Younger shoppers are very unlikely to succumb to impulses when shopping, according to new research, even for the most trivial of purchases.
Research by Iris Worldwide London among 900 respondents in the U.K., U.S., and Brazil, supported by a 6-week qualitative study of 45 respondents, and finally combined with 1.1 social interactions, found that none – 0% – of Generation Y and Z shoppers admitted to making impulse purchases while in-store.
“It’s claimed behavior. But the important thing is that it’s true in their eyes. It even applies to relatively disposable, trivial purchases like choosing KFC over McDonald’s – everything needs to be pre-validated,” said Peter Wilson, planning director at Iris London. “The attitude was, ‘No. I don’t do that at all.’ And why would you? They are wary of making a purchase that doesn’t meet the standards of their peer group or is culturally out of step. It’s too big a risk. And it’s easy to mitigate that.”
Impulsive behavior is being curbed among theses young shoppers by the need to seek peer approval amongst a background of social media posts and activity.
And, even after making a purchase, the need for validation can cause anxiety, with shoppers unsure whether they have made the right choice.
Despite their reliance on digital, in-store shopping remains popular among Generation Y and Z, found Iris, across all countries involved in the research. A third (34%) of U.K. shoppers across both age groups said shopping in-store remains an important factor in their path to purchase, while in the U.S. that figure is 29% and in Brazil 22%). Last month, research from Alliance Data found that more than half (53%) of Millennials continue to shop in a physical store.
Data sourced from BizReport