Drop Your Assumptions: Social Commerce Trends Buck Gender and Age Stereotypes

Think you know what online shoppers want? Think again. Some current ecommerce trends challenge gender and age group stereotypes, a new report from Gale's commerce team found. The survey showed that men make more impulse buys online than women, and that younger consumers like seeing personalized ads in multiple places. Still, there are clear trends within certain groups of shoppers. To capitalize on those trends, brands need to understand why each audience is buying online to begin with—and what purpose that serves in their lives, explained Dan Maguire, director of retail media at Gale. "The biggest opportunity lies in understanding that different audiences engage with commerce in fundamentally different ways," he said. Drop your gender assumptions Digital purchases are increasingly popular across the board: 86% of respondents said they buy something online at least once a month, and about half say they do so weekly. But when broken down by gender, the data showed that men are more impulsive shoppers. "One surprising and clear pattern across the data is how much men are engaging with brands digitally," Maguire said. Men are more likely than women to follow brand accounts, engage with influencers, and buy things impulsively, he said, including in categories "traditionally associated with women, like beauty products." Men were also more likely to report buying something immediately after seeing a digital ad for it. Nearly half (46%) of women said they couldn't remember ever doing this, compared to only 30% of men. It's not young vs. old—it's digitally native vs. not Generational cohorts can be instructive for marketers, but it's not all clearcut. "I expected generational habits to supersede category habits when shopping online, but the data shows you have to take both together to get the strategy right," Maguire said. Millennial and Gen Z shoppers are most likely to make "almost daily" online purchases, the data showed, compared to 11% and 4% for Gen X and Boomers, respectively. Still, Gen X is a tough generation to summarize. Some of their shopping habits skew closer to Boomers, while others are more similar to Millennials. That's likely due to a split between those who were introduced to the internet before adulthood, like Millennials, versus those who had to learn to adapt later, like Boomers, the report theorizes. Opportunity in community building Responses from Gen Z and Millennial shoppers show that younger consumers are looking for more than new stuff when they're shopping online. "What we're seeing is a fascinating evolution in how Gen Z creates and engages with community spaces," Maguire said. As spaces like malls and community centers decline, digital shopping is taking on that role for young people, who often browse or fill their carts for fun. "This explains why 48% find personalized ads helpful," he added. "They're not just shopping, they're engaging in an experience reflective of their preferences and the communities they belong to or aspire to." Finally, shoppers are also more open or less open to ads depending on where they're seeing them. People reported that TikTok, Target, and Amazon have the most helpful ads, while Reddit, news sites or Spotify are less helpful.

Social Commerce

Drop Your Assumptions: Social Commerce Trends Buck Gender and Age Stereotypes

New survey from Gale shows men are more impulsive online shoppers

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