Majority of US Consumers Say They Prefer to Shop on Amazon Over Other Retailers, Stores

April 16, 2018

This article is included in these additional categories:

Asia-Pacific | Boomers & Older | Brand-Related | Demographics & Audiences | Industries | Retail & E-Commerce | Top Brands | Youth & Gen X

Fully 88% of 18-34-year-olds in the US prefer to shop on Amazon over other online retailers, finds JWT Intelligence in a survey conducted as part of its recently-released Amazon Everything report [download page]. Gen Xers are largely in agreement – 83% of 35-49-year-olds say they prefer shopping at Amazon over other online retailers. And not to be left behind, two-thirds of respondents ages 50 and older likewise prefer Amazon to other online retailers.

This preference is borne out in empirical data, too. A recent comScore report found that people in the US spend more time on Amazon than on all of the other top 10 online retailers, combined.

What’s interesting to see is that Amazon is also preferred over physical stores. That’s the case for 78% of 18-34-year-olds and 69% of 35-49-year-olds surveyed, though only around half (49%) of the 50+ respondents concurred.

That’s somewhat surprising given research indicating that stores remain the preferred shopping destinations for youth.

Nonetheless, Amazon was the preferred online shopping site for respondents in each age group, with Wal-Mart and eBay following in that order for each bracket. Google and Target occupied the 4th and 5th positions for Millennials and Gen Xers, while JC Penney joined Target in the top 5 among those ages 50 and older.

Alibaba Favored by Chinese Consumers

As part of its report, JWT Intelligence also conducted a survey of 1,000 Chinese consumers that focused on educated urban middle-class respondents. The research found that Amazon is popular among this group of “emerging Chinese consumers that retailers are particularly interested in reaching,” but that Alibaba has even stronger appeal.

For example, while 60% of 18-34-year-old Chinese respondents said they prefer to shop at Amazon over other online retailers, 71% said the same about shopping at Alibaba. The gap was even more acute among older Chinese respondents: 65% of those ages 50 and older agreed that they prefer shopping at Alibaba over other online retailers, while fewer than half agreed with respect to Amazon.

Moreover, a strong majority – roughly two-thirds or more across age groups – said they prefer to shop at Alibaba over even physical stores, per the report.

Somewhat surprisingly, though, Alibaba was not atop the list when looking at the top online shopping sites among Chinese consumers. Instead it was Taobao and TMall leading the way, with JD also popular.

The full report is available to download here.

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