Shopper Shock: Three In Four Boomers Buys Online

More than 70 percent of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 64 shop online, according to the latest study from the Pew Research Center. For the same age group, the use of online banking services is above 60 percent.

Interestingly, the use of online shopping apparently increases with each age group. Roughly 70 percent of 18-to-29 year olds shop online, Pew says, compared to 73 percent of 30-to-49 year olds — and 50-to-64 year olds take the cake, with a 76 percent usage rate. 

Roughly 60 percent of adults aged 18 to 29 use online banking, about the same as the 50-to-64 year old age group. But online banking usage spikes for adults between the ages of 30 and 49, increasing to 68 percent, the study shows.

Among adults 65 and older, slightly more than half (56 percent) buy online, while only 44 percent use online banking.

The study’s broader focus was on the proliferation of internet usage in America. According to Pew, roughly 20 percent of American adults do not use the Internet.

“Senior citizens, those who prefer to take our interviews in Spanish rather than English, adults with less than a high school education, and those living in households earning less than $30,000 per year are the least likely adults to have internet access,” researchers wrote in their report.

Access to mobile phone service, however, is more widespread: 88 percent of American adults have a mobile phone, Pew says. As for other portable web-enabled devices: 57 percent of U.S. adults own a laptop; 19 percent own an e-book reader, and 19 percent own a tablet device.

Furthermore, the proliferation of those portable devices is boosting online connectivity. Approximately 63 percent of U.S. adults access the web through one of those four devices.

While more than one-fifth of U.S. adults remained offline as of August 2011, 95 percent of teenagers go online regularly, Pew says. Roughly the same rate holds true for adults aged 18 to 29 as well, the data show.