Most Boomers Plan to Do Bulk of Holiday Shopping Online

Convenience ranked as the number 1 reason, especially for older consumers. Among those who plan to rely mainly on e-commerce this holiday season, 76 percent of boomers named it as a factor, compared with 72 percent of Gen Xers and 61 percent of millennials.

Overall, 52 percent said that steering clear of other people was a consideration. That concern appears to ease a bit with age: It was cited by 56 percent of millennial respondents, 49 percent of Gen Xers and 48 percent of boomers.

"You would have thought that would be more of an older shopper thing, given that the virus seems to be higher risk for older folks,” Rossman says.

"Even there, it was still a lot of people” hoping to avoid other people, he adds, noting that older consumers’ emphasis on convenience may incorporate some COVID-19 concerns.

"One of the reasons that you might pick ‘convenience’ is because you don't have to get out of the house and put your mask on and risk getting sick and wait in line,” he says. “If we look at those a little more holistically, maybe there was some overlap.”

Forty-three percent of boomers and 46 percent of overall adults identified better deals as a reason to shop online. Wider inventory or product selection was cited by 43 percent of boomers and 44 of overall respondents.

At checkout, shoppers switching cards

The survey shows a slight shift, and a slight generational divide, in choice of payment method.

Overall, debit cards are the most popular way to pay for holiday purchases, favored by 46 percent of respondents, versus 39 percent for credit cards. For boomers, 44 percent prefer credit cards, versus 41 percent for debit cards — but the margin is down from last year's 46-38 pro-credit split.

Rossman says the shift reflects larger pandemic trends toward belt-tightening and “debt aversion” that have fueled steep declines in Americans’ collective credit card debt.

"This has all led to a big drop in credit card spending,” he says. “Right now there's definitely a ‘risk-off’ mentality, and a lot of people are gravitating to their debit cards."