15-24 year olds will spend 5.7 billion pounds online in 2014

New research by Verdict has shown that young shoppers aged 15-24 years

old will spend 5.7 billion pounds online in 2014. The study warns that retailers need to rethink how they address young shoppers, who are far more likely to engage with social media and mobile devices to get a slice of the spending.

With online retailing being worth 39 billion pounds in 2014, Verdict states that retailers need to start targeting shoppers directly, while added that the 15-24 year old age group is proving to be “elusive” as they shop more “impulsively”.

Verdict analyst, Matthew Rubin, said: “Unlike all other age groups, they prefer the privacy of the bedroom when shopping online instead of the more social setting of the living room, but are more engaged with social media, with 20 percent having purchased a product by clicking through Facebook, compared to the average of just 10 percent.”

The research, which surveyed more than 10,000 online shoppers on their retail habits, also found that 15 to 24 year old shoppers are twice as likely to shop on-the-go with a mobile device as the average shopper, and they also buy more impulsively, with one in seven of their purchases made without any research.

However, the survey also revealed that consumers in this age group were found to be more loyal to high street retailers with 31 percent researching their purchases in the physical stores of the retailers they buy online from.

“The varying successes of social media interaction and the changing role of mobile devices all prove that e-retail is forever evolving,” added Rubin. “Rather than being a channel that requires infrequent injections of investment, the speed at which customer behaviour is changing means that retailers must set aside budget to constantly adapt their online offerings, or risk always playing catch up.”