Remember millennials? They’re receding into the background slightly as they approach middle age.
But they remain a solid audience for ecommerce brands, judging by Millennial Shopping Habits: Trend Report 2022, a study by CouponFollow.
Of the millennials polled, 80% now do most of their shopping online -- up from 60% in 2019. And 56% mostly use their mobile devices, versus 36% three years ago.
But 73% have changed the ways they shop due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And 56% have shifted their shopping away from physical stores, especially older millennials.
Email is their favorite delivery mechanism for coupons and discount offers, although it has slipped slightly.
This year, 48% prefer email -- down from 54% in 2019. Nothing else even comes close.
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In contrast, mobile app delivery has slid from 23% in 2019 to 20%.
Text messaging is preferred by 12%, flat with 2019. Postal mail has also fallen from 10% in 2019 to 9%.
Only 6% favor social media, which was not included in the 2019 survey. However, 78% follow brands on social media.
When redeeming coupons, millennials prefer these options:
Computer preference fell from 65% in 2019, and mobile rose from 62%.
Only 19% have made purchases using a smart speaker or voice-controlled device, down from 25% in 2019. But 66% now have such a device in their home, up from 55% three years ago.
Of course, if you want to reach millennials, try Amazon — 98% now shop on it. And 66% make two-thirds of their purchases there.
What kinds of discounts do they want? They list:
Millennials are more fond of Buy Now, Pay Later programs than those numbers would suggest—40% have used them. In the lower pay brackets, say $25,000 or less, 47% have availed themselves of BNPL, compared with 37% of those earning $100,000 or more.
Meanwhile, these young consumers are driven by several concerns when they shop:
When working at home, millennials are friskier about shopping during the work day — 25% do so during work hours, excluding lunch, versus 16% of those working in an office.
Overall, 50% own some cryptocurrency, men more than women — 59% to 41%.
CouponFollow surveyed 1,257 millennials in February 2022.