Retail sentiment looks healthy this year. Satisfaction is high, most shoppers say they’d buy again, and spending intent is up. The numbers that actually predict loyalty sit underneath those toplines.
Every figure below comes from Alchemer’s 2026 retail research: the 2026 Holiday Shopper Report and the 2026 Retail Report: Retail AI Adoption Outpaces Consumer Trust, both based on a survey of 1,002 U.S. shoppers. Together they tell one story. Shoppers will forgive a lot, right up until they quietly stop coming back.
TL;DR — key takeaways
- 80.6% of shoppers had a positive recent experience, yet 40.1% started shopping somewhere brand new this year.
- Out-of-stock items are the #1 frustration at 41%, with hidden fees second at 32.3%.
- 47.7% of frustrated shoppers never say anything, and only 20.8% of those who do see a change.
- 67.3% say price decides the purchase, and 42.7% would leave a retailer they like over a price increase.
- 48.5% use AI to research purchases, but only 35.4% trust what it tells them.
1. 80.6% had a good experience — and 40.1% still shopped somewhere new
Satisfaction is high and loyalty is loose. Four in 10 shoppers tried a brand-new retailer this year while the scores held steady, which tells you a positive experience is now the floor rather than the differentiator.
Deep dive: 80.6% of shoppers had a good experience. So why did 40% shop somewhere new?
2. 41% name out-of-stock items as their worst experience
Hidden fees follow at 32.3% and slow checkout at 30.6%. The top frustrations are all availability, transparency or speed problems, and every one of them gets worse under holiday volume.
Deep dive: What frustrates shoppers most in 2026, ranked.
3. 47.7% of frustrated shoppers never tell you
The top reason is that 42.1% didn’t think it would change anything, and 32.9% just stopped shopping there instead. Only 20.8% of shoppers who did speak up ever saw a visible change, which is exactly why the rest stay quiet.
Deep dives: The silent shopper problem quietly costing retailers loyalty · Service recovery: retail’s most underused loyalty lever.
4. 67.3% say price decides the purchase
And 42.7% would abandon a retailer they otherwise like over a significant price increase, more than double the next reason. But hidden fees rank as the #2 frustration of the year, so the cheapest lever available is transparency, not more discounting.
Deep dive: Shoppers want honest pricing, not another discount.
5. 48.5% use AI to research purchases. Only 35.4% trust it.
Adoption ran ahead of belief, and the gap is the single biggest opportunity on the table. Just 15.4% of shoppers trust AI more than other sources, well behind online reviews (36.1%) and friends and family (31.2%).
Deep dive: Half of shoppers use AI to shop. Only a third trust what it tells them.
6. 17.4% discovered their last purchase through an AI tool
That puts AI fourth among discovery channels, ahead of in-store browsing (14.4%) and word of mouth (10.6%). Meanwhile 0.3% plan to buy through AI tools this holiday, so AI is a research surface to win, not a checkout to build.
Deep dives: AI is now retail’s fourth discovery channel · Younger vs. older shoppers: why one AI strategy won’t serve both.
7. 70.2% read reviews — and 42% suspect they’re fake
Reviews remain the most trusted purchase input, and the most doubted. Google leads influence at 51.6%, and Gen AI summaries (13.6%) already carry more weight than YouTube or Trustpilot, which means a machine’s paraphrase of your reviews is becoming the review.
Deep dive: 70% of shoppers read reviews. 42% suspect the ones they read are fake.
What these numbers add up to
Three patterns run through the 2026 data. Satisfaction is high but loyalty is loose. Most friction never gets reported. And trust is the scarce resource, whether it’s trust in your pricing, your reviews or your AI. Collection isn’t the constraint anymore. Visible action is.
Put the numbers to work
The retailers who come out ahead catch friction early, act on it fast and show shoppers their input changed something. That’s what Alchemer is built for:
- Omnichannel feedback collection captures shopper voice across in-store QR codes, post-purchase surveys, email, SMS and your app.
- Integrations and closed-loop action put feedback into the systems your locations already run on, routing responses to the right team and closing the loop with the shopper automatically.
- Listings, review and reputation management monitors and responds to reviews across Google, Amazon and everywhere else shoppers look, from one place.
- Alchemer Pulse reads open-text feedback for themes and sentiment by age, channel or location, with built-in controls that keep a human in the loop.
Want the full picture? Read the complete 2026 Holiday Shopper Report for the seven priorities shaping the season, and the 2026 Retail Report: Retail AI Adoption Outpaces Consumer Trust for the full AI and review analysis. Or see how it works in practice: explore Alchemer for Retail and request a demo.
Methodology: Alchemer’s Research Solutions team surveyed 1,002 U.S. shoppers across age groups, genders and shopping channels about their retail experiences and research habits in 2026.
FAQ
Q: What is the biggest shopper frustration in retail right now?
A: Out-of-stock items, cited by 41% of shoppers, followed by hidden fees at checkout (32.3%) and slow checkout (30.6%), according to Alchemer’s 2026 Holiday Shopper Report.
Q: How many shoppers switch retailers in a year?
A: 40.1% of shoppers started shopping somewhere brand new in the past 12 months, even though 80.6% rated their most recent experience positively.
Q: Do shoppers trust AI shopping recommendations in 2026?
A: Not widely. 48.5% have used AI to research a purchase, but only 35.4% trust AI recommendations completely or mostly, per Alchemer’s 2026 Retail Report.
Q: Where can I find Alchemer’s full 2026 retail data?
A: In the 2026 Holiday Shopper Report and the 2026 Retail Report on AI adoption and trust, both based on a survey of 1,002 U.S. shoppers.