TREND 3:

Online Shopping Trends and Mobile Dominance

It’s an omnichannel world, and we’re all just living in it.

Consumers are adapting their shopping behavior across channels. Here's how they're using devices, managing carts, and handling out-of-stock situations.

Online Shopping Momentum

While most consumers (79%) maintain consistent shopping habits, those who have changed their behavior in the past 3-6 months are primarily shifting toward more online purchasing, with 46% of this group increasing their digital shopping.

Consumers are using online shopping carts as their new grocery list!

Cart Usage Patterns

Consumers shop online in multiple ways:

Gender Cart Behavior

Women are most likely to gather products into their cart OVER TIME, and then check out online when ready, while men are most likely to shop and check out in the SAME SESSION.

Device Preferences for BUILDING Orders

Digital Age Divide

Age creates a clear device preference split: consumers under 60 strongly favor mobile phones for order creation (79% of 18-59 year olds), while those over 60 prefer PC/laptop (51%).

Device Preferences for COMPLETING Orders

A significant shift in consumer behavior shows mobile dominance across the entire shopping journey, countering historical patterns where consumers would build carts on phones but complete purchases on desktop.

Mobile now leads both cart-building (46%) and checkout (49%), while PC/laptop usage remains consistent from cart creation (30%) to completion (33%), suggesting consumers are increasingly comfortable completing entire transactions on their preferred device.

Subscription Adoption Declining

Compared to last year’s study, subscription usage dropped from 37% to 29% year-over-year, potentially due to inflation pressures and increased shopping frequency reducing the perceived value of auto-delivery.

QuickCommerce Gaining Ground!

Walmart leads online grocery, personal care, and home care purchasing, with 65% of respondents using their services, followed by Target (32%) and Amazon Fresh (22%). QuickCommerce providers are surging: Instacart (24%) and DoorDash (23%) show strong adoption, reaching 45% and 44% respectively among 18-34 year olds.

Gen Z Drives Same-Day Delivery Surge

The age divide in delivery preferences is stark: Overall demand for same-day delivery rose from 31% to 39%, with Gen Z leading adoption at 65%. This usage drops steadily across age groups, reaching just 23% among Baby Boomers.

QuickCommerce Membership Growth

Retailers are expanding their QuickCommerce offerings with memberships, and our survey shows consumer participation is strong: Walmart+ leads at 31%, followed by Amazon Fresh (19%), UberEats (17%), and Instacart+ (15%). This widespread adoption signals a fundamental shift in consumer expectations for rapid fulfillment.

Methodology: SmartCommerce conducted a quantitative survey between August 14-15, 2024 with a national sample and collected 600 responses (n=600). Respondents were required to be between the ages of 18-99. The respondents identified as 389 women and 211 men. Fifty-percent of respondents live in suburban areas, while 25% live in rural areas, and 25% live in urban areas. Responses were collected via a polling software that offers non-cash incentives to survey participants.

Want to know more? Want to add questions for our next survey? Contact us at sales@smartcommerce.com.