Gen Z and Millennials shop with an online first mindset

Antwerpians shop the most online, followed by people from East Flanders and Flemish Brabant

Brussels, 24 February 2022 – Almost two years into the pandemic, shoppers have turned online more than ever before. New data shows that Gen Z (age 18-25) and Millennials (age 25-40) prefer to shop online compared to shopping at physical stores. Klarna, a leading global retail bank, payments and shopping service, dived into the evolving shoppinghabits of consumers across three continents in their quarterly Klarna’s Shopping Pulse.

Online shopping has accelerated amid the pandemic

There are no signs of the digital transformation slowing down. In fact: 36% of Belgians believe they will do most of their shopping online in just one year from now. This belief is the highest amongst 18-25-year olds (55%). When we zoom in on our favourite shopping momentums, we see that Wednesdays and Thursdays are the most busy days for online shopping in Belgium. Late evenings are still the most popular time to shop with 21.00 being the peak hour during an average shopping day.

However, make no mistake: physical stores are still the norm for shoppers. Although the preference for online shopping is rising rapidly, consumers are still shopping in physical stores more frequently than they are shopping online. In Belgium, about 75% (in line with global’s 74%) of consumers shop in-store at least once a week, in comparison to 31% of consumers shopping online at least once a week. Looking at the average Belgian shopping on a monthly basis, some product categories are even still mainly bought in-store, like groceries (83%) and pharmaceuticals (55%), while Electronics (26%) and Entertainment (24%) are more often bought online. Clothing & Shoes are bought just as often online as in physical stores (45%).

Antwerpians are shopping the most online per capita in Belgium

Data shows that Antwerp shopped the most online during 2021, 46% more per person than the national average, and that their favorite product category is Jewelry & Accessories. East Flanders (+32%) and Flemish Brabant (+20%) come in second and third, and most often purchase Leisure & Sport & Hobby and Entertainment respectively compared to the national average.

* The index (100) represents the national average of online purchases made by Belgian shoppers. A higher or lower value indicates whether the residents have made more or fewer purchases per person than the national average. The index is adjusted according to the size of the population.

* The index for “Favorite Products” is calculated in relation to the national average, and does not necessarily reflect the products that are most often bought overall—but most often in comparison with other regions in the same country.

9 out of 10 Belgian consumers occasionally research items online before venturing to physical store

But does this mean physical stores are irrelevant? Not at all, as the online experience is complementing the physical shopping journey. Online research, also called “webrooming,” plays an important role throughout the in-store shopping journey.

• 94% of Belgian shoppers occasionally do research online before they go shopping in physical stores, and 67% do it often.

• The most common product categories to do research in before purchasing are Clothing & Shoes and Electronics.

• About 6 in 10 (59%) of Belgian shoppers use their smartphones while they are in the store to research products, read reviews and compare prices before they make a purchase decision.

• However, Belgians are less likely to use their smartphones to shop online as computers are the preferred choice for 66%. This makes Belgium the country with the highest preference for shopping online with computers, even ahead of France (65%) and Germany (58%).

“We will speak less about online shopping and physical stores as separate entities in the future. The digitalisation of retail continues to be fueled by the pandemic restrictions, and shoppers will be seeking out services and retailers that empower them with more and better information and an overview that allows them to make informed purchase decisions”, says Wilko Klaassen, Director of Klarna Benelux & The Netherlands.

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For more information, please contact:

Charlotte Marron - charlotte@talkie.be - 0032 478 59 64 32

Marie Lemaître - marie@talkie.be

Online shopping datan

Insights from Klarna’s shopping data. Klarna serves more than 90 million consumers and 250,000 retailers.

Methodology

Insights from Klarna’s consumer research, conducted in cooperation with Nepa across 11 countries (the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden, Norway, and Finland). The research is conducted on a quarterly basis, and always includes a minimum of 1,000 respondents in each country per quarter. In total, more than 18,000 consumers participated during Q4 2021 (October-December). The sample sizes are nationally representative, naturally including both Klarna users and non-Klarna users, and have been selected by research agency Nepa

Shopping pulse

Klarna’s Shopping Pulse, which is updated on a quarterly basis, continuously explores evolving shopping habits in 11 countries across 3 continents. The latest update includes insights from a survey with more than 18,000 consumers (out of which 1,637 were Belgian), and Klarna’s own data from more than 250,000 online stores around the world.