89% of 20-40s shop online for their parents: Auction

With online shopping booming amid the COVID-19 pandemic, elderly parents are also taking part in the shopping culture with the help of their children, data showed Thursday.

According to Auction, an ecommerce platform operated by eBay, over 89 percent of 2,564 customers aged 20-49 surveyed, have shopped online for their parents. The survey was conducted from March 28 to April 4.

For reasons to shop on behalf of their parents, 35 percent of the respondents said it was because their parents were not used to online shopping, while 23 percent of them said they were shopping more online to help their parents stay home.

The survey also showed 21 percent of the respondents, they bought items both for themselves and for their parents, and 11 percent answered they purchased items to recommend to their parents.

In addition, 80 percent of the parents asked their children to shop online for them, the company said.

The most demanded items were daily necessities and fresh food, separately taking 28 percent of the total demands made, followed by health and medical items at 20 percent and fashion items at 6 percent.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)