More Millennials are heading back to physical stores in 2025, even if online shopping, especially via smartphone, remains a favorite endeavor of the generation.
According to the Millennial Shopping Trends Report from CouponFollow, which tracks coupon codes for consumers, social media, working from home and new tech, including AI, help shape what the demographic shops and purchases.
Based on its survey of millennial shoppers, CouponFollow found the following:
- Offline shopping is back, as 43% of Millennials do most of their shopping in physical stores, up from 21% in 2022.
- Free shipping is key, with 51% of Millennials citing it as the feature they value most when making a purchase, up 8% since 2022.
- TikTok has overtaken Instagram, as 22% of Millennial shoppers are most influenced by TikTok, up from 12% from 2022, with women, at 26%, more enthusiastic than men.
- AI is the future of shopping, given that 54% of Millennials plan on using AI to help with online shopping in the next 12 months.
- Millennials are tapping into cryptocurrency, with 53% owning some and 42% having made at least one purchase using crypto in the last year, up from 12% in 2022.
Amazon still reigns supreme among e-commerce sites, with 94% of Millennials shopping the platform, even if they are weighing their purchasing decisions a bit differently than they did in 2022. Price is down 2% and reviews are down 15% in their importance, while recommendations are up 4% and top search results are up 4%.
Millennials who work from home tend to shop at different times than those who work in an office, CouponFollow maintained. Among remote workers, 23% shop before work hours versus 6% of office employees. Shopping during work hours is more common for remote employees, at 27%, versus office staffers, at 22%. In-office staffers are more likely than remote workers to shop during their lunch hour, on the weekend or after work hours at night.
Millennials’ favorite way to shop is to browse and buy online, at 36%, but that’s down from 50% in 2022. Second most favorite is browse and purchase in store, at 24%, and that’s up from 13% in 2022. When it comes to AI, men, at 60%, are more likely to tap artificial intelligence shopping aids in the next 12 months than women, at 50%. Millennials’ use of buy-now-pay-later financing has increased, with 55% saying they use BNPL, up from 40% in 2022.
