Impulse Buying: A Deep Dive into Why Gen Z and Millennials are extravagant

Have you ever found yourself buying something you didn’t need without planning to? It turns out many of us have. In one recent survey, 90.42 percent of Gen Z and millennials have engaged in impulse buying. Indicating that either people have money and idle disposable income to burn or they cannot rein in their spending habits.

But what prompts people to make impulse purchases? And would knowing these triggers help us rein in the behavior? To find out, we surveyed 1,002 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 43, examining not just whether they impulse buy but why they do so. People were ranked with the highest percentage when they were upset and depressed; the primary reason being their emotional state.

Key Findings: Gen Z and Millennials survey

90.42% of Americans admitted they spend impulsively because of emotional reasons-63.07 % or social influence-37.92 %.

41% of the responders purchase based on sudden changes in mood. In this regard, women purchase more when feeling sad, standing at 46%, compared to men at 32%.

33.8% of the Gen Zers are influenced by social media to make impulsive decisions on buying compared to 16.33% of millennials.

Whereby 46% of Gen Zers are triggered by social factors to engage themselves in impulse buying compared to 29.88% millennials during normal times where millennials in a way overspend due to stress and gifting occasion especially during holidays like New Year and Christmas, {35.26%} compared to Gen Zers at 30.80%.

15.57% to indulge in revenge buying to make up for the lost argument/ fight

When hopeless about things beyond control, such as political climate and global warming, 13.6% of Gen Z and 11.75% of millennials turn to “doom spending”

Women are more prone to impulsive buying based on their emotions (66.1%) than men (57.58%). On the other hand, men get more easily swayed by social media with 38.2% compared to women with 37.77%.

Emotional Buying Dominates for Gen Z and Millennials

In designing responses for our survey, we segmented the answers into two major portions: emotional buying and social influence. Emotional buying took the lead with 63.07% of the respondents confessing that they buy impulsively. Whenever they are in highly emotional states, such as stress, hurt, or anger. Social influence, through social media and peer pressure, came second with 37.92% of the respondents testifying that at times, social pressure really pushes them to go on a spending spree.

40.82% of the surveyed claimed to make impulse purchases whenever they experience mood swings, seasonal depression, and mental health breakdowns among others as variation provocation or hormonal change. Notably, 43.80% of Gen-Zers aged 18-26 years and 37.85% of millennials aged 27-43 years reported that feeling ‘upset’ was the number one incident that led to impulsive shopping habits. Female consumers conduct impulse buying more often than males whenever upset about something. This is because 45.67% of women reported mood swing as the top reason while 32.02% of men responded similarly.

Stress Social Media’s Sway on Gen Z

Stress is yet another negative emotion that drives other unhealthy behaviors, like overeating, and our survey found it also drives overspending. Some 35.73% of all respondents reported that stress was a big driver of impulse spending, while for Gen Z, 37.40%, and for millennials, 34.06%, identified it as a factor. While women are slightly more prone to stress-related impulse buying. At 37.62%, than men, at 32.30%, the difference isn’t that great.

For example, Gen Z consumers are more influenced by social media to make impulse purchases. With a larger number of them being influenced by Facebook and Instagram compared to millennials. Young people are more likely to be influenced and swayed by online endorsements from influencers in the expansive chasm of departments where susceptibility to socially manipulated influence is greater.

Holiday Spending and “Doom Spending

Meanwhile, holidays force 35.26% to lose control over their spending. Millennials do this more, compared to the Gen Zers. Another 12.67% do “doom spending” when they feel hopeless about issues over which they have no control. More men doom spend than women, with male millennials coming in at 16.67%.

Revenge Buying and Life-Changing Events

This affects 15.57% of the respondents, making purchases after a fight or argument, also known as revenge buying. In this case, Gen Zers are a bit more prone to revenge buying compared to millennials. Moreover, 17.86% of all the respondents will make impulse purchases due to life-changing events. In both cases, women and especially Gen Z females are prone to making impulse purchases in such type of situations.