Shop Along Ethnography with Millennials (18 – 29 yr olds)
I’m conducting a millennials shop along research project this week. I am really enjoying it, as millennials (Gen Y, echo boomers, 18 – 29 year olds) is a frequent and favorite research topic of mine. The one thing that surprises me is how small of a role mobile technology plays in the shopping habits of these 20-somethings.
On the university campus, which is 5 minutes from my home, I see them on their mobile devices constantly. But in the shopping process, they refer very infrequently to mobile technology, and when prompted, they do not envision a significantly larger role. They seem far more likely to use mobile technology for social contact than for shopping (duh!), but I’m surprised at the extent to which that is true. I expected some inkling of a comparison shopping usage pattern using mobile devices.