The 2026 Retail Consumer in Five Charts

Key Takeaways From the Report:

1. Retail trips are often short and focused, making convenience and a frictionless shopping experience especially important while giving brands a limited window to capture shoppers’ attention in-store.
2. Retail is highly local, with nearly 60% of visits originating within five miles – making the consumers who live near a store central to site selection, marketing, and tenant fit.
3. Despite the attention on Gen Z’s embrace of physical retail, older shoppers remain a core brick-and-mortar audience that retailers, advertisers, and property professionals shouldn’t overlook.
4. Brick-and-mortar attracts a distinct income mix, giving brands an opportunity to tailor their in-store strategies to existing shoppers while finding new ways to reach affluent consumers who currently underindex.
5. Value is a powerful traffic driver, but consumers are also showing up for discovery and experience – suggesting that the strongest reasons to shop in person can be practical, experiential, or both.