Today’s consumers might not look quite like the shoppers many retailers, developers and investors have been planning for, according to the latest research from Placer.ai.
In good news for retailers, younger consumers, particularly those in the Gen Z age group, are shopping in physical stores more frequently. And yes, retailers continue to embrace experiential retail designed to pull consumers away from their screens and into brick-and-mortar locations.
But a closer look at visitation data tells a more complicated story, according to The 2026 Retail Consumer in 5 Charts: Who’s Winning in 2026? Placer.ai released this report in August, and it shows that shoppers are evolving as they embrace both the convenience of online shopping and the variety and excitement offered by physical retail.
According to Placer.ai’s report, today’s shoppers often live close to the stores they visit. Today’s shoppers tend to spend less time in stores, too. Older consumers remain an important part of the brick-and-mortar audience. And lower- and middle-income households account for a disproportionate share of physical-store traffic.
At the same time, consumers are increasingly shopping at retailers that give them compelling reasons to visit, whether that means low prices, a steady influx of new products, a wide selection of tiems or an experience that shoppers can’t easily replicate online.
Those are among the key findings in Placer.ai’s August report, which analyzes visitation data from the Placer 100 Retail Index to examine how consumers are interacting with physical stores, and what those patterns mean for retailers, advertisers and commercial real estate professionals.
Here are the five key shopping trends in Placer.ai’s report:
1. Most retail trips are short
Today’s consumers generally aren’t spending much time in stores. Placer.ai found that the vast majority of visits to the retailers included in its Placer 100 Retail Index last less than 30 minutes. Visits of fewer than 15 minutes represent the largest dwell-time category.
That suggests that many consumers are approaching physical retail with a specific mission: They know what they want, they want to find it quickly and they want to get on with the rest of their day.
For retailers, that puts a premium on convenience. Intuitive store layouts, easy product discovery, efficient checkout and convenient pickup options can help retailers attract customers looking for quick trips, Placer.ai said.
The finding also has implications for advertisers. Consumers are increasingly researching and discovering products before they arrive at a store. That gives in-store advertising a different role: Instead of simply introducing a product, it can reinforce the physical-store experience through demonstrations, samples and product trials.
For commercial real estate professionals, there are key lessons here: Parking, tenant mix and overall property design can all influence how easily consumers can complete a quick shopping trip. At the same time, properties can create optional reasons for consumers to linger, turning a short mission into a longer visit.
2. Retail remains intensely local
Retail may be increasingly omnichannel, but consumers still tend to shop close to home. Nearly 60% of retail visits analyzed by Placer.ai originate within five miles of the store. About 44% originate within just three miles.
That makes location about more than visibility, accessibility or traffic counts. It means that a retail property effectively comes with a customer base attached to it.
The households surrounding a store will account for a substantial portion of its visitors. For retailers evaluating new locations, then, understanding the demographic characteristics of those nearby households can be just as important as evaluating the physical characteristics of the property.
A location that looks attractive based on traffic or proximity to other businesses might not be a strong fit for every retailer. The surrounding population needs to match the consumer that a particular brand hopes to attract.
The same principle applies to marketing. With such a large share of retail traffic originating nearby, localized campaigns can concentrate advertising dollars on those consumers who are most likely to visit a particular location.
For landlords and developers, the lesson is clear: When looking at possible tenants, landlords and developers shouldn’t focus only on whether a retailer can afford the monthly rent, but whether its customer base fits the population surrounding the property.
3. Don’t overlook older shoppers
The retail industry has devoted plenty of attention to Gen Z’s embrace of physical stores. Placer.ai’s data, though, suggest that retailers shouldn’t let that enthusiasm obscure another important reality: Older consumers remain a core brick-and-mortar audience.
Adults aged 55 and older are generally overrepresented in the captured market of the chains included in the Placer 100 Retail Index. That’s not surprising; Older shoppers already have a strong affinity for physical retail.
That should influence how retailers think about their stores. The push to attract younger consumers shouldn’t come at the expense of ignoring customers who are already visiting and spending money in physical locations.
Store layouts, merchandising, messaging and in-store experiences should continue to serve these consumers.
Retail properties designed to appeal to younger generations still need to function for older shoppers, according to Placer.ai’s report. Accessibility, easy navigation, convenient parking and seating can all influence the physical-store experience for all shoppers, but these features are especially important for older ones. A multigenerational tenant mix can also help strip center properties appeal to a broader audience.
4. The brick-and-mortar shopper has a distinct income profile
According to the Placer.ai report, households earning less than $100,000 annually are overrepresented among visitors to the Placer 100 Retail Index. Households earning more than $150,000, meanwhile, are underrepresented.
Armed with this information, brands can tailor their physical-store products, messaging and promotions to better serve the consumers already walking through their doors.
But the research from Placer.ai also suggests that retailers should work to attract more affluent shoppers who are part of their broader potential market but currently aren’t visiting physical locations at the same rate.
A brand’s overall customer demographics may not accurately describe the people who actually visit its physical stores. Retailers and advertisers trying to drive physical visits should consider the income characteristics of their actual store visitors rather than relying exclusively on their broader customer profile.
A retailer’s offline visitor profile may provide a better indication of how well it will perform at a particular property than its overall brand audience. If the shoppers surrounding a shopping center resemble the retailer’s existing in-store customers, the tenant may be a stronger fit.
5. Value matters—but so does experience
Perhaps the most important takeaway from Placer.ai’s report is that consumers aren’t necessarily choosing between value and experience.
Instead, they’re looking for both.
Value-oriented retailers appear prominently among the fastest-growing chains in the Placer 100. But retailers that combine value with discovery, browsing or in-store experiences are also posting strong gains.
Placer.ai points to Five Below, Hobby Lobby, Ross and Citi Trends as examples of retailers where growth is occurring not only across their overall footprints but also at individual venues.
The message for retailers is that low prices remain a powerful reason to visit a store. But price isn’t the only way to win. Physical stores can give consumers something online shopping cannot: the opportunity to browse, discover unexpected products, experience merchandise firsthand and enjoy the act of shopping itself.
That gives advertisers another way to position physical retail. Value-focused campaigns can emphasize deals and the excitement of discovery. Experiential retailers can promote the selection, inspiration and experiences consumers can find only in person.
Retail properties that offer both value and experience, and are home to tenants that combine affordability with discovery or experiential appeal, could be especially well positioned to generate traffic among today’s evolving shoppers.
A clearer picture of the 2026 shopper
The Placer.ai report suggests that consumers are still visiting stores in significant numbers but are choosier about how they spend their time and which stores they consider worth visiting.
That puts pressure on retailers to make shopping easy when consumers have a specific mission and compelling when they don’t.
It also places greater importance on the fundamentals of commercial real estate. Location matters because consumers remain highly local. Tenant mix matters because different retailers appeal to different populations. Property design matters because shoppers still care about convenience. And the ability to offer discovery and experience matters because those are among the advantages physical stores retain over e-commerce.
