Highly digital in other aspects of their lives, millennials are naturally incorporating digital into their consumer behaviour. It’s estimated that 85.9% of millennials in the US will be digital buyers in 2020.
They are utilising eCommerce accounts for much of their purchasing. In a recent study, 50% of Millennials said at least half of their shopping occurs online, including 27% who said that’s where “all or almost all” of their shopping takes place.
And where does much of millennials’ online shopping occur? Two-thirds of online shoppers ages 22 to 37 make at least half of their online purchases on Amazon. The time they spend on the platform is high: In 2019, 74% of 23-to-38-year-olds said they visit Amazon weekly, including 25% who do so daily.
eMarketer recently looked at the activities that smartphone/tablet owners have done in the past month, December 2019.
Crucially for brands and competing retailers, Amazon is where many millennials begin when shopping, 60% of 25-to-29-year-olds, and 57% of 30-to-34-year-olds said it’s their starting point.
With Amazon being the No. 1 channel, it’s driven by a combination of convenience and saving money.
They also prefer using their devices to redeem coupons using a mobile app, and to find more information to carry out purchases.
Millennials are social media savvy and know that there is a place for companies interacting with individuals on social networks, forums and/or messaging sites. It’s the only route for most companies now.
On the downside, some millennials feel suspicious about brands’ usage of social media and feel that they take advantage of them, especially with their advertising.
But, a good point is that millennials are aware of privacy issues – they’re perfectly willing to trade their privacy for anything of value. However, this attitude changes the minute they have children. Then privacy becomes a concern. Maybe they have more to lose or more to protect.
