When it comes to discovering international brands, young consumers, millennials and the Gen Z population, turn to social media.
That’s a top finding of a Global-e Online Ltd. survey conducted by Censuswide that polled 9,000 consumers across nine markets that bought online from a retailer outside of their respective country.
Millennial (54%) and Gen-Z (55%) consumers report social media as their number one channel for discovering international brands, topping online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, according to a press release on the data findings.
When asked their preferred platform for buying a branded product, over half (58%) prefer buying directly from a brand’s website, beating out marketplaces (40%) and local resellers (35%).
When shopping online, respondents indicated the main drivers of cross-border shopping are product price (47%), wider variety of products (37%) and better quality (28%).
Social media has become a popular tool for shoppers to become acquainted with brands, with 75% of respondents reporting they purchased from a brand after engaging with it on at least one social network.
Instagram is the favored platform among shoppers to engage directly with brands and ultimately make a purchase (62%). More than half of Gen Z consumers (60%) chose TikTok as their preferred channel.