Gen Z shopping habits revealed

Generation Z shoppers are the most likely to 'webroom' or browse for fashion via phone or online, but go in-store to buy, says a new report.

According to Dealspotr, a crowdsourcing platform for savings, it conducted an online survey of shoppers to better understand their fashion shopping habits and preferences.

The survey included 303 participants across Generation Z (under the age of 20), Millenials (21-25) and Generation X (36 to 52) and Baby Boomers (53 and above).

The findings show teenagers are most likely to browse fashion on primarily their phones, with 47 percent responding that they do most of their "window shopping" for fashion on their phones. Millennials, GenXers, and Boomers browsed through a wider variety of shopping methods, but phones were still a popular method, with 39 percent of Millennials and 37 percent of GenX and Boomers saying they do most of their fashion browsing on their phones.

Shoppers prefer to purchase in-store

Where the findings get interesting, is that purchasing in-store is still the most popular method to make actually buy fashion across all age groups, although younger shoppers show a stronger preference to in-store purchases than older ones.

Purchases on laptop / tablets was the next most popular option, with older shoppers (GenX and Boomers) showing the strongest preference for buying via traditional websites.

Purchasing on phones was the least popular option, with Millennials showing the strongest preference.

"Webrooming" or "reverse showrooming" is a shopping pattern in which a shopper researches a purchase online or via phone, then comes into the store to make the purchase. Teens showed the strongest preference of all age groups to prefer this pattern for shopping when it came to fashion.

And where does Generation Z like to shop online?

Amazon is the clear leader in fashion shopping across age groups. Amazon's dominance is very pronounced among Millennials and GenX / Boomer shoppers. Among these demographics, Amazon is by a wide margin the most popular way to buy clothing. Among teens, Amazon is among the top choices, but was slightly less popular than fast fashion brands H&M and Forever 21.

Department stores performed poorly among teens and Millennial shoppers. Department stores performed well among older (GenX and Boomer) shoppers, with Target, Kohl's, Nordstrom, Macy's, and TJ Maxx topping the list.

Among department stores, only discounters Target performed well among Millennials and teens. Luxury department stores (Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's) performed poorly. They ranked among the bottom for teens and Millennials, and only Nordstrom performed well among Genx and Boomers.

Key qualities shoppers value in retailers

Across age groups, shoppers look for good value for the price as the most important attribute in a fashion shopping retailer. Compared to teens, Millennials, GenX and Boomer shoppers look for a good return policy as a primary characteristic in a fashion retailer. Teens showed a stronger preference towards good coupons as a primary criteria for choosing a fashion retailer.

Photo credit: Dealspotr.com