July 2024 alone, 88% of UK adults made at least one impulse purchase.

Thus, the market is moving towards a more “intimate” form of commerce, where brands win not by discounts or broad reach, but by precisely hitting the emotional chord. This creates a window of opportunity for small players and platforms that can quickly respond to the audience’s emotional signals.

Meaning Over Mass: What Luxury Means to UK Shoppers

But emotion isn’t just reshaping when and why we buy — it’s also redefining what we value. Luxury in Britain is no longer synonymous with global brands and glossy packaging. Increasingly, it means local, traceable, handmade — and, above all, meaningful. Across the country, this pattern is accelerating. A 6.9% increase in in-store purchases of local goods was recorded in April alone, while nearly half of Brits now actively buy locally produced items, up 10 points from 2023. At the same time, 12% of UK consumers say they are willing to pay up to 22% more for UK-made goods, a premium driven not by luxury branding, but by provenance.

This increasing demand for meaningful, locally rooted goods is transforming the British economy. Between April 2024 and May 2025, Flowwow recorded a 42% surge in sales of flowers and homemade sweets from small-scale British producers. It proves that consumers increasingly value products with provenance and personality. Among the most in-demand items: locally grown peony bouquets, up 21% year-on-year. Blooming only for a few weeks between May and June, peonies represent a new kind of luxury — limited in availability, time-sensitive, and locally anchored. They deliver not only aesthetic value, but clear alignment with shifting consumer priorities.

“The market is telling us that small is no longer niche — it’s strategic,” says Slava Bogan, CEO and co-founder of Flowwow. “When customers choose local, they’re choosing trust, transparency, and traceability. As platforms, we need to build infrastructure that respects the pace and principles of small-scale makers, while not always offering them scale.”

As the UK luxury market heads toward $19.05 billion in 2025, Flowwow’s insights show that growth is increasingly driven by small-scale makers, mood-driven moments, and values-led gifting. In this new landscape, the most powerful brands won’t be the biggest but the most emotionally meaningful.