Gen Z prefers brick-and-mortar to online shops

The youngest adult consumers still prefer shopping in stores over using their laptops, Instagram feeds or Amazon’s Alexa, according to a recent Morning Consult study.

“Gen Z is on track to be the largest, most ethnicallydiverse, best-educated, and most financially-powerful generation ever,” the report states. “In the coming years, their distinctive habits will play an outsized role in shaping American culture and commerce.”

This younger generation, which the report defined as Americans born between 1997 and 2012, began spending money when two-day delivery was common, “driving high expectations about convenience,” according to the report, based on a May survey of about 3,000 U.S. adults, including about 1,000 adults ages 18 to 21.

Still, 55% of Gen Z women said they preferred going into stores. That number is lower for Gen Z men, at 40%, and is 53% for all other adults. Two-thirds of the younger generation shoppers go shopping for fun at least once a month.

“Gen Z adults are enamored with major technology and social media brands but also enjoy shopping in-person,” the report concludes.

The top-three most critical threats Gen Z sees as facing the U.S are: terrorism, climate change, and racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination.

The top-three political issues to Gen Z are: health care, civil rights and the price of education.

“This filters into how they view politics, interact with brands, and approach personal life decisions,” the report says.

Thirty-seven percent of Gen Z adults identify as Democrats compared to 14% identifying as Republican.

Almost 40% of Gen Z adults who say they are liberal boycotted a brand in the last year for political reasons, according to the report.

Few Gen Z adults use credit cards to pay for groceries or gas, compared to about a quarter of all other adults. Almost half, 47%, of this younger generation opts to use a debit card as their primary payment method and 30% use cash.