Six in 10 Gen Z shoppers will do their Black Friday and Christmas shopping on alternative platforms including TikTok, Pinterest and Alexa, according to research by Brightpearl.
Shoppers have changed where they do they shopping over the last year, and non-traditional methods are increasing in popularity.
Over half of 18 to 24-year olds (57 per cent) have turned to non-traditional means of purchasing goods over the least 12 months, with 2,000 UK consumers claiming that WhatsApp is the platform they expect to rely on the most.
Social media apps including Facebook and TikTok also rated highly, with 32 per cent and 16 per cent using them respectively.
17 per cent of consumers also said they planned to used idea-sharing platform Pinterest as well as livestream shopping, which is yet to take off in the west however receives huge numbers in China thanks to platforms like Alibaba.
According to the study, four in 10 shoppers prefer new social buying channels and livestreams as the more and more platforms integrate both entertainment and shopping like traditional, bricks-and-mortar malls do.
READ MORE: 1 in 10 UK shoppers have used TikTok for online shopping
“In the pre-internet age, retailers gradually realised shopping can be a form of entertainment, and a wider social activity, which is not only fun for consumers but also results in more sales,” Brightpearl’s Nick Shaw said.
“As such, traditional stores made more effort to make shopping ‘an experience’, a form of leisure.”
“And we’re now seeing this happen with online shopping thanks to a host of new ways to buy online, from new social media channels, to voice and live streaming, that combine shopping with socialising and entertainment.”
“The ‘new normal’ for commerce this holiday season and beyond is now likely to be framed by many non-traditional ways of shopping, which provides a huge choice to consumers and retailers.”
“But, there’s a very real danger of retailers losing out on sales this holiday season if they don’t, or can’t, enable shoppers to spend in these ‘new’ ways.”
“Things are changing in the world of online shopping and changing quickly”
