Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Nearly half of American online shoppers pay for streaming-media services and 15 percent have e-commerce box subscriptions

Both are growing.

Booming Trend In Food Delivery Among Milennials
Booming Trend In Food Delivery Among Milennials
Nicholas Pfosi for The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Rani Molla
Rani Molla was a senior correspondent at Vox and has been focusing her reporting on the future of work. She has covered business and technology for more than a decade — often in charts — including at Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

Some 46 percent of online shoppers in the U.S. pay a monthly subscription for online streaming media, like Spotify or Hulu, according to a new survey by consulting firm McKinsey.

Fifteen percent had subscribed to at least one e-commerce delivery service like Dollar Shave Club, Blue Apron or Stitch Fix in the past year. Most e-commerce box subscribers have streaming-media subscriptions as well.

The survey tried to take a deeper look at online subscription demographics and behaviors. Some of the findings from the report:

  • Women are more likely to subscribe to e-commerce than men, but men are more likely to have three or more such subscriptions.
  • E-commerce subscribers tend to be young, wealthy city dwellers.
  • The median e-commerce box subscriber has two such subscriptions while 35 percent have three or more.
  • Word-of-mouth recommendations are a key reason consumers sign up for subscription services.
  • Meal-kit delivery services have higher cancellation rates in the first six months than other e-commerce subscriptions.

McKinsey conducted its online survey from November 8 to 12, 2017, receiving responses from over 5,000 participants in the U.S. Of those, 80 percent were online shoppers, defined as people who had spent at least $25 online in the past month.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh