Study: Shopping habits differ across generations of shoppers

There is clearly a “generation gap” when it comes to how — and where — different customer segments choose to shop.



This was according to a recent study from Dealspotr, a crowdsourcing platform for savings. The firm launched an online survey among respondents across age groups, including Generation Z (20 and under), Millennial (21 to 35), Generation X (36 to 52), and Baby Boomers (53 and above), and monitored their visits to fashion-related areas across the Dealspotr website.



According to results, Generation Z shoppers are most likely to "webroom" or browse online then go in-store to buy apparel. Yet, making purchases on phones is still less popular than buying in-store or via computer or tablet among this group.



Overall, Amazon is, by far, the most popular way for this generation to buy fashion. However, when they go to a store, H&M is the most popular retailer, followed by Forever 21.



With the exception of Target, department stores are unpopular among Generation Z and Millennial shoppers. Specifically, luxury department stores overall performed very poorly, with Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s ranking near the bottom of shopper preferences. The exception was Nordstrom, which was popular among Generation X and Baby Boomer shoppers.



When it comes to perception of coupons and discounts, Forever 21 and American Eagle were perceived among Gen Z as offering the most compelling discounts and offers. Among Millennial, Generation X and Baby Boomer shoppers, Kohl’s and Amazon were perceived as offering the best coupons and discount offers, the report said.