Younger shoppers want more options to shop luxury, love innovative online shopping

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Feb 15, 2019

New research into consumer behaviors, specifically those of Gen Z and millennial shoppers, found that the younger consumer groups love buying clothes and accessories online, crave luxury, and want innovative online features that mimic real-life shopping experiences. 

Conducted by global payments provider, Klarna, and surveying over 1,000 consumers of all ages, the research showed that while the average U.S. shopper buys clothes and accessories online an average of 10 times a year, the average millennial does so about 14 times per year. Gen Z shoppers top things off at about 18 times per year, with nearly a quarter at 23% saying they shopped online about 1-3 times per month.

In general, Gen Z shoppers were also the most likely to buy because an item is trending and likely to sell out (25%) or when they've seen it on social media (26%).

Although most U.S. consumers tend to want luxury items, price point is often an issue, especially with millennials and Gen Zers. 30% of millennials said they have to save for several months to buy luxe goods, along with 35% of Gen Zers. Given the latter's love of exclusive product drops, 37% said they would like to be able to pay later for luxury and trending products, or pay in installments, compared to 30% of millennials. In particular, research showed that consumers responded positively to the idea of a four-equal-stage payment method like the one provided by Afterpay, a deferred payment solutions firm. 

For shoppers of all ages, retailers with inconvenient e-commerce and mobile platforms are a bust: U.S. shoppers are most likely to abandon a purchase online when the retailer does not have a decent returns policy (36%) and the checkout process took too long (31%). 

However, even the best digital platforms could benefit from IRL features. Almost half (46%) of U.S. shoppers said they like to touch a product before they buy it, while one-third (29%) said they like to browse online and buy in-store. This data bodes well for retailers who let customers try what they e-buy with deferred payment strategies or only-keep-what-you-love policies.

Shoppers also asked for tech that could take their measurements for easy size-selection, while 40% of Gen Zers favored the ambitious idea of virtual reality that could allow shoppers to see items without trying them on.