Welcome to the vibe economy

Our new data demystifies the idea that economic uncertainty makes consumers more rational, practical shoppers. The behaviour emerging is actually an uptick in retail therapy.

While two-thirds of Canadians (66%) say they are more selective with their spending than last year, and 60% say low prices define “what is cool in 2026”, selectivity has not dampened their emotional spending. 

Canadians are shopping to feel, and a staggering 35% make emotion-led purchases every week.

9 in 10 Canadians make purchases primarily based on how products make them feel.

Self-reward is the dominant driver at 87%, but comfort (38%) and stress relief (25%) are significant secondary motivators. Shopping has become as much about mood as merchandise.

When Canadians spend with intention, every purchase moment carries more weight. Merchants who deliver the right experience and a frictionless transaction build lasting loyalty.

What this means for merchants

When a consumer decides to treat or comfort themselves, the window of intent is highly emotional and fragile. Friction at checkout kills the mood. To capture these spontaneous, emotion-led sales, retailers need an optimized payment setup. This means offering hyper-fast authorization rates and preferred payment methods like digital wallets or flexible options like Buy Now, Pay Later that remove financial hesitation at the exact moment of inspiration.

For years, the rise of online shopping had retailers bracing for the downfall of physical stores. Now, Canadians are returning to brick-and-mortar in force, but they're looking for more than a transaction.

58% of Canadians visit stores with no intent to buy, seeking connection, discovery, and time well spent.

Window shopping in 2026 looks more like social wellness. Canadians are deliberately choosing retail spaces that offer connection, community, and engagement with brands.

Gen Z leads this shift, with 69% treating stores as social environments beyond home or work, but the appetite is cross-generational, from Millennials (61%) to Boomers (51%).

Importantly, browsing still converts. With a resounding 91% of all Canadians saying they make emotion-led purchases, the shopper who arrives without purchase intent often leaves having bought something anyway.

Physical retail is evolving into something new. The store is becoming a social and experiential venue, and retailers who invest in that transformation are building repeat traffic and lasting customer relationships.

What this means for merchants

Turning a "hangout space" into a revenue generator requires queue busting. If a consumer has spent an hour relaxing in your store, forcing them into a stagnant line destroys the experience that was just created. Retailers need to reimagine the point of sale, whether that means implementing mobile POS for customers to check out organically on the floor during a conversation or a big display terminal that makes loyalty seamless.

Across bookstores, thrift stores, and malls, a common thread defines Canada’s favourite third spaces: discoverability. Environments that reward wandering are thriving, and this appetite for the tangible is showing up directly in what Canadians buy.

When given the choice between physical and digital versions of products, Canadians choose physical by more than two to one. The resurgence of vinyl over streaming, physical books over e-readers, and printed photos over digital is real, measurable, and consistent across every generation.

51% vs. 23% Canadians chose physical over digital versions of products in the past year.

What Canadians are buying for comfort and nostalgia

22% of Canadians say nostalgic or retro aesthetics define what is cool in 2026. Among Gen Z, that number is 32%, nearly three times the rate of Boomers.

What this means for merchants

If a shopper tracks down a vintage vinyl or specific book only to find it out of stock, the magic is gone. Customers love the flexibility of purchasing across multiple channels. But even if you’re delivering omnichannel services, you’re missing out on valuable cross-channel insights if your backend systems aren’t connected. Unified commerce connects your data for better customer experiences.

Gen Z is the most emotionally driven generation of Canadian shoppers — and the most stressed. Their purchasing behaviour is qualitatively different from older generations, and any merchant thinking about the future of their customer base needs to understand it.

5× more likely than Boomers: 43% of Gen Z make stress-driven purchases vs. 9% of Boomers.

Gen Z has tightened spending the least of any generation (60% more selective vs. 67% of Millennials, 71% of Gen X, and 64% of Boomers), but their relative openness to spending is channelled with precision. They direct their dollars toward items that carry personal meaning, express identity, or affirm a sense of belonging. Among this cohort, 51% of emotional purchases are associated with comfort and 43% with stress relief, showing that multiple feelings can drive a single transaction.

How Gen Z defines cool in 2026

While value leads across all demographics, Gen Z layers identity, nostalgia, and community onto their spending in ways unique to their cohort.

Gen Z backs up their nostalgia values with real purchases: 12% bought vinyl records and 15% bought stationery in the past year, the highest rates of any generation for both. Blind boxes and collectibles follow the same pattern, with 30% of Gen Z purchasing them versus 15% nationally.

Spending as identity and community

Gen Z is more than twice as likely as Boomers to shop to express their identity (26% vs. 10%) and to find a sense of belonging (14% vs. 4%). For this generation, a purchase is a statement about who they are and where they belong.

They are also omnichannel by nature, moving fluidly across in-store, online, and social platforms. They may discover a product in-store and complete the purchase through a digital wallet later, or encounter something on social media and visit a physical location to experience it. 

“Gen Z’s spending is emotionally and culturally curated, anchored in nostalgia, identity, and community. Their version of value is layered, and the brands that reflect those layers will earn their loyalty.”

What this means for merchants

Brands with a strong in-store identity and community programming will have natural appeal with this cohort. Younger consumers expect a fluid shopping experience. They do not think in terms of "channels.” They might discover a product on social media, browse it in-store, and ultimately choose to buy it later via a digital wallet on their phone. To win Gen Z, merchants must eliminate the friction between the digital and physical worlds.

The four trends here tell a clear story:

1. Canadians are curating their spending around comfort, belonging, nostalgia, and self-expression rather than simply pulling back.

2. They are returning to physical spaces to browse, discover, and spend time. 

3. The generation leading this shift expects merchants to have seamless and unified experiences.

Converting that emotional investment into a sale comes down to three interconnected dimensions of the checkout experience.

1. Speed: Long queues and slow terminals are disproportionately damaging in a third-space context, where the entire value of the visit rests on the quality of time spent in-store.

2. Payment choice: Whether a customer wants to tap their card, use a digital wallet, or spread the cost through buy-now-pay-later, that flexibility needs to be available and seamless.

3. Brand coherence: The checkout experience should feel like a natural continuation of the brand environment the customer has been immersed in.

“The data tells us that Canadians are spending more intentionally, based on how the shopping experience makes them feel. This should serve as a strong signal for retailers. Merchants who build infrastructure to match these dynamics will turn a comfort purchase into a lasting customer relationship." — Sander Meijers, Canada Country Manager, Adyen

Methodology

These findings are from a survey conducted by Adyen from March 27 to March 31, 2026, among a representative sample of 1,501 online adult Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. The survey was conducted in English and French. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of ±2.53 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.