These Are Millennials’ 18 Favorite Stores to Holiday Shop

Millennials will be the biggest spenders of the holiday season—so where will they be headed to buy their gifts? We asked 18-36-year-olds…

Last year, according to Ypulse research, Millennials alone reported spending an average of $870 on themselves and others during the holidays. Predictions indicate that their spending will stay strong in 2018, with MarketWatch reporting that Millennials could be the biggest holiday spenders this year. Accenture’s Annual Holiday Shopping Survey found Americans overall are planning to increase their spending from $632 last year to $658 this year, with 28-37-year-olds planning to spend $779. In our own recent holiday shopping survey, estimated spending was even higher, with 25-36-year-olds reporting they plan to spend over $800 on average (on both gifts for others and things for themselves.)

Yesterday, we kicked off our holiday shopping coverage by letting you know exactly what young consumers are planning to buy on the swift approaching Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Today, we’re looking beyond the much-hyped shopping weekend, to their holiday shopping preferences overall—and where they’ll be bringing those holiday shopping budgets. We asked 18-36-year-olds, “What is your favorite store or site to shop at for holiday gifts?”*—and these are their top responses:

*This was an open-end response question to allow us to capture the full range of stores and sites that Millennial consumers like to shop at for the holidays—without our preconceived ideas shaping their responses. As with any qualitative question, the responses include those that are top of mind and those that are most popular. The lists are ordered according to number of responses received, and alphabetically when ties occurred.

Their Favorite Stores/Sites to Shop For Holiday Gifts

18-36-year-olds

1. 1. 1. Amazon
      2. Target
      3. Walmart
      4. Macy’s
      5. Best Buy
      6. eBay
      7. Zara
      8. Kohl’s
      9. Nike
      10. Etsy
      11. Costco
      12. Adidas
      13. Marshalls
      14. Old Navy
      15. Local shops
      16. H&M
      17. IKEA
      18. TJMaxx

Are we surprised that Amazon is at the top of the list of stores/sites that Millennials like to shop at for the holidays? Not so much. Once again the ecommerce giant blew away the competition in the ranking, earning far more mentions than the second place retailer. With “convenience,” “easy,” and “because it has everything” echoed time and again as reasons it’s a favorite, it’s hard for many other brands to compete. Target and Walmart come closest, with one-stop-shopping again top of mind for the young consumers who say they like to buy gifts there.

The top five brands on the list stayed consistent with last year’s ranking, but a little farther down on the list we saw some changes. This year, Nike and Zara made the top 10, perhaps reflecting current style preferences.

To download the PDF versions of this insight article, click here.