It’s prime time for 80 million millennials. The largest generation in history is digital-first, and their mobile shopping habits and expectations are changing the way online companies need to earn the ecommerce ecosystem’s most potent purchasing power.
Millennials are leading the march toward a total disruption in purchasing trends — how, where, and why consumers buy. In the United States alone there are about 80 million millennials, with a total purchasing power of $600 billion yearly. And Accenture predicts that by 2020, their spending will grow by several magnitudes to $1.4 trillion, representing 30 percent of total retail sales in the United States.
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They’re a force to be reckoned with, and an audience to harness appropriately as their digital spending overtakes IRL shopping. Millennial insight firm YPulse found that while millennials shopped the most at mass merchandisers, online-only stores came in at a close second with 73 percent of 18- to 32-year-olds saying they had shopped online in the last 30 days.
And they’re probably using their phones to do it, given that 87% have their phones by their side every second of the day (and reportedly, most of them sleep with it). They’re on mobile web and expecting to easily navigate responsive sites built for their ease of purchase, but mobile shopping apps are growing in popularity — nearly half of all 18-34 year olds have downloaded one.
But they’re not sticking to just one way to buy. They move back and forth between online and off fluidly, and expect a seamless experience throughout. They’ve got their phone in their hand every step of the way, even comparison shopping on it while they’re browsing in-store — and ready to purchase where they find the best deal, even hitting “Buy” on their phone in the middle of the showroom.
And that means the ability to purchase where, when, and how they want, via web, native mobile, or in-app, and with the mobile payment of their choice, isn’t just a nice-to-have for this generation — it’s a firm expectation. And they’ll walk if they don’t get what they want.
But in return for offering seamless payment options, you’ll lower your customer acquisition cost, increase your conversions, and boost lifetime value. Streamlining your payment experience gives online merchants of all sizes, and in any market, the ability to tap a wellspring of monetization opportunities with the generation that is eager to give you their cold, hard, cash — if you give them the experience they’re looking for.
What should you know before you take the leap? Read on for the data you need from Braintree, which currently powers more than $50 billion in mobile payment volumes per year.