Gen Z’s “Back to the Store” Surprise—and What It Means for Marketers

Read Time: 8 minutes

For a decade, the easy assumption was that Gen Z (13 to 28 year olds, born 1997 through 2012)—raised on smartphones, social feeds, and two-day delivery—would treat physical stores as a relic. But retail is getting a plot twist. Gen Z isn’t abandoning e-commerce; they’re simply refusing to live entirely inside it. They’re showing up in stores, lingering in malls, and treating shopping as something closer to entertainment than errand-running.

A 2024 study from strategy consultancy L.E.K. found that about 64% of Gen Zers prefer shopping in-store over online. That’s not a rounding error—it’s a meaningful shift in how “digital native” should be interpreted. Gen Z uses digital tools constantly, but they don’t always want the purchase to happen digitally.

PwC’s 2025 analysis frames it the same way: 61% of Gen Z prefer to discover new products in-store, and their holiday data showed an increase in the share of Gen Z planning to shop in-store more frequently than usual. PwC Translation: if your brand story and product discovery live only on a screen, you’re missing where a lot of curiosity is actually being converted.

Why Gen Z is walking back into stores

1) Shopping isn’t just shopping—it’s an “event.”
Gen Z is stressed, budget-aware, and constantly online. The store becomes a break from the infinite scroll—a place where the experience itself matters. PwC puts it bluntly: the path to purchase is no longer linear; Gen Z might discover on social, compare in-app, and then buy in-store. This isn’t nostalgia. It’s a desire for something real: texture, scale, scent, fit, and the feeling of confidence that comes from seeing something with your own eyes.

2) Stores reduce decision risk in a world of “too many choices.”
Online is efficient—until it isn’t. Endless options create decision fatigue, and Gen Z is keenly aware of being marketed to. L.E.K. notes Gen Z values in-store shopping, and their behavior often comes down to what’s most efficient and seamless for the specific purchase. In other words: sometimes the fastest path to certainty is walking into a store and touching the product.

3) The mall is quietly becoming Gen Z’s modern town square.
McKinsey has pointed out that Gen Z “actually enjoy shopping in person” and have even been credited with revitalizing mall culture. The National Retail Federation also highlights Gen Z’s influence on malls, noting how experience-driven retailers and curated events create energy and foot traffic. For a generation that socializes digitally, physical spaces that feel safe, fun, and shareable have renewed value.

4) They want convenience—but on their terms.
Gen Z’s love of stores comes with a warning label: don’t waste their time. Adyen research (as reported by Payments Dive) found almost three-quarters of Gen Z shop in-person at least once a week, and they often consider it an experience. Payments Dive But the same research found three in five will abandon a purchase if checkout lines are too long, and if their preferred payment method isn’t available, many will walk. Payments Dive

That’s why the winners are building stores that feel like the best parts of online—speed, clarity, flexibility—without losing the best parts of physical retail: discovery and human connection.

The real “hybrid” truth: Gen Z is not choosing store or online—they’re choosing both

The most accurate way to understand Gen Z is not “back to brick-and-mortar,” but “fluid across channels.” Consider click-and-collect behavior. A GoDaddy Consumer Pulse survey found 86% of Gen Z buy items online for in-store or curbside pickup at least once per month (and 23% do so weekly).

And in late 2025, International Council for Shopping Centers reported that shopping centers remained a key destination during the holiday rush, with Gen Z leading the pack in planned retail-property visits. ICSC ICSC also noted that nearly 6 in 10 dollars spent in the final holiday stretch would involve a store visit, including click-and-collect purchases—a reminder that the store is increasingly a fulfillment hub as well as a showroom. ICSC

So yes, Gen Z is in the store. But they arrived there through search, TikTok, reviews, maps, and text threads. The store is not the whole journey—it’s the decisive moment.

What Gen Z wants from the in-store experience

If you boil the research down, Gen Z’s in-store demand sounds like this:

Make it easy. Make it fast. Make it worth leaving the house.

That means:

• Frictionless payment and checkout. (Long lines are a deal-breaker.) Payments Dive
• Inventory confidence. If the shelf is empty, they won’t “ask a manager”—they’ll leave and order elsewhere.
• A reason to browse. Displays, drops, limited runs, demos, and events. (Shopping as entertainment.)
• Visual moments. Stores that photograph well and feel like content.
• Trust cues. Clear pricing, honest signage, and staff who help without hovering.

And because Gen Z is also the generation of returns, retailers need to treat the post-purchase experience as part of brand building. NRF estimates 15.8% of annual sales will be returned in 2025 (about $849.9B), and notes younger shoppers drive significant return volume. National Retail Federation Returns aren’t just operations—they’re marketing. A smooth return preserves loyalty; a painful one sends Gen Z back to the internet to complain.

What this means for local marketers, ad agencies, and media sellers

This shift is a gift to local marketing—because stores are local by definition.

If Gen Z is returning to physical retail, then local advertising regains a superpower: it can drive measurable foot traffic, not just clicks. Here’s the practical playbook.

1) Sell “store visits” as the KPI, not just impressions.
Retailers should measure:

• Store traffic lift during campaigns
• Promo code redemption tied to specific media
• Click-and-collect volume by week
• Category lift (e.g., “beauty,” “sneakers,” “grab-and-go”)

2) Build campaigns around moments, not months.
Gen Z responds to drops, events, and limited-time experiences. Your calendar should include:

• New-product weekends
• Creator meetups or demos
• Student nights
• “Bring-a-friend” bundles
• Pop-up partnerships with complementary local brands

3) Use media that’s good at creating anticipation.
Audio, local social, OOH, and community newsletters excel at the “I’m going there” mindset. If shopping is an event, then marketing is the invite.

4) Make the store a content studio.
Every in-store moment should produce:

• short videos (try-ons, demos, before/after)
• quick customer interviews
• “what’s new this week” clips
• staff picks and local favorites

Then distribute through paid social and local publisher platforms—turning physical presence into digital reach.

5) Respect the value mindset.
Gen Z wants experience—but they’re also deal-aware. ICSC notes value is a major deciding factor for where consumers shop late in the season. ICSC Agencies can help retailers communicate value without looking cheap: bundles, loyalty perks, and limited offers framed as access (“members get first pick”) instead of desperation (“everything must go”).

The bottom line

Gen Z isn’t rejecting digital commerce. They’re rejecting soulless commerce.

They’ll research online, compare in apps, and still walk into a store because the store offers something the internet can’t: immediacy, confidence, sensation, and social energy. The retailers—and marketers—who win won’t treat the store as a warehouse with fluorescent lighting. They’ll treat it as a stage.

And for local media and agencies, that’s the opportunity: help retailers turn foot traffic into habit, habit into loyalty, and loyalty into a brand that lives in the customer’s real world—where Gen Z is spending more time than the “everything online” story ever predicted.