Spotlight on… impulse e-commerce

The way we shop online is evolving, with research suggesting that some consumers are becoming more spontaneous in their buying habits – making purchases without having had any prior intention to do so.

Rather than going online specifically to shop, these customers are inspired to buy an item there and then by what they discover when browsing. Social channels are driving many of these purchases.

Nearly all global internet users (96%) are on at least one social media platform, spending about two-and-a-half hours a day on them on average.¹ And, with brands, influencers and peers all using them to showcase their latest products and trends, users can discover aspirational items with every scroll of the thumb. Customers often don’t even have to leave the app to make a purchase, and this ease could help explain why the global social commerce market is expected to reach $1.9 trillion 2026.²

Since 2020, there’s been an 8% drop in consumers saying they undertake research online before buying a product.³ But there’s a generational divide in impulse shopping with 41% of Gen Z and millennials make impulse purchases online every two to three weeks, compared to just 10% among baby boomers.⁴

In addition, a study by Shopify found that, in January 2020, the average US consumer spent $155.03 a month on impulse buys, which rose to $182.98 over the next four months.⁵ This period covered the start of the pandemic – when ‘hedonistic buying,’ or shopping purely for pleasure, rose considerably⁶ – but also the meteoric rise of TikTok.

The discovery-led social platform focuses on serving users the content they like, which gives small businesses the same opportunity to go viral as any big brand. 39% of users say they’ve discovered brands they’d never heard of through TikTok, while 49% have made buying decisions directly in-app.⁷