Dive Brief:
- Digital fatigue is pushing many consumers back into physical stores, but retailers can miss the opportunity if they don’t give shoppers a respite from screens, JLL says in a report released Aug. 17.
- JLL suggests retailers follow three principles to attract consumers tired of digital distractions: let them discover products on their own terms, provide sensory-regulating spaces that support comfort and create areas that inspire social sharing.
- One way to flesh out these principles is to build rhythm into the journey of shopping, layering visual details to create interest, but “never noise,” the report says.
Dive Insight:
Despite e-commerce sales continuing to grow, in-store shopping remains the dominant shopping channel, representing more than 80% of all consumer spending, according to the report. More than 80% of consumers say they enjoy finding products they never would have searched for digitally, said JLL, which surveyed 1,100 U.S. consumers.
The continued preference for in-store shopping helped retail demand in the U.S. rebound in the second quarter of 2026 as malls and neighborhood centers saw meaningful absorption and general retail, like freestanding stores and single-tenant boxes, experienced their strongest quarter to date, according to the firm’s Q2 retail market snapshot.
But not all retail space is attractive to consumers who are looking to the in-store experience as an antidote to digital fatigue, JLL says. The number one ranked attribute of a positive store experience is a lack of technology that allows shoppers to focus on touching and feeling products, the report said. Almost 75% of surveyed consumers said they would shop more often at a quieter, lower-stimulation store.
Retail operators should also try to provide spaces that consumers want to share with others, “because they feel genuine, not because they were engineered for a social post,” JLL says. The firm says that the most sharable spaces aren’t designed as social media backdrops, but rather as environments where people have a reason to linger, connect and participate. For example, hosting a program in the space can help to make it feel culturally relevant.
In addition to drawing in shoppers, digital-free spaces can provide a boost to workers. Just over 80% of employees want employers to design spaces for their well-being, with 53% preferring fewer screens at work, JLL said.
Although digital fatigue is shared across the population, it is expressed differently by each generation, according to the report. Just over half, or 53%, of Gen Z actively reject online shopping, preferring physical browsing that does not come with algorithmic influence.
Millennials and Gen X, meanwhile, more often reported the quality of their shopping experiences were linked to comfort of the spaces. Seventy-eight percent of millennials said they would shop more if stores offered a quieter space, while 74% of Gen X said they have left a story early due to feeling overwhelmed.
Boomers are the one generation that contiues to prioritioze online shopping. More than half, or 54%, say that they prefer online shopping with personalized recommendations, the report says.
Neurodivergent individuals, which make up 15% to 20% of the population, have their own issues with in-store shopping. Few retail spaces are designed with their needs in mind, says Gensler, the global design firm. For many, simply navigating a store can result in sensory overload, such as stress and fatigue, according to the design firm
