A new survey highlighted several interesting shopping trends. 

Conducted by business applications provider CGS, the survey revealed that 62 percent of consumers want furniture and home products to be made in America. With the current timber shortage delaying furniture deliveries, a third of these respondents cited faster delivery times as the reason.
 
42 percent selected the importance of shopping local as the reasoning, and 18 percent pointed to lessening carbon emissions – alluding to a potential trend in which more furniture will be taking shorter journeys to get to doorsteps.

“The pandemic, naturally, had a lasting impact on consumer habits and shopping behaviors,” said Paul Magel, president of Business Applications division, CGS. “Brands, retailers and their customers experienced the scarcity and delay of goods over the last year. Now consumers have had a chance to take a step back and identify how and where they wish to spend. For some generations, we are witnessing a gravitation toward sustainable and locally made goods, others it is secondhand marketplaces, while other age groups are going back to what they know, whether that be department stores or the large online marketplaces.”    

Another interesting trend was the concept of "revenge shopping" - a term used to describe consumers making up for the time stolen by the pandemic by spending more. It appears to be real and driven by the younger generations. 

82 percent of Millennials and Generation Z plan to splurge or have already splurged on a purchase in 2021. Baby Boomers are not indulging in “revenge shopping” though. 64 percent said they have not splurged recently or plan to splurge on an upcoming purchase.

Another survey finding showed that Gen-Z may be ditching sites like Amazon. 67 percent of Generation X and Baby Boomers say they are dependent on online marketplaces like Amazon, while only 37 percent of Gen-Z said they were. Gen-Z consumers though are five times more likely than Baby Boomers to use second-hand sites like eBay and ThredUp for non-essential items.

CGS surveyed more than 1,000 Americans. Check out the full results here.