Generation X Lifestyle and Buying Habits [Updated Jul 2023] (2024)

Recent statistics on consumer spending by generation show that Generation X’s annual expenditure is the highest across all age groups in the United States. With expenditures of over $80,000 per year, this makes them a particularly attractive target audience for businesses.

If your brand caters to Gen X buyers, it would help to gain a clearer picture of their shopping preferences. Here’s a look at Generation X’s lifestyle and buying habits—both online and offline.

Gen X online shopping habits

According to the latest data on Gen X’s online shopping habits, products related to clothing and shoes are the generation’s most purchased items over the internet. Close to half of all Gen X consumers (43%) say they acquire these items online.

These Gen X online shopping habits also extend to beauty products and electronics, with nearly three in 10 (29%) consumers in this generation buying products in these categories over the internet. This is followed by goods related to entertainment, at 27%.

Gen X consumers also often purchase groceries and pharmaceutical products online—22% of them say they do so. Items pertaining to leisure, sport are also frequently bought over the internet, with 21% of Gen X buyers doing so.

Other categories Gen X consumers shop for online are:

• Children’s products: 17%
• Home and garden: 17%
• Automobile parts or accessories: 14%
• Jewelry and accessories: 12%

Gen X shopping habits (offline)

Generation X’s lifestyle and buying habits offline look rather different from their shopping preferences on the internet.

Groceries top the list of items this generation shops for in-store—nearly all (90%) of them do so. Incidentally, baby boomers’ and Generation Z’s shopping habits show a similar pattern, with nearly all of the consumers in these two age groups preferring to do their grocery shopping in person.

Pharmaceutical products are the second-most popular items Gen X consumers buy offline, done by more than three in five (62%) of them. Products in the beauty and clothing and shoes categories are also popular items Gen X buyers prefer to purchase in person. The data on Gen X’s shopping habits offline shows that close to half of them buy these goods in-store.

Items related to home and garden follow, with 41%.

Here are some other shopping categories and the percentage of Gen X buyers worldwide who prefer to acquire them offline:

• Leisure, sport, and hobby: 25%
• Children’s products: 25%
• Electronics: 20%
• Automobile parts or accessories: 18%
• Entertainment: 16%
• Jewelry and accessories: 15%

Want to learn more?

• Millennials’ Online Shopping Statistics
• What Do Women Buy Online?
• Why Do People Shop Online?
• What Do Men Buy Online?