Shoppers make decisions differently depending on the environment.
Shoppers behave differently in aisles than they do online, even when the product, mission, and shopper are the same. In-store decisions are shaped by sensory cues and the physical context of the trip,while online choices are driven by convenience, filters, search visibility, and confidence in the information presented. For CPG brands and retailers,understanding these differences is essential to building an omnichannel strategy that supports how people actually shop across both environments. 1, 2, 3, 4
· About 40% of online spending now comes from impulse buys, showing how powerful digital prompts and offers can be.¹
· Most consumers still report unplanned discretionary purchases in stores, even when they intend to cut back on spending.²
· Around 84% of U.S. shoppers say sensory elements in retail spaces influence whether they buy.³
· Omnichannel shoppers expect consistent pricing, promotions, and product information across channels.⁴
· Brick-and-mortar remains a center of impulse behavior, while roughly 20% of total e-commerce sales are driven by impulse.⁵
Shopping behavior changes when the setting changes. A shopper who is relaxed at home with a phone in hand faces a very different context than the same shopper racing through a busy supermarket at the end of the workday. In a physical store, decisions unfold in a sensory-rich environment. Shoppers are surrounded by color, motion, sound, and product textures. They see full-size packaging,read physical labels, and feel the weight and dimensions of items in real time.Aisle layout, end caps, and secondary placements all create a series of deliberate encounters that guide attention and influence what ends up in the basket.²,³
Online, the experience is filtered through a screen. Instead of walking aisles,shoppers scroll search results, tap into category pages, and refine choices with filters. The digital shelf is organized by algorithms, not gondolas.Shoppers rarely see an entire category at once; they see what fits within a limited view port or what is highlighted by the retailer’s ranking logic.Because they cannot touch or hold products, they rely heavily on imagery,titles, nutrition or ingredient callouts, and reviews to form an opinion.¹,⁴
These environmental differences change how quickly decisions are made, how many alternatives are considered, and how confident shoppers feel at checkout.In-store, time pressure, physical fatigue, and social context can all nudge faster decisions. Online, shoppers can dwell, compare, and abandon carts more easily, which can either clarify choices or prolong them.
Inside a store, sensory experience and physical placement do much of the heavy lifting. Packaging is not just branding; it becomes a decision tool. Colors, contrast on the shelf, typography, and pack architecture all influence which products shoppers notice first and which they interpret as premium, value, or trustworthy.³ Lighting, scent, and even background music contribute to an overall impression that can make shoppers feel more relaxed, more curious, or more hurried, depending on how they are managed.3,1,3
Unplanned purchases in-store are often triggered by what shoppers encounter along the way rather than what was on their original list. Research in 2025found that nearly three-quarters of U.S. consumers made at least one unplanned in-store discretionary purchase in the prior month, even as many said they intended to cut back.² Limited-time promotions, eye-catching displays, and secondary placements near planned purchases were among the most common triggers.²
The social environment also matters. Shoppers may notice what others are putting into their carts, ask associates for recommendations, or seek reassurance from a family member standing beside them. This live feedback loop can accelerate decisions and encourage trial of new products, especially when supported by clear shelf communication and intuitive category organization. For CPG brands, winning in-store means treating every facing, display, and sign as a micro-conversation with the shopper that has to make sense in seconds.
Online behavior is shaped by information access and perceived control. Shoppers who open a retailer’s app or website are often trying to solve a specific problem: restock a basket, price-compare a brand, or find an item that matches a dietary or functional need. They expect to be able to search quickly, filter intelligently, and move from discovery to checkout without friction.⁴ The digital shelf rewards products that are easy to find and easy to understand at a glance.
Impulse still plays a role, but in different ways. Recent analyses suggest that around 40% of online spending is tied to impulse buying, often sparked by discounts, time-limited offers, or personalized recommendations.¹⁵ Unlike a physical display at the end of an aisle, these prompts appear as banners,pop-ups, sidebar suggestions, or “you may also like” carousels integrated into the browsing experience. When those prompts feel relevant and timely, they can nudge shoppers toward add-on purchases; when they feel random or intrusive,shoppers ignore them or disengage.
Trust is a critical filter for online decisions. Shoppers rely on accurate product descriptions, complete specifications, and honest reviews to compensate for the lack of physical interaction. If imagery looks inconsistent,information does not match what they remember from the package, or pricing feels out of line with what they see in-store, confidence drops.⁴ Cart abandonment, retailer switching, and brand switching can all rise when the digital experience does not support the same level of assurance that shoppers get from a well-managed aisle.
Most shoppers no longer think in terms of separate channels; they think in terms of a single journey that happens to cross devices and locations. They might start with a search for a new product on their phone, read reviews on a laptop later, then look for that same item in a physical store over the weekend.⁴⁶ Others may first encounter a product on an in-store display but ultimately buy online because delivery, price, or availability is more attractive there.
This blending shows up in common behaviors such as web-rooming and show-rooming.Some shoppers research thoroughly online before heading to the store with a short, confident list. Others browse the aisle to confirm quality or compare options physically, then place a digital order to ship home. Both behaviors treat the brand and retailer as a unified experience, not as disconnected touchpoints competing for attention.
For CPG brands and retailers, these patterns underscore why alignment matters.If pricing is dramatically different, promotions are completely misaligned, or core product claims do not match across channels, shoppers notice.⁴⁷ The result can be confusion, frustration, or simply a quiet shift to a competitor whose experience feels more consistent.
Recognizing that shoppers behave differently in-store vs online is only the starting point. The real value comes from designing strategies that use each environment for what it does best while keeping the overall experience coherent. In-store, that means treating space as a storytelling tool: using packaging, shelf placement, and displays to make the category easy to navigate and the value of each product clear. Online, it means treating every product detail page as a mini-landing page that must stand on its own while still matching what shoppers see on the physical package.
Promotions and pricing are another critical bridge. Omnichannel shoppers increasingly expect that core pricing logic will be consistent, even when individual offers differ by channel.⁴⁷ When a shopper sees a fair, explainable relationship between what is offered in-store and what is offered online, trust grows. When that relationship is missing, even a strong short-term promotion can backfire if it leaves shoppers feeling misled.
The most effective brands use data from both aisles and algorithms to refine their approach. They look at which SKUs over-index in each channel, which product attributes matter most online versus in-store, and where shoppers drop off along the journey. They then feed those insights back into packaging decisions, digital content, and merchandising plans.
If your team is working to better align in-store merchandising with digital shelf strategy, clarify omnichannel pricing signals, or understand where your shopper journeys are breaking down, contact below to explore how CPGBrokers and Associates can help you turn those questions into a practical action plan.
How To Win with Omnichannel Marketing
1. Awisee – “Impulse Buying Statistics 2025:Powerful Trends and Insights.”
2. BusinessWire / Optimum Retailing – “New Optimum Retailing research: 72% of Americans made unplanned purchases in-store in the past month.”
3. Amra & Elma – “Best Sensory Marketing Statistics 2025.”
4. Stibo Systems – “Omnichannel Commerce:Creating a Seamless Shopping Experience.”
5. Capital One Shopping – “Impulse Buying Statistics (2025): Consumer Spending Habits.”
6. McKinsey & Company – “What is omnichannel marketing?”
