New data from the Retail Technology Show (RTS) shows that Millennials now outshop Gen Z on social media, becoming the fastest-growing demographic for social media purchases.
Despite Gen Z often being stereotyped as the TikTok generation, Millennials now outshop their younger consumer counterparts across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, according to the latest research by the RTS.
The research of more than 1,000 shoppers showed that the number of social commerce purchases made by Millennials grew by +36 percent year-on-year, with the demographic making 21 purchases on TikTok last year (vs 20 made by Gen Z), 20 on Facebook (vs 14 made by Gen Z) and 19 on Instagram (vs 18 made by Gen Z).
Gen Z still outshops Millennials on the number of purchases made on Roblox, making 13 purchases on the platform last year (a 44 percent year-on-year increase) vs 12 made by Millennials.
Social commerce growth in the UK is predicted to more than double in the next four years, rising to almost 16 billion pounds by 2028, according to Retail Economics, across all UK consumer age ranges.
TikTok dominates as the top social channel for making purchases, with RTS’s research showing that the average shopper bought 11 times in the last 12 months on TikTok, up +37.5 percent from 8 purchases last year, followed by Instagram and Facebook (10 purchases each).
Matt Bradley, event director at RTS, said in a statement: “The rise and rise of the social media channel has been well-charted, and it shows no signs of stopping. As shoppers’ seemingly insatiable appetite for content-led commerce continues to grow, this has given rise to a new cohort of ‘TikTok made me buy it’ consumers, an increasingly valuable shopper segment that retailers want to tap into.
“However, with mass adoption and a wider demographic of consumers outside of just Gen Z now driving this growth, retailers will need to adapt how they engage and retain social shoppers, requiring data-led decision making in order to optimise targeting and engagement.”
