Shoppers are pulling back from e-commerce – here’s why
Consumers are becoming less likely to engage with retailers online, with several economic and behavioral factors as key drivers.
Daily online shopping frequency is dropping sharply, falling from 21% to 9% in the past year. The Salsify 2026 Consumer Research report also reveals that brick-and-mortar stores (60%) now outrank online marketplaces (57%) and social platforms (52%) among surveyed consumers for discovery of new products.
[READ MORE: ICSC: 152 million consumers visited a shopping center over Thanksgiving weekend]
More than half (54%) of respondents use two to three channels for mid-range items, while 30% use four to six channels and 11% use up to 10 for big-ticket purchases.
In addition, 45% of respondents have returned an online purchase due to incorrect or misleading information, with millennials returning at the highest rate of 56%. And younger consumers are especially prone to abandon purchases when product details do not match across sites, with 45% of Gen Z 43% of millennial respondents having done so.
Another indication of declining consumer interest in online shopping is a 17% decline in viral product purchases, 16% drop in purchases driven by influencers, 12% reduction in livestream shopping and 9% fall in virtual try-ons.
The survey also indicates artificial intelligence is not having a widespread impact on consumer shopping decisions. While 22% of respondents use AI tools to research products, only 14% trust AI recommendations enough to rely on them regularly, and one-third do not use AI shopping tools at all.
The survey also examined how economic pressures are affecting consumer spending and shopping:
- Four-in-10 (39%) respondents compare prices more carefully.
- Thirty-eight percent of respondents reduce spending in specific categories.
- Thirty-seven percent of respondents choose lower-priced alternatives regardless of origin.
- One-in-three respondents now prioritizes domestically made products.
- Twenty-seven percent of respondents are delaying discretionary purchases.
- One-in-five respondents is buying more secondhand goods.
Other findings
- Durability and longevity are the top signals of product value at 54%, with reviews close behind at 47%.
- Forty-three percent of surveyed parents say their Gen Alpha children (ages 8-14) influence purchases, and 9% say kids drive most household decisions, especially in food and beverage, fashion and electronics.
"Consumers are recalibrating," said Dom Scarlett, research director at Salsify. "They are being selective, they are verifying every detail, and they expect product information that gives them confidence from the start. When content falls short, they walk away."
Salsify surveyed nearly 3,000 consumers across the U.S., U.K. and Canada online via SurveyMonkey in October 2025.
