••• retailing insights
Omnichannel not a hit with in-store shoppers
Retailers’ omnichannel efforts (curbside/in-store pickup, on-demand delivery, etc.) are inconveniencing some shoppers, according to a June survey of 1,035 U.S. adults who had visited a fashion, general merchandise or specialty store in the last 90 days.
The survey, conducted for the 2026 Eye on Inventory Report: Shopper Edition from gStore, a division of GreyOrange, a provider of warehouse orchestration and store inventory software, found that issues like omnichannel operations and store out-of-stocks had negatively impacted the shopping experiences of 37% of those surveyed.
Their in-store bummers include: longer wait times at shared checkout lines (18%); encountering store associates who were unavailable to help because they were too busy processing omnichannel orders (17%); and on-demand delivery workers physically getting in the way, making it harder to navigate the store (15%).
Among those who were bedeviled by omnichannel, 28% started avoiding certain stores where omnichannel operations make for a chaotic or overwhelming shopping experience and 23% have scheduled their visits to avoid days or times when a retailer is particularly slammed with omnichannel orders.
And even checking store inventory in advance is no guarantee of a successful shopping trip. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed found that items marked as “available” online were actually out of stock in stores. About one in five (18%) of those who needed an associate’s assistance finding an item reported that employees couldn’t easily locate items within the store, either taking several minutes or failing to locate them entirely.
••• shopper insights
Ho-ho-ho, it’s Social Santa!
Holiday shopping via social media has caught up to in-store shopping, tying as the leading destination for gift discovery this season among all consumers surveyed (46%) and emerging as the clear No. 1 place for Gen Z to discover products (54%), according to research from social intelligence platform Sprout Social.
Amid tariff concerns and rising prices, Sprout Social's Q3 2026 Pulse Survey found consumers are gift-shopping earlier, seeking discounts and prioritizing useful social content over targeted ads. Social’s role extends beyond discovery and into a purchase platform, with 57% of consumers being open to purchasing directly within social apps.
The research also shows that consumers are looking for more useful content, like a deal or a product demonstration, rather than an influx of brand messaging. Promo codes shared by a company or an influencer are the top driver of holiday purchases, followed by posts showing a product in action, while targeted social ads are the least effective driver.
Consumers are closing out their shopping journey on social by heading to platforms like TikTok (50%), Facebook (46%) and Instagram (44%) for customer service and using direct messages as their preferred way to contact a brand (55%). To meet their high expectations for speed of customer care, 70% of consumers are comfortable with brands using AI-powered tools to deliver faster responses.