Millennials Now Carry Out 60% Of Their Shopping Online

Millennials iand Gen Z now carry out over 60% of their shopping online, marking a major shift in shopping preferences and consumer behavior. According to a survey conducted by CouponFollow, millennials made 60% of their purchases online in 2019 — a significant jump from 47% in 2017. Even more striking, 36% of those purchases were made via mobile apps and mobile devices, highlighting how digital natives prioritize convenience, speed, and accessibility when making purchase decisions.
This change reflects more than just convenience — it reflects a generation’s lifestyle. The millennial cohort prefers the seamless experience of browsing and purchasing online rather than visiting physical stores. Platforms like Amazon and Walmart have adapted by offering same-day delivery, customer loyalty programs, and intuitive mobile-friendly shopping interfaces to meet these evolving expectations. Millennials tend to value reviews, pricing, and the ability to compare products across platforms — often switching brands when better deals are found.

Why Do Millennials Prefer to Do their Shopping Online?

We’re living in a time defined by speed, personalized experiences, and efficiency. Millennials are a tech-savvy generation that grew up alongside the evolution of eCommerce. They’ve come to expect frictionless transactions and platforms that cater to their needs. Shopping online doesn’t just save time — it puts more control in the consumer’s hands. From product discovery to checkout, every step is built around reducing stress and increasing satisfaction.
Price transparency and loyalty programs also play a huge role in millennial online shopping habits. According to the survey, 65% of millennials search for digital coupons before making a purchase, and 9% even use automated tools for coupon hunting. Millennials are also more likely than baby boomers or other generations to leverage voice-activated assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to assist with browsing behavior and locating the best deals.

Reasons Why Millennials Use Amazon

About two out of three (64%) of the surveyed population do more than half of their online shopping from Amazon (the number one 2018 top 1000 internet retailers). In addition to that, 97% of the same population visit Amazon to do at least a part of their internet shopping. When asked about the reason for choosing Amazon, the highest cited reason (43%) was that there is the availability of reviews by other online buyers on the platform. The second highest cited reason is that Amazon has favorable price lists (41%). According to Mezzacca, price sensitivity causes millennial online shopping behaviors to lead shoppers to go online to look for coupons and to compare prices. This is one of the major factors driving the popularity of online shopping. 65% of respondents testified to searching for coupons online before they make transactions, and 62% of this population do this when they shop via mobile gadgets. It gets more interesting, 9% of millennials now attest to automating their coupon searches with the use of online tools. On the other hand, the number of millennials who don’t search for coupons online declined from 11% (2017) to just 5%.

Older Millennials are More Likely to Shop in Stores Than Younger Ones

According to the survey, millennials within the age range of 32 – 37 make 57% of their purchases online and 43% in stores. Unlike millennials within age 27 – 31 do 62% of their shopping online and 38% in stores. This makes the group of older millennials more likely to make purchases in stores, although most of them are doing their shopping online just like younger millennials. For millennials who are between the ages of 22 – 26, the statistics are 61% online and 39% in shops. Without any doubt, this preference for online buying by younger millennials is not good news for retailers who sell in stores. Mezzacca says that this does not signify the death of store-based retail sales but that there is a need for stores to change. He also cited Best Buy Co. Inc. (No 8) as an example to follow for boosting its Omnichannel abilities and matching online prices, while also showcasing gadgets made by top brands like Apple, Google, and Amazon in their stores. “This has created a chance for Best Buy Stores to help their customers see, feel, and test products. Thus, bringing them in. They are presented with one less reason to go purchase those products online.” – says Mezzacca.

Different Shopping Patterns Between Millennial Men and Women

Millennial shopping habits also vary by gender. The survey found that women do 41% of their online shopping via tablets or smartphones, compared to 31% of men. Women also tend to shop in-store more than men (42% vs. 38%). These subtle differences in browsing behavior highlight the importance of a personalized experience that adapts to user context — whether it’s desktop, mobile, or voice-based interfaces.

The Use of Voice-operated Assistance by Millennial Shoppers

A larger number of surveyed millennials’ online shopping behavior (55%) say they don’t make use of voice-operated assistants such as Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. However, 45% of the respondents admitted to using such devices for activities involving search and discoveries such as finding online reviews and locating products. Google Assistant was found to be the most popular among respondents who use voice assistants — 24% out of the 45% surveyed millennials use Google Assistant.

Conclusion

It is necessary for retailers to understand how often millennials make purchases online. This is because the ecommerce online market is not only expected to be the US largest living adult population in no distant time but also because the millennial generation is currently a huge market for internet retailers. The average retailer in the 2018 Top 1000 Internet Retailers gets about 30.4% of its sales from consumers who are within the age range of 18 – 34 years old, this is according to an analysis of internet retailer data by Hitwise, a marketing insight company. A good understanding of this information will help you as a retailer to plan your strategies, as well as put you at an advantaged position to make better sales.