Shopping trends have drastically changed over the past few years. While most of us previously browsed retail stores on a Saturday to find great deals, we now turn to Instagram to find discounts offered by influencers.
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And rather than watching TV ads to find out about new products, nowadays, most of us stumble across ads in between YouTube videos.
Here, we’ll explore the shopping trends of 2024, as discovered in our State of Consumer Trends Survey, to ensure you’re able to meet customers where and when they’d prefer to shop. Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
How Shopping Trends Changed in 2024
1. Consumers prefer flexibility over subscription models.
These days, consumers have a lot of flexibility in how they purchase products.
They can make a one-time purchase or join a subscription service. Thanks to popular platforms like Afterpay and Klarna, they can also pay full price or via installments.
However, this flexibility may not be necessary. A staggering 63% of consumers still prefer purchasing products whenever the need arises. Only 17% actually prefer purchasing a product on a subscription basis.
“I’ve seen a few ‘grocery subscription’ services pop up over the last year or two,” HubSpot staff writer Erica Santiago says. “Basically, you sign on to get a certain item on a monthly basis. But I prefer getting items as I need them because I don’t like getting roped into a commitment to purchase if that makes sense.”
She explains, “Let’s say I typically order a lot of fruits and veggies, so I subscribe to a service that delivers my usual quantity of fruits and veggies each month.
However, the summer rolls around, and I’m out of town a lot for vacations, weddings, etc. Now I have all the produce coming in that I might not have time to eat. Or, I have to remember to pause the subscription while away.”
Santiago says a subscription sounds like too much of a hassle to manage and is not always a guarantee that she’ll save money.
“I have too many subscriptions as it is, and I’m always getting emails from these services about subscription prices increasing,” she says.
“It can be a pain to remember what to cancel, what’s worth the investment. I’d rather just buy things as I need them.”
Moreover, consumers prefer to purchase products at full price. Only 21% of consumers prefer purchasing a product with installments.
“An installment is like another monthly payment I need to remember along with my list of other monthly payments, even if it’s temporary,” Santiago explains.
“Again, I’d rather buy something once, pay it in full, and not worry about it until the next time I need it again.”
2. Baby Boomers are skeptical about shopping via social media, but they’re coming around.
According to our report, a slim 8% of Baby Boomers feel comfortable making purchases directly on social media. Though Baby Boomers are skeptical about shopping via social media, things could be turning around.
20% of Baby Boomers have discovered a new product on social media in the past 3 months — a 41% jump from May 2022. On top of that, 8% of boomers have bought a product on social media in the past three months, a more than 50% jump from May 2022.
While these stats are promising, it’s important to meet your consumers where they are right now. So, if you’re audience skews older, you might get more traction with other channels like TV ads and search.
3. A company’s stance on social issues remains important to Millennials and Gen Z’ers, but the quality of the products reigns supreme.
Consumers do want to support companies that share their values. For example, 64% of consumers want companies to reduce their environmental impact.
However, numbers suggest it’s not as big of a deciding factor as previous years:
- 58% of consumers believe companies should donate a portion of their profits to charity, a 3% decrease from 2023.
- 76% of consumers believe companies should try to improve the well-being of their employees, up only 1% from May 2022.
- Only 7% of consumers say whether companies donating the proceeds from their purchases to charity is the most important factor in their purchasing decision.
When a company takes a genuine stand, it can be an effective way to build trust and credibility with consumers. However, consumers care most about the quality of a product or service and whether it’s worth their money.
Our study found that 51% of consumers say the quality and price of a product are the most important factors in their purchasing decisions. Furthermore, one of the top concerns consumers (44%) have with buying items online is the quality, according to our survey.
The Top Shopping Trends of 2024
1. For Gen Z, influencer recommendations matter more than recommendations from friends and family, but that gap is narrowing.
According to our survey, a little over a fifth of Gen Z consumers (22%) prefer to discover new products on social media via influencers, and 29% of millennial consumers say the same.
Furthermore, 27% of Gen Z consumers say they’ve made a purchase based on an influencer’s recommendation in the last three months, and 36% of millennial consumers say the same.
Influencer marketing has remained an effective strategy for brands over the past few years, which is why 50% of marketers plan to increase their investment in it in 2024.
However, our survey shows a slight shift in the trend, at least among Gen Z consumers. Only 9% of Gen Zers in our survey said recommendations from friends and family are among the most important factors in their purchasing decisions.
This is only 2% less than the amount of Gen Zers who say the same about influencer recommendations.
That said, most millennials and Gen Zers in our survey still have a lot of trust influencers and consider their recommendations in their purchasing decisions.
This makes sense in many ways: Influencers are traditionally considered experts in their niche. If I follow a makeup influencer, I can safely assume he or she knows more about makeup than most of my friends.
For e-commerce businesses, this is powerful news: It means you no longer need to rely on word-of-mouth alone (though word-of-mouth should still be a part of your strategy).
Instead, it’s wise to focus your efforts on influencer marketing since influencers have demonstrated a level of influence over their audiences that surpasses even that of friends and family.
2. Gen Zers prefer to discover new products via social media — but they still like to make purchases in-store.
Our State of Consumer Trends Survey found 40% of Gen Zers (ages 18-24) have discovered new products on social media in the last 3 months, followed by internet searches (28%), and word of mouth (26%).
If your e-commerce business is targeting Gen Zers, then, it’s vital you focus your efforts on social media rather than paid ads when it comes to attracting new leads to your products and educating those leads on your products.
Additionally, when asked which content formats Gen Zers prefer for learning about a product and its features on social media, the majority (48%) said they’d like to learn about a product through a short-form video like a TikTok or Reel.
The same percentage applies to social media marketplaces where purchases happen off the app, like Facebook Marketplace.
However, 38% of Gen Zers say they’d still prefer to purchase a product in-store.
This is an important call-out: While you’ll want to focus on social media for your lead generation efforts, it’s still vital to have a strong, effective in-store shopping option for those who would like to make the final sale in person.
3. When it comes to millennials and Gen X, social media is the most popular option for discovering new products.
Similar to Gen Zers, social media (34%) is the most popular method among millennial buyers for discovering new products.
However, YouTube ads (29%) are a close second for millennials, which means that if you’re targeting a millennial demographic, you might want to consider investing in YouTube and YouTube Ads to get their attention.
And if your target audience is Gen X (35-54-year-olds), social media is also the most popular option. The majority of Gen X (28%) say they prefer to discover new products via social media.
Plus, 27% of Gen X buyers also search the internet for new products, so SEO is another good option here.
4. Millennials, Gen Xers, and Gen Zers prefer to discover new products via short-form videos.
What do Gen Zers, millennials, and Gen Xers all have in common? Well, the majority of them (48%, 47%, and 36%, respectively) prefer discovering new products via short-form videos.
So, if you’re aiming to attract those three generations, you’ll want to consider short-form videos like TikTok or Instagram Reels.
5. Mobile phones are the most popular device for online shopping, but most consumers prefer buying in-store.
The majority of consumers in our survey (62%) say they prefer shopping online with their mobile phone over using a tablet, computer, laptop, or other device.
You’d think this would mean they prefer making purchases via a mobile app or their phone. Surprisingly, that isn’t the case! 64% of consumers in our survey actually prefer purchasing items in-store.
“I find new products online all the time, and I’ll even do some ‘virtual window shopping,” says HubSpot’s Santiago. “Basically, I’ll peruse different online stores via my phone and not always with the intention of buying anything.”
However, like the 52% of millennials in our survey, Santiago says she prefers purchasing items in-store.
“I like being able to hold an item in my hand to get a feel for the quality or trying on clothes in a fitting room, and those are experiences you really only get if you’re shopping in person,” she says.
Again, ensure that your in-store experience is just as delightful, easy, and effective as your digital store.
And, if you’re an e-commerce business, it’s critical your website is mobile-optimized, and you have mobile-responsive product pages.
If I’m scrolling a company’s products and I find it’s too difficult or cumbersome on my phone, I typically ditch the website – and don’t return. So it’s vital you ensure you’re following mobile best practices (including large text, lots of white space, responsive templates, and mobile-friendly calls-to-action).
6. Price and quality matter most when it comes to making a purchasing decision — but not always in that order.
Most of our Gen Z (40%) and Boomer respondents (71%) say price is the most important factor when deciding to buy a product.
However, our survey suggests that price is actually second to quality in the eyes of Millennials and Gen Xers. Most of our Millennial respondents (33%) rank quality as the number one factor when deciding on a purchase, and 46% of Gen Xers say the same.
According to our survey, quality is the second most important factor for Gen Z and Boomers. No matter the order, price, and quality are the top two deciding factors, so make sure your products are fairly priced and of high quality.
7. Short-form video offers huge advertising opportunities.
Short-form video is the most popular video length on social media. As a result, TikTok — and other short-form video platforms — are becoming viable advertising channels. In fact, 37% of consumers in our survey want to learn about products through short-form videos like TikToks or Reels.
On top of that, 52% of U.S TikTok users say the advertisements they see on the platform are fun and engaging — which are two ingredients for effective ads.
The Shopping Trends to Expect in 2025
Here are a few trends you’ll continue to see:
- Omnichannel retailing will be a priority. Our survey results show that mobile, online, and in-store shopping are all important to consumers across generations to varying degrees. So, expect to see businesses lean heavily into omnichannel retailing. In other words, businesses will ensure the shopping experience is consistent, connected, and delightful no matter how or where customers are shopping.
- Sustainable and ethical practices will be crucial in retaining consumer trust. Consumers care a lot about a company’s values and ethics. For example, we found that 64% of consumers agree that companies should try to reduce their environmental impact. So, think of ways your company can operate sustainably and ethically for both the planet and your consumers.
- Prepare to see a lot of micro and nano-influencers in short-form video advertisements. Short-form video is still a preferred medium for many consumers learning about new products and marketers continue to see success with micro and nano influencers. So, it makes sense you’re going to see more influencers promoting products and services on short-form video platforms like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok.
When creating an effective e-commerce strategy, it’s vital you take the time to understand how shoppers want to shop today — and into the future.
Shopping behaviors change over time. The more your business can meet the evolving needs of your consumers, the more likely you are to continue to succeed well into the future.
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