AOJ E-NEWS: More than half of millennials make most of their purchases in physical stores, but young consumers are browsing the internet for information before closing the deal, according to a new survey.

Some 53% of the generation shops mainly offline, according to the Millennial Shopping Report Summer 2017 by CouponFollow, a website that provides online coupon codes to consumers. The survey, which came out this month, reported another 31% of millennials doing most of their buying on a desktop computer; just 16% prefer using a mobile device.

However, most consumers in the millennial age bracket — between 20 and 35 years old — will look up information online before going into a store to make the deal. The survey of 1,000 millennials across the US found that 76% browse the internet before making an online or offline purchasing decision. About two-thirds of customers who have carried out research both online and offline will end up buying the product in a brick-and-mortar store, while the other 33% will make the purchase on the internet.

By gender, 56% of millennial women shop offline, compared with 52% of men, the survey found. Perhaps more surprisingly, younger millennials have a greater affinity for brick-and-mortar stores, with 58% of those between 20 and 23 making the majority of their purchases offline — five percentage points higher than the millennial average. Meanwhile, 18% of consumers between 32 and 35 make most of their purchases on a mobile device — two percentage points above the norm.

Additionally, 57% of millennials follow brands on social media, with 64% of women doing so and only half of men. Notably, 56% of these do it to gain early access to deals and savings, with only 7% motivated by a desire to be part of an online community.

“As millennials advance in age and spending power, so, too, must the strategies developed and implemented by America’s retailers,” CouponFollow concluded. “Brands can earn considerable market share by adopting a hybrid approach to commerce that’s rooted in value and designed to empower authentic consumer engagement across a rapidly evolving suite of channels and platforms.”

Courtesy : Rapaport