Dive Brief:

• Over the past six months, millennial consumers have driven a rise in shopping with direct-to-consumer brands globally. More than half of shoppers ages 25 to 34 reported buying online directly from international brands, according to a survey from eShopWorld.
• Echoing previous findings of an e-commerce boom, more than half (52%) of shoppers overall and 58% ages 25 to 44 years old shopped online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent closing of brick-and-mortar stores. The survey indicated that 56% of international shoppers were spending more to cope with the pandemic by either rewarding themselves for surviving the shelter-in-place orders or easing emotional stress.
• Post-pandemic, nearly three-fourths (71%) of respondents said they plan to continues to shop through a mix of online and offline channels.

Dive Insight:

The eShopWorld survey points to the coronavirus pandemic as the reason why e-commerce accelerated. Per the findings, 57% of international shoppers said the pandemic helped them discover the convenience and choice of shopping online; 63% of Millennial respondents said the same. 

The eShopWorld survey echoes other reports about the e-commerce boom. An April report from eMarketer predicted that e-commerce sales in the U.S. could reach $908.73 billion, a 13.7% increase from last year, but slightly less than the 2020 e-commerce surge. 

"Brands that understand the evolution of traditional retailing see the importance of blending their direct international e-commerce trading with their existing omnichannel structure," Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, president and CEO of Americas at eShopWorld. "Stores of the future will be experiential meccas, where brands will espouse and reinforce the brand personas and experiences they are building on social media. But the transactional engine for future growth has undoubtedly accelerated into digital channels, and it seems unlikely that trend will ever reverse."

DTC brands have adopted an aesthetic particularly attractive to the millennial consumer, like sans serif fonts and bright color choices. The success DTC brands have had in resonating with younger consumers has also driven traditional retailers like Nordstrom, Walmart and Target to partner with these brands in order to attract a new set of customers to their stores.