Older generation embrace online shopping
Latest research, undertaken by a leading marketing solutions provider, Callcredit Information Group, reveals the older generation are embracing online shopping over younger age groups.
According to the results, which were taken from analysing Callcredit's Define consumer database*, 19 per cent of 45 - 50 year olds shop for groceries online and 24 per cent of 51 to 60 year olds purchase holidays online. Surprisingly those scoring lowest for purchasing holidays online were 18-24 year olds at 4 per cent.
The research has also highlighted how the older age groups are combining their online shopping with offline. Twenty eight per cent of 51 to 60 year olds shop at supermarkets followed by 24 per cent of 45 to 50 year olds, with only 14 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds shopping at supermarkets.
As well as scoring in the top three for online and shopping at a supermarket 16 percent of 51 to 60 year olds and 15 per cent of 45 to 50 year olds also shop via mail order. Fifteen percent of 25 to 30 year olds also use mail order combined with their supermarket shopping.
Ben Allott, Business Development Manager, Callcredit Information Group said: "Consumers are adopting increasingly complex shopping behaviours to get what they want and many are now combining offline with online shopping. What is surprising about our findings is the shift in age groups shopping online, with the older generation embracing online shopping scoring higher when purchasing groceries, holidays and airline tickets over younger consumers."
The findings highlight how consumers are combining different channels to purchase goods and that different age groups have their own buying pattern reiterating the importance of understanding buyer behaviour and the need for multichannel marketing.
Consumers are even more empowered than ever and in isolation traditional marketing methods are just not effective enough in today's market. With consumer spending at an all time low and the government only forecasting a growth of around 1.3 per cent in 2013 the need to understand customer behaviour is ever more important.
The results also showed that unsurprisingly, those younger consumers combined with middle aged consumers use devises such as tablet or mobile/smart phones to purchase goods. 18-24 year olds scored highest with 22 per cent followed by 25 - 30 year olds and then jointly 36-40 & 41-44 (16 per cent).
Ben continued: "Changes in society and technology are having a big impact on buyer behaviour and for retailers embracing technology and big data assets is a must if they want to acquire new customers, reach reactivate lapsers or retain and grow current relationships and compete against their competitors.
"If retailers want to continue to survive the economic storm they need to be savvier with their marketing and start connecting the dots between the online and offline worlds to help drive consumers back to the high-street and improve the bottom line."
*Define is Callcredit's flagship consumer database, containing more individuals with more contact 'touch-points' than any other consumer dataset in the marketplace, delivering the highest volume of data for building mailing lists, email lists, SMS lists and landline volumes that marketers will find anywhere including:
- 43 million postal contacts
- 24 million email addresses
- 20 million landline numbers
- 15 million mobile numbers
