Buying online: age, trust and loyalty

This March Nielsen asked consumers the following question about 22 categories: Do you plan to buy online in the next 6 months? If we take a look at answers about the FMCG sector, we can see that in the 60 countries surveyed the so-called Millenials (or Generation Y), who belong to the 21-34 age groups, plan to buy online as follows: alcoholic drinks and personal care products – 57-57 percent plan to purchase these online; non-alcoholic drinks and cosmetics – 56-56 percent. 63 percent said they plan to purchase various baby-related products online. The older consumers are, the lower proportion of them plan to shop online: Generation X (35-49 age group) – 28 percent intends to buy online, 50-64 year-old consumers – 10 percent plan to purchase online. According to John Burbank, Nielsen president who oversees strategic initiatives all age groups must be taken into consideration by retailers who wish to expand in the online world. Trust needs to be built and strengthened in an early stage to make consumers loyal in the long run.