The assumption among marketers is that younger generations are more engaged with digital media than older generations. Though many studies do reinforce this, it doesn't appear to be as true in relation to e-commerce and online shopping behavior among these younger generations.

According to a new study, 67% of generation-Z shoppers ages 13-21 say that "most of the time" they make a purchase in an actual store. An additional 31% said they purchased in-store "some of the time." In comparison, only 22% used a web browser "most of the time" and even less used an app (13%) to make purchases.

Interestingly, the study found that online purchases were more common among the older subset of generation-Z (ages 19-21) vs. the younger subset (ages 13-15) by about 15 percentage points. This gap may partly be a function of younger consumers not having access to credit cards and therefore are less able execute online purchases.