Can you really make assumptions about which age demographics are using which devices? Maybe, but maybe not. Millennials have changed the tide of mobile marketing, but that doesn't mean it's the only place they go to make purchases. And while the older generations aren't as quick to hit "buy" on their smartphone, they aren't all sitting in front of desktops, either.
This infographic made with data gathered by Millward Brown Digital surveyed approximately 1,000 consumers across ages on their device usage. It provides an interesting look at who is doing what on which screen.
Millward defined Millennials as those born after 1980; generation X as born between 1965 and 1980; and boomers as born between 1946 and 1964.
A few takeaways stand out:
-If you want to reach Millennials with broadcast ads, cable and network television isn't the place to do it. They rely on YouTube and Netflix for entertainment consumption.
-Boomers and Generation X, however, are the holdouts for cable and network TV.
-Tablet commerce isn't taking off in any age demographic. While a large number of people are using them across generations, they're the third and last choice for shopping (though likely among the first or second choice for streaming).
-Millennials are the ones who are leading the mobile commerce push, using smartphones to make purchases more than any other age demographic.
-However, they aren't more likely by a margin wider than 1% to make smartphone purchases than laptop purchases. Maybe mobile marketing isn't the great white whale everyone says it is.
It appears from this data that consumers make decisions about which device to make their purchases on depending on the purchase type and how much time it requires. Certainly research on some buying decisions (such as electronics or auto) is easier to do on a larger screen with a full keyboard, while other buying decisions can be more automatic (such as CPG on Amazon Prime) and done on a phone with one or two taps.
Before deciding where to target your ecommerce and digital advertising efforts, think about which age demographic you're targeting and where they spend their time, as well as how much time your product or service requires. Bottom line: mobile isn't absolutely everything.