Years after becoming a big business in countries like China and Japan, social shopping finally has a serious foothold in the West. It’s forecast to become a $100 billion industry in the U.S. alone next year, and a lot of those billions are driven by Gen Z shoppers on apps like TikTok. Fiverr just released data showing that over half of Gen Z’ers say they only plan to find holiday gifts on TikTok Shop this year.
But they aren’t the only ones shopping there.
A new report from media services agency Horizon Media shows that, of course, Gen Z does indulge in social shopping, where they buy products through creator recommendations on things like TikTok Shop videos, shoppable Instagram posts, YouTube merch shelves, and livestreams across all the above plus on giants like Amazon, which has been tapping creators to sell on stream for several years now, and apps like Whatnot, which is popular with thrifter creators who live-auction their latest finds to followers.
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However, according to the report, Millennials actually social shop more.
Based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, Horizon Media’s report shows 27% of Gen Z’ers say they social shop at least once a week in categories like apparel, personal care, beauty, and electronics. And Millennials? 47% of them say they social shop at least once a week. Gen X actually beats out Gen Z, too, with 28% of respondents ages 44-59 saying they shop at least once a week.
Things get more balanced when you look at monthly data: respondents say they social shop monthly at about equal levels, with 36% of Gen Z and Gen X, and 35% of Millennials.
We attribute Millennials’ and Gen X’s dominance in weekly social shopping to the fact that they simply have more disposable income, since many are middle-aged and settled into careers, while members of Gen Z are, at their oldest, fresh out of college, and at their youngest, are still in middle school. Gen Z can scrape up money to shop once a month, but Millennials and Gen X are generally more able to shop whenever they like–weekly, or more.
As for how enthusiastic shoppers of all ages are about social shopping, Horizon Media asked respondents whether they’ll shift some of the spending they normally splash on regular ecommerce to social shopping instead. 33% of Gen Z said “all or most” of their online shopping budgets could shift to social shopping, while 29% of Millennials and 17% of Gen X said the same.
Those results add to what we already knew about TikTok users: that they’re increasingly more likely to use that app to search for things like trendy products–all based on recommendations from creators. TikTok has measurably cut into Google Search traffic (and seems pretty happy about it), and Horizon Media’s data shows that’s at least in part because because consumers are favoring creators’ opinions over cold searches.
Also, something cool to note: those creators’ opinions often draw buyers to smaller brands. 66% of people who said they social shop told Horizon Media they see social shopping as an opportunity to support small businesses. We’ve seen how that support, especially during the pandemic, can save small businesses’ livelihoods.
Pam Wake, the Vice President of Horizon Media’s market research arm The Why Group, told Adweek the barriers to entry for older generations getting more into social shopping are “very thin.”
George Musi, Chief Business Officer at Horizon Media’s commerce arm Night Market, added that the social shopping adoption we’re seeing from Millennials and Gen X now signifies a “paradigm shift” in how older people buy—a shift we think will become more and more significant as social shopping approaches that $100 billion threshold.