The top social media platform for shopping is…
Shopping on social media is becoming increasingly popular — especially with younger consumers.
More than one-in-five consumers make purchases on social media platforms at least weekly, and the top platform is Facebook, driven by millennial consumer usage, according to a survey 1,500 U.S. consumers by GoDaddy. When asked if they had purchased from Facebook in the last three months, 52% of millennials said yes, followed by 35% of Gen X and boomers and 31% of Gen Z.
Meanwhile, Gen Z consumers are most likely to shop on TikTok. When asked if they purchased from TikTok in the last three months, 52% of Gen Z respondents said yes, followed by 37% of millennial respondents and only 12% of Gen X and boomer respondents.
[READ MORE: Survey: More than half of TikTok users have found gift ideas on platform]
Instagram was Gen Z and millennial respondents' second-most-used platform for purchases made on a social platform in the last three months, with 44% of Gen Z and 39% of millennial consumers saying they did so. Only 12% of Gen X and boomers respondents said they had made a purchase on Instagram in the previous three months.
Among respondents who have made purchases on social media, the top three categories were fashion and clothing (37%), food (22%) and electronics (10%).
Younger consumers shop on social media often and impulsively
- More than half of Gen Z (62%) and millennial (56%) respondents make purchases on social media platforms at least monthly, while one in five (21%) Gen Z and millennial respondents make several purchases a week on social media platforms.
- Only one-in-10 Gen Z (9%) and millennial (12%) respondents say their purchases on social media are planned ahead of time.
Gen Z and millennial respondents are spending in similar ways
- The majority of Gen Z (80%) and millennial (79%) respondents have made purchases on social media, compared to just half of Gen X and boomer respondents (51%).
- Roughly four-in-10 Gen Z(44%) and millennial (38%) respondents said they would not spend more than $50 on items purchased via social media.
Legitimacy and shipping concerns can stop a purchase
- Uncertainty about the legitimacy of a business is the primary barrier to purchasing items from social media, cited by nearly half (47%) of respondents across all generations.
- Shipping issues were a cause of concern for nearly half Gen Z (46%) and millennial (47%) respondents, citing that high shipping costs or long shipping waits would deter them from buying a product via social media.
