Social media is taking over Americans' online shopping decisions! 58% of holiday shopping is influenced by social media

According to McKinsey's 2021 holiday survey, 58% of consumers said that social media will influence their holiday purchase decisions, with young people accounting for the majority. Social media is becoming an integral part of American consumers' online shopping decisions.

According to a McKinsey survey conducted in early October, 87% of Generation Z respondents expect social media to have an impact on their holiday shopping. 67% of them think the platform that will most influence their holiday purchase behavior is YouTube; 63% think it is Instagram; and 44% think it is Facebook.

In contrast, only 25% of baby boomers expect social media to influence their holiday purchase decisions. When asked about the influence of each channel, 66% chose Facebook, 35% chose YouTube, and 25% chose Instagram.

Another recent report on social commerce by Brightpearl found that 59% of U.S. consumers and 77% of people aged 18 to 24 prefer to shop online through non-traditional channels, such as social media platforms, live shopping and voice commerce. Among Gen-Z respondents, Instagram (47%) became the preferred platform for holiday shopping, followed by Facebook at 40%; Amazon Alexa third at 35%; Pinterest at 32%; TikTok at 29%; and finally live video at 25%.

A March survey by NPD found that 51% of consumers agreed that content on Facebook and Instagram would entice them to buy fashion products. The most popular discovery platforms were Facebook, at 41%, Instagram, at 35%, Pinterest, at 21%, Twitter, at 17%, and TikTok, at 15%.

A CreditCards.com survey conducted in July found that 56% of social media users said social media influenced their shopping decisions. Of these users, 31% were influenced by social media ads, with Millennials most likely to be influenced at 72%, followed by Gen Z at 66%, Gen X at 49%, and Boomers at 45%.

Editor ✎ Xiao Zhu/

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