millennials look to take a break from social media

Evolution of experience: Appetite for tech-led innovations will grow For instance, there continues to be an opportunity to spare shoppers wasted trips by giving them accurate online information about in-store inventory.Ģ. By better integrating the systems and technology for managing online and physical stores.That could take the form of providing access to product reviews or QR code–activated videos showing products in use. Using digital tools to give customers value-added information in-store will be key to seamless omnichannel shopping. By deploying consumer-facing technology more broadly in-store.Their interactions with digital ads could also shape their physical shopping journey.

For instance, items in a customer’s online shopping basket could be provided in a fitting room for them to try on. When customers visit a store, leading retailers will know how they have engaged digitally and will build on that knowledge. Tomorrow’s winners in retail will connect physical and digital channels to create a seamless experience, enabling them to offer more targeted, personalized, and lower-friction in-store shopping for their customers in a few ways. Retailers will need to delight them everywhere, not just on apps, on social media, or in the metaverse. Those spending intentions offer a corrective to suggestions that winning over younger shoppers requires focusing on digital channels above all else. other channels.īrick-and-mortar retail could even strengthen its current hold on younger consumers: 36% of Gen Z and millennial shoppers expect to increase their spending in physical stores over the next two years.

Ease of browsing and getting a product quicker are also big pluses for consumers of all ages when opting to shop in physical retail stores vs. But the ability to touch and feel isn’t the only attraction of physical retail for today’s shoppers. For example, among US shoppers, in-store preferences are more pronounced in categories where fit or feel is critical, such as furniture, in which about 60% of millennial and Gen Z spending was in physical stores.

The continued importance of in-store shopping to the retail experience varies by category and purchase occasion. In our survey of US shoppers, millennials and Gen Z said physical stores accounted for 38% of their retail spending across 12 categories over the previous six months (see Figure 1), close to the 43% reported by Gen X and not too far off the 53% attributable to boomers and older consumers. Since consumers have regained the freedom to choose where they shop, it’s become clear that shopping in physical stores is something they want to keep doing-and our research shows that this holds for younger cohorts, too, even though they are digital natives. Pandemic lockdowns gave a glimpse of what all-digital shopping would look like. Evolution of experience: Physical stores will still be crucial In particular, four insights stand out-two related to the “evolution of experience,” in terms of physical stores and tech-led innovations, and two related to the “evolution of influence,” in terms of trusted advisers and sustainability. Our findings point not just to an evolution in the retail experience but also to an evolution in sources of influence that shape the shopping journey. Our analysis highlights ways in which these maturing cohorts will shape tomorrow’s industry, either by popularizing new ways of shopping or by providing an unexpected source of continuity with today’s dominant habits. We surveyed nearly 5,800 US consumers of all ages to gauge how millennial and Gen Z shopping is likely to develop relative to that of older peers, examining shopping experiences and sources of influence across channels, product categories, and emerging media. That’s the focus of new research from Bain & Company and Google.

Millennials look to take a break from social media