Digital-First App Usage Spells Future Of The Connected Economy

The pandemic has significantly altered the way consumers of all age groups and income levels shop and pay, with many turning to online and mobile channels to reduce health risks. Yet, the two most connected consumer groups — bridge millennials and superconnected consumers — have changed their habits the most.

Both bridge millennials and superconnected consumers own more connected devices than the average consumer and are considered to be on the cutting edge of digital adoption. They also tend to use those devices more than other consumers to engage with retailers through apps.

How do we know these consumer groups changed their shopping habits the most in the past seven months?

In the How We Will Pay – Superconnected And Bridge Millennials research brief, a PYMNTS and Visa collaboration, is based on a census-balanced survey of 9,587 consumers about how they are browsing and shopping for groceries and retail goods, whether they are making purchases remotely or in stores, the types of connected devices they use to make those purchases and their interest levels in trying new types of connected experiences.

Our research reveals that for these two groups, their app usage has increased during the course of the pandemic. Six in 10 bridge millennials and superconnected consumers now use marketplace apps, such as those from major retailers Amazon and Walmart, more often now than they did before the pandemic began, compared to 55 percent of average consumers.

The study also indicates that the share of bridge millennials and superconnected consumers who increased usage of apps provided by their grocers since before the pandemic is also higher — 25 percent higher, in fact — than that of average consumers.

These groups’ prolific use of connected devices and the commerce experiences they enable usually makes them the first digital adopters and most susceptible to change in the face of shifting market trends. Therefore, they serve as a primary example of digital adoption with their behavior indicating what is to come next in the connected economy.

To learn more about the changing shopping and payment behaviors of bridge millennials and superconnected consumers and what this says about the future of commerce, download the brief.