We asked Gen Z and Millennials what they’re planning to buy this Black Friday and Cyber Monday—and impulse buys are near the top of their list…
Black Friday is coming—and young shoppers are ready for it. Shopify reports that Millennials are more likely than older generations to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and YPulse’s recent holiday shopping survey found 75% of 13-37-year-olds are planning to shop on one or both of the discount holidays—an increase from the 66% who planned to do so in 2018. Nearly two in five tell us they plan to shop on both holidays (with Millennials more likely than Gen Z to say so) and our survey found that based on their planned budgets, these young shoppers have a combined spending power $42 billion for these two days alone. These generations love their discounts, and over half tell us they wish more store would participate in Black Friday.
Amazon tops the list of stores that they’re planning to buy from during the holiday weekend, followed by Walmart and Target. But while they may have an idea of where they’ll be shopping, when we asked what specifically they’re planning to buy, it becomes clear that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become the holidays of impulse shopping:
What They’re Buying on Black Friday/ Cyber Monday
13-37-year-olds
1. Clothes
2. Impulse sales purchases
3. Smartphone
4. Laptop / Computer
5. TV
6. Technology
7. Shoes / Boots
8. Gaming Console / Computer
9. Jewelry
10. Toys
11. Video games
12. Electronics
13. Tablet
14. Sneakers
15. Gifts
16. Smartwatch
17. Earbuds / Headphones
18. Makeup / Beauty products
19. Books
20. Kitchen supplies
Impulse buys are number two on the ranking of the top 20 things that 13-37-year-olds are planning to purchase on Black Friday and Cyber Monday—with more telling us they plan on buying “Whatever’s on sale that looks good” than did in 2018. Many respondents tell us they’ll be buying “whatever catches their eye” or that they just like to browse the sales available those days—either in store or online—to buy anything they want at good price. Their plans to be impulsive show us that the generations of shoppers that are fueling Black Friday and Cyber Monday buying aren’t going into stores or sites with a mission for a particular item—it’s the fun of finding something unexpected and surprise deals that drive their shopping.
Female Gen Z and Millennials shoppers are even more likely than males to say that they’ll be impulse buying based on discounts:
While there is a fair amount of crossover between what young males and females are planning to buy, impulse buys are second on females’ ranking, and fourth on males’. The other big difference: clothing is the number one category that females plan to shop for, but doesn’t make males’ top five list. Males’ are more likely than females to plan on buying a new smartphone on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, while females (again in line with their loose planning around purchases) are more likely to say they’ll be buying “tech” without yet knowing exactly what tech that might be.
