In an international survey of more than 14,000 consumers, the payment service provider Klarna examined the differences in shopping. Conclusion: Germans love stationary shops. But this applies above all to older consumers. German young people are internationally ahead when it comes to online shopping.
Overall, 66 percent of Germans prefer shopping in stores. However, that does not mean that they mainly shop there. According to the Shopping Pulse study by the shopping and payment service provider Klarna, this percentage reflects the overall satisfaction when shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, which is almost twice as high compared to online shopping (34 percent). But whether you shop in the store is primarily a question of age, because – unsurprisingly – this is what older consumers in particular do. 37 percent of Gen Z respondents said they do most of their shopping online. Among the baby boomers (i.e. the people who are between 56 and 75 years old today) it is only 21 percent. This older generation supports traditional shopping in stores (34 percent). In contrast, 64 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds say they shop online at least once a week. In an international comparison, they are in first place worldwide. In comparison, their peers from the USA (57 percent), Great Britain (58 percent), Austria (47 percent) or Sweden (41 percent) are behind them.
Social shopping is becoming increasingly popular
At the same time, the study shows that the topic of social shopping is becoming more and more relevant: Even if stationary retail is still preferred overall, social media platforms in particular are increasingly developing into places for shopping inspiration in Germany. German Gen Z in particular often finds inspiration on social media: 61 percent of those surveyed stated that they had already bought a product after seeing it on social media. According to the study, almost half of Germans (47 percent) have already bought a product directly via a social media channel.
In an international comparison, however, Germans are still rather hesitant when it comes to social shopping, because the global average is 53 percent. Especially Instagram is used by the German GenZ for online shopping. 67 percent of German GenZ said they prefer Instagram for their purchases, followed by Tik Tok (42 percent) and Youtube (37 percent). The preferences for the respective platforms are strongly dependent on age. Instagram is only used by nine percent of Baby Boomers for shopping, here the preferred platform is Facebook (41 percent).
Around 14,000 consumers in the USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden took part in the study, which Klarna conducted in cooperation with Nepa. According to Klarna, they were asked about their current finance habits.