The digital landscape has seemingly leveled the playing field for online shopping across generations.

However, what consumers are buying online continues to show some variations among generations, especially when it comes to spending on everyday necessities like groceries and on some discretionary items like restaurant meals.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “eCommerce for All: How Consumers Across Generations Make Purchases Online” reveals that overall eCommerce adoption rates for retail and travel have stabilized and are consistent across age groups, mirroring figures from a year ago. The findings are based on a survey of 2,722 consumers in the United States conducted in November.

But the broad trend doesn’t apply universally to all categories, suggesting that consumer comfort with online transactions still varies by the type of purchase.

Beyond adoption, there are disparities in payment method preferences between online and physical shopping environments, with credit cards and digital wallets popular online, while debit cards maintain their dominance in brick-and-mortar stores.

Merchant loyalties are also divided by shopping channel, with Amazon leading the online space and Walmart dominating physical retail. These differences underscore the interplay between perceived security, budgeting priorities and the unique demands of each shopping channel.

Regarding payment preferences, the report uncovers several key trends:

  • In physical retail stores, 42% of consumers opted for debit cards for their last purchase, making it the preferred payment method and outweighing credit cards when it comes to brick-and-mortar interactions.
  • Conversely, for online retail transactions, 38% of consumers used credit cards for their last purchase, demonstrating a reversal of preference compared to in-store shopping, possibly driven by perceived security benefits amid the anonymity of online commerce.
  • Digital wallets are gaining traction in the online sphere, with 16% of consumers using them for their last online retail purchase, a rate twice as high as their usage in brick-and-mortar locations.

Beyond payment methods, the report uncovers patterns in consumer purchasing behavior based on the specific shopping category and merchant choice. While online retail and travel purchases show consistent adoption across generations, a divergence emerges for other categories. Generation Z and millennials are more inclined to make restaurant and grocery purchases online than older consumers, with Gen Z being 72% more likely to have made their last restaurant purchase digitally than baby boomers and seniors.

The digital natives are still more comfortable with online transactions for certain types of goods and services.

The Merchants Weigh In

In terms of merchant preferences, Amazon stands as the dominant online retailer, capturing most online credit and debit card users. Meanwhile, Walmart remains the undisputed leader in brick-and-mortar retail.

The findings reveal that consumers who primarily use debit cards often gravitate toward value-focused retailers, such as Walmart for online purchases and dollar stores for in-store shopping, indicating an emphasis on affordability tied to their payment method choice.