Consumers don’t want to do a lot of research and make a lot of decisions anytime they make a routine purchase. That’s too much work. Unless there’s a great reason not to, shoppers go to their usual store without much consideration.
Close to eight in 10 grocery shoppers made their last purchase at their go-to store, and roughly two-thirds did so without comparing prices across merchants. About seven in 10 of those who do compare prices find their store already had the best deal.
Payment options rarely drive shoppers’ merchant choice. Just 1% to 2% of shoppers name payment options as the main reason they chose the store. Still, 29% say those options influenced or determined their choice. Among millennials, that figure climbs to 41%.
Store Loyalty Shifts With Age and Budget
When consumers are shopping for groceries, they usually stick to their routine. Seventy-eight percent of shoppers’ most recent grocery purchases were completed at their main grocery store. Just 2% went to a new store or one they couldn’t recall. Meanwhile, people are more likely to branch out for retail. Sixty-one percent of shoppers’ latest retail purchases were made at their main store, while 33% went to a familiar store that wasn’t their primary store.
These findings are in line with how shoppers describe their overall habits, not just their most recent purchases. When asked how they choose where to buy groceries, 36% said they always or usually go with their preferred store. These shoppers are the self-described loyalists. Meanwhile, only 28% said they choose based on the best deal. These are, accordingly, the deal seekers. In retail, the shares of loyalists and deal seekers are roughly equal, at 30% each.
Among grocery loyalists, 85% made their last purchase at their main store, versus just 71% of deal seekers. In retail, the gap is wider, at 77% versus 53%, respectively. Overall, it seems retailers have to work harder than grocers to win shoppers’ loyalty every time, especially when targeting younger generations.
Younger consumers are more easily won over by other merchants, while budget pressure cuts both ways.
Younger generations are less tied to a single store. Among baby boomers and seniors, preferred-store shoppers outnumber deal seekers by 12 points, at 37% versus 25%. Among millennials and Gen Z, that gap shrinks to roughly 4 to 5 points.
Similarly, 66% of baby boomers and seniors went back to their main store for their last retail purchase, compared with just 53% of Gen Z. Gen Z shoppers were also more than twice as likely as baby boomers and seniors to say their most recent purchase was at a store they’d never been to before or one they can’t remember.
Budget pressures also factor in. Among grocery shoppers who don’t live paycheck to paycheck, 39% tend to choose their preferred store, while 26% prioritize the best deal. Among those living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to pay bills, the gap narrows to 36% versus 30%.
However, financially constrained consumers are somewhat counterintuitively more likely than others to have made their most recent retail purchase at their usual spot. Two-thirds of consumers living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to pay bills went back to their primary merchant, compared with 57% of shoppers who don’t live paycheck to paycheck. It may be that the former category has fewer options when deciding where to shop because of their economic limitations.
Convenience Wins Over Price
Most consumers choose where to shop based on convenience, not price.
Before their most recent grocery purchase, just 32% of shoppers compared prices with another store. Moreover, 38% didn’t check prices at all, not even at the store they ultimately picked. Retail shoppers were even less likely to compare. Twenty-nine percent compared prices across multiple stores, and 43% didn’t check prices at all.
Comparison is far more common among younger and financially stretched shoppers. In groceries, 46% of Gen Z and 43% of millennials compared prices with another store, compared with 26% of Gen X and 19% of baby boomers and seniors. Additionally, 36% of grocery shoppers who live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to pay bills compared prices, versus just 26% of those who don’t live paycheck to paycheck.
Unsurprisingly, deal seekers are more likely than loyalists to compare. Twenty-seven percent of deal seekers skipped checking prices, versus 40% of loyalists.
Price comparing may become more common over time. The share of consumers reporting frequent cash-flow shortfalls (meaning they often or always ran short of money for living expenses or emergencies in the previous 90 days) reached 19% of consumers in 2026. That’s up from 15% in 2024 and 17% in 2025. If the trend holds, more shoppers may need to start checking prices before they buy.
Checking prices usually just validates shoppers’ original choice.
Roughly seven in 10 shoppers who compared prices found that their chosen store had the best price. Another 17% found prices about the same, and 11% saw a lower price elsewhere but bought from their chosen store anyway.
Age factors in, too. Among grocery shoppers who compared prices, 82% of baby boomers and seniors found their store had the best price, compared with 65% of Gen Z. Still, 16% of price-comparing Gen Z grocery shoppers and 19% of price-comparing Gen Z retail shoppers bought from their chosen store even though another was cheaper.
For these shoppers, factors other than price, such as convenience or product, appear to carry the decision.
Convenience was the main factor driving merchant choice for 34% of grocery shoppers and 33% of retail shoppers. Those figures encompass shoppers who chose based on location (28% for grocery and 23% for retail), the web or app experience (2% and 5%) or delivery or pickup options (4% and 5%).
Price and deals are the next-most-common factor, at 26% and 28%, followed by product quality and availability, at 25% and 23%. Eleven percent in both categories cited past experience with the store. Payment options barely registered at 1% and 2%.
Unsurprisingly, those who compare prices are more motivated by deals than the average consumer. Among retail shoppers who compared, 32% said price and deals drove their store choice, versus 27% choosing based on products and 26% based on convenience. Conversely, among those who didn’t check prices, 38% said convenience was the top factor. Convenience also led among millennials, at 40%. Baby boomers and seniors were the one generation where price and deals edged ahead of convenience (31% versus 28%).
Payment Options Influence Store Choice
Roughly four in 10 millennials say a merchant’s payment options influenced or decided where they shopped.
Though only 1% to 2% of shoppers cited payment methods or installment plans as the main factor driving their choice of store, far more consumers at least consider these things when deciding where to shop. Twenty-nine percent of grocery shoppers and 31% of retail shoppers said those options influenced or determined where they bought. They matter more to younger consumers. Among millennials, those shares rise to 41% for both grocery and retail, and for Gen Z, 38% and 35%, respectively. By contrast, only 16% of baby boomers and seniors said payment options influenced or determined where they bought groceries, and 22% for retail.
Among deal seekers, 43% said payment method availability shaped their choice, compared with about one in four loyalists. Financial strain also plays a part. In retail, shoppers living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to pay bills were nearly twice as likely as those not living paycheck to paycheck to call payment the deciding factor (17% versus 9%).
Speed and familiarity matter most at checkout.
When asked which aspect of a merchant’s payment options mattered most on their last purchase, most shoppers pointed to an easy checkout. Fifty-nine percent of grocery shoppers and 53% of retail shoppers chose one of two answers: being able to pay quickly and easily (30% and 26%, respectively) or being able to use their preferred payment method (29% and 27%). Another 17% of grocery shoppers and 19% of retail shoppers said no payment aspect mattered.
Getting extra value from their payments isn’t a top consideration for most consumers. Fifteen percent of grocery shoppers and 17% of retail shoppers said value mattered most. Most of that share came from payment-linked discounts or cash back, at 12% for groceries and 13% for retail. Just 3% in each category sought the ability to pay over time.
All generations want a smooth checkout experience. Between 55% and 63% of each age group put removing friction first. Meanwhile, younger consumers are more likely to seek value from their payment method. In groceries, the share most focused on payment-linked value rises from 10% of baby boomers and seniors to 23% of Gen Z. In retail, it increases from 13% to roughly one in five among younger generations. Meanwhile, the share of grocery shoppers who said no payment feature mattered falls from 23% of baby boomers and seniors to 9% of Gen Z. Notably, budget pressure makes little difference in what shoppers want from payments.
Overall, a fast checkout that accepts the methods shoppers already use can help hold onto a sale among those swayed by payment options. For younger customers, payment-linked discounts and cash back may add one more reason to choose one store over another.
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Methodology
The latest edition of How People Shop and Pay, a PYMNTS Intelligence exclusive series, is based on a survey of 2,102 U.S. adults conducted from Sept. 11–27, 2026. This report examines how consumers decide where to shop for groceries and retail products. The sample was balanced to match the U.S. adult population, and respondents were 51% female with an average age of 47.8.
