Millennials Don't Mind Using Tech While Shopping

A survey of US and UK millennials found that—surprise—many would be comfortable using a variety of new technologies while shopping. 

According to a study from artificial intelligence (AI) company ViSenze, older millennials (ages 21-34) were just as likely to feel this way when compared to younger millennials (ages 18-20), with a few exceptions.

While 36.8% of younger millennials said they would be comfortable using augmented reality (AR) while shopping, fewer older millennials (28.6%) agreed. Meanwhile, nearly one-third of older millennials said they would be comfortable using digital assistants throughout their shopping journey, but less than a quarter of younger millennials felt the same way.

However, when it came to visual search and shoppable content, both groups expressed nearly equal amounts of comfort. What's more, these new technologies were the ones many said they would be comfortable using, above AR or live chat.

By and large, shoppers have been warming up to retail tech. In a May 2018 survey from RichRelevance—which the company conducted for the fourth consecutive year to gauge how internet users feel about different retail technologies—the creepiness factor attributed to a variety of tech, like robots and fingerprint scanning, was falling. In essence, these types of innovations are being embraced, and according to RichRelevance, millennials are leading this change.

Similarly, another study from Salesforce, also found that millennials are open to retail technology. In that study, 28% of millennial internet users said they would like personalized offers from retailers via a digital channel—such as email or a mobile app—based on their purchase history.