Millennials are often looked to for paving the future of online shopping but new research has found it is actually their older counterparts who spend the most both online and in stores.
Financial advisory firm KPMG revealed that baby boomers, typically those aged between 50 and 70, spend the most online, while millennials, born between 1982 and 2001, spend the least.
The research analysed the online shopping preferences of more than 18,000 consumers in 51 countries and found that Generation X consumers, those born between 1966 and 1981, made 20 per cent more purchases online last year than their younger counterparts.
Separate research found that European shoppers aged over 50 spend 71 per cent more per visit than other age demographics in shopping centres, despite visiting 25 per cent less.
The over-50s also complete almost twice as many (45 per cent) transactions per trip compared with other consumer age groups in shopping centres, data from shopping centre loyalty service providers Coniq indicates.
One factor is that baby boomers have more disposable income than younger shoppers, said Liz Claydon, UK head of consumer markets at KPMG.
“Baby Boomers matched the digital-first millennial generation in making on average 15 online transactions a year but spent on average $30 (£24) more per transaction,” she said.
UK consumers, meanwhile, are more likely to compare prices than their global counterparts, and take longer to make a purchase decision.
The KPMG report found that 27.3 per cent of respondents globally noted price as the major factor and 64.9 per cent of respondents researched more information on price, but this increased to 32.1 per cent and 72 per cent respectively in the UK.
Similarly, only 1.7 per cent of respondents took more than three months to make a purchase globally, while in the UK this rose to 2.6 per cent.