Today’s shoppers aren’t exactly new to digital sales channels or the way brands use them to communicate. In fact, they’re becoming more discerning and sophisticated than ever when it comes to “doing their homework” about online purchases.
And who can blame them? Consumers have instant access to specs, reviews, photos, social proof, comparison tools, and endless retailer listings — more context than any generation has ever had while making a purchase. Considering the wealth of information available, it's no surprise that customers prefer digging a little deeper than their predecessors.
To better understand how consumers navigate different omnichannel touchpoints, Salsify surveyed more than 2,700 shoppers across the U.S., U.K., and Canada.
The findings confirm that while consumers have preferences, they don’t rely on a single shopping destination to discover, research, and buy products. And the number of channels they consult rises sharply with the importance or price of the item.
Different generations approach that process in different ways, but the result is the same: a buying journey that’s fragmented, channel-heavy, and full of constant verification. Take a closer look at what this all means for brands and retailers.
The first stop in the buying journey tends to look different from generation to generation.
Discovery usually begins on social platforms for younger shoppers, with 73% of Gen Zers and 67% of millennials saying that’s where they primarily encounter new products. Gen Xers (61%), meanwhile, are more likely to find them in physical retail stores, while baby boomers (60%) lean most heavily on online marketplaces as their preferred discovery destination.
Because there’s no cross-generational winner, this data illustrates the continued importance of an omnichannel strategy to attract and capture the largest audience.
Whether the first interaction is via social, a marketplace, in-store, or through AI shopping tools, it sets a consumer’s expectations for everything that happens next — which is why consistency remains so important on the digital shelf.
Once shoppers discover a new brand or product, they often shift into information-gathering mode.
Gen Zers (63%) and millennials (55%) still lean heavily on social platforms to find out more, but older generations continue to pivot toward online marketplaces, where structured product details, reviews, and photos are easy to compare at a glance. Gen Xers (55%) and baby boomers (58%) treat marketplaces as their primary research hub.
This is also the point in the journey where shoppers start to visit an increasing number of digital sales channels. For mid-range items like apparel, beauty, or sports equipment, more than 50% of shoppers consult two to three channels, while more than 20% check four to six.
For big-ticket items, the numbers are even higher. For example, more than half of U.S. consumers consult four or more channels before buying things like furniture or electronics.
In other words, the more important the purchase, the more “green flags” shoppers want to see before moving forward.
While the earlier stages of the journey show plenty of generational divergence, the purchase stage tells a much clearer story.
Physical retail stores (69%) and online marketplaces (68%) are the primary buying destinations, with retail websites (35%) coming in a distant third.
Even though discovery and research stretch across a wide mix of channels, shoppers tend to convert where the experience feels most reliable. That means product pages and in-store experiences carry much of the weight across the entire buying journey — the place where all those earlier impressions either come together or fall apart.
As always, consistency is a virtue on the digital shelf. With shoppers now fluidly moving between a multitude of channels before making a decision, any discrepancy along the way — missing details, an outdated photo, contradictory product information — can introduce enough doubt to send them looking elsewhere.
If your experiences fail to align, the confidence you’ve built at one touchpoint can easily fall apart at the next.
There’s also real value in tailoring your approach to different generational patterns. Younger shoppers tend to begin on social; older shoppers lean on marketplaces and traditional retail. A one-size-fits-all channel strategy is an easy way to limit your potential reach.
Above all, shoppers are on the lookout for rich detail: specs, comparisons, images, videos, reviews — everything they need to feel confident that your product can solve their problems. Providing that level of service, especially across all your channels, goes a long way with consumers of any age.
Shoppers aren’t doing their homework to complicate things — they’re doing it to feel confident in a shopping experience that invites a certain level of doubt.
The more consistent, complete, and dependable your product content is across every channel they encounter, the faster they get to that confidence. And ultimately, that's what will move them to purchase.