Does Buyer Age Affect Tech Purchasing Practices?

Tech buying

Does Buyer Age Affect Tech Purchasing Practices?

New research examines the B2B tech buying practices of three age groups. Surprisingly, Millennials prefer face-to-face meetings with vendors, not social media.

Purchasing Power

33% of Millennials said they have budget and/or sign-off on enterprise technology purchases of $10,000 or more. Meanwhile, 23% of Baby Boomers and 27% of Gen Xers have the same authority.

Selecting Vendors

28% of Millennials said they research potential providers for inclusion on their short lists, compared with 14% of Baby Boomers and 24% of Gen Xers.

Final Selection

One-fifth (20%) of Baby Boomers and 23% of Gen Xers evaluate providers on the short list and select the best solution, compared with 13% of Millennials.

Decision Makers

44% of Baby Boomers provide input to help the evaluators and decision makers, compared with 28% of Gen Xers and 26% of Millennials.

Trusted Sources

When considering B2B tech purchases of $10,000 or more, respondents said the top source of information to evaluate technology solutions is industry analysts (42%), followed by internal colleagues (40%), vendor face-to-face meetings (40%), vendor Websites (40%), case studies or customer testimonials (36%).

Top Tools for Millennials

Millennials often refer to industry analysts (38%), vendor face-to-face meetings (36%) and Websites (33%) when evaluating tech purchases.

Top Tools for Older Workers

Baby Boomers rely more on analysts (50%), colleagues (49%) and vendor meetings (48%), while Gen Xers prefer colleagues and vendor Websites (both 40%), analysts and trade shows (both 38%).

Millennials: Seeking Experts

Millennials turn to internal colleagues and industry analysts (both 29%) and case studies or customer testimonials (24%) when looking to understand and explore a possible business problem.

Older Workers: Evaluation Stage

Baby Boomers go to industry analysts (41%) and industry/professional online communities or forums (35%), while Gen Xers prefer industry analysts (31%) and internal colleagues (28%) for initial problem solving.

Millennials: Second-Phase Research

When researching for available technology solutions, Millennials prefer internal colleagues (26%), vendor face-to-face meetings (25%) and vendor Websites (21%).

Older Workers: Search for Tech

Baby Boomers prefer industry/professional online communities or forums and vendor Websites (both 36%); industry analysts, live or in-person demos and Web searches (all 34%); Gen Xers prefer vendor face-to-face meetings and vendor Websites (both 33%); and industry analysts (28%).

Final Decisions

When selecting a short list of solutions, the top information source for Millennials is vendor face-to-face meetings (24%), while Baby Boomers prefer live or in-person demos (39%) and Gen Xers choose case studies or customer testimonials and vendor face-to-face meetings (both 27%).