The great purchase pause

TOGETHER WITH

Shoppers are putting their purchases on pause.

Don’t get us wrong—shoppers haven’t completely stopped shopping. But they have gotten a lot pickier. We teamed up with impact.com to take a look at shifting trends in the first half of 2026.

We’ll use these brand-spankin’-new benchmark insights to see what shifts you can make in your strategy to win over those picky shoppers this holiday season.

Let’s see what the numbers say.

Winning at checkout

Click counter

In 2026, clicks increased 6% YoY overall and surged 13%–19% YoY from March to May, yet conversion rates fell 12% YoY.

Rising prices

A 16% increase in AOV was primarily due to a 13% rise in price per item, rather than larger cart sizes (+3%).

More for less

With transactions down 7%, the 8% growth in consumer spending (brand revenue) shows that consumers are paying more for fewer goods.

Phew, that’s a whole lot of clicks for very little conversion…but like we said earlier, shoppers are now being *much* pickier about where they spend their money.

That means shoppers are doing some heavy research before they spend a single penny of their hard-earned money. And they’re taking more time to think about their purchase decisions before they add to cart.

So here’s what you need to do: Make sure you’re engaging shoppers throughout the entire consideration process, especially as it gets longer and more complex. Give consumers a real reason to come back to your brand and maintain continuity across all your channels.

Getting the click is nice. Getting the conversion? That’s the goal.

Budget tight, spend right

Spending spree

Total brand spending grew faster (+10%) than consumer spending (+8%).

Money moves

Brands are moving budgets from fixed-cost payment models (-19%) to performance-based commissions (+14%).

Fixed freefall

Fixed-cost budgets plummeted 19%.

Brands are making tons of money moves. And not the fun ones, either. They’re making moves to adjust their budgets because of the recent slowdown in shopper spending.

But that doesn’t mean they’re spending less. Brands are actually spending more—they’re just being a lot more intentional with how they spend.

That means there’s no better time than now to take a second look at your budget. Cut any costs that aren’t paying off. Put your budget behind outcomes and performance. And reward your partners who are helping to get shoppers across the finish line.

Spend big, prove bigger. That’s the new budget mantra.

Follow the growth

Performance review

Performance-based commissions increased 14%.

Repeat business

Loyalty + rewards increased their transaction volumes by 7% YoY.

Power up

Technology solutions increased their transaction volume by 15% YoY.

We’re not all doom and gloom here. There’s good news: Commissions are up, loyalty and rewards keep growing, and tech is really helping push more sales through.

So where should you invest your time, effort, and money? Well, we think that answer’s pretty clear.

The only two categories that successfully drove transaction growth were loyalty and rewards and tech solutions—which shows just how important lower-funnel, high-intent channels are in converting customers who are a lot more cautious.

When shoppers are more careful with their dollars, it pays to be closer to checkout.

A match made in marketing

Ready to pull out all the stops to catch the eyes of picky shoppers? impact.com can help. They’re the world’s leading partnership platform, and they’re here to help you drive performance-based growth with the right affiliate partner for your brand.

Stop chasing those choosy consumers and start converting them.