Introduction: A Generation That Shops Differently

Generation Z — born between 1995 and 2010 — grew up fully digital. They scroll, swipe, and shop online with ease, yet still choose to visit physical stores. Crucially, their motives differ from older cohorts: they don’t just shop, they seek experiences. Recent research confirms the shift: Gen Z shoppers value in-person retail because it’s enjoyable, immediate, and socially engaging — especially for categories like beauty and luxury (Retail Dive, 2024).

“Gen Z doesn’t just shop. They experience.”

Why Gen Z Shops In-Store: Beyond the Transaction

Multiple studies converge on seven key drivers that bring Gen Z to brick-and-mortar retail:

1. Calm, Organized, Sensorially Appealing Spaces

Colliers (2024) highlights that Gen Z prefers clear, clean, and well-organized stores. Chaos or clutter is quickly perceived as negative.

They actively seek sensory calm: pleasant lighting, soothing background music, and friendly service. This makes the store feel like a refuge rather than a chore.

Fit-out implication: create environments that radiate visual clarity and breathing space. Carefully choose lighting, materials, and acoustics to avoid overstimulation.

2. Experience as Priority

According to Retail Dive (2024), Gen Z visits physical stores not only to buy but to experience. Shopping is social and emotional. Long lines or missing payment options quickly ruin that experience, leading to abandonment.

Fit-out implication: design layouts that support smooth customer flows, integrate self-checkout and mobile payment options, and provide spaces where people can linger together.

3. Seamless Omnichannel Journeys

NielsenIQ (2024) notes that Gen Z is the most authentically omnichannel generation: they research online, try in-store, and may complete the purchase later in-app. Nearly half of their total spending still takes place in physical retail.

They also expect real-time stock data, a consistent brand identity, and frictionless transitions between channels. WebDesk Solution (2024) confirms: a unified customer experience across touchpoints is essential.

Fit-out implication: position stores as click-and-collect hubs, include digital kiosks that display the full online assortment, and combine showroom with experience zones.

4. Social Component & Community Spaces

Colliers (2024) reports that a large share of Gen Z wants social elements in stores: cafés, lounges, or areas to meet friends.

Stores are turning into micro-event venues, places to linger, create social content, and connect.

Fit-out implication: design relax zones, seating areas, photo-friendly features, and even small cafés or bars that encourage community and longer dwell times.

5. Personalization and Co-Creation

Gen Z expects brands to know them — and they want to actively participate in shaping products and experiences. NielsenIQ (2024) highlights demand for personalized offers and tailor-made events.

Colliers (2024) emphasizes co-creation: customization stations, co-design elements, and interactive store modules resonate strongly.

Fit-out implication: set up personalization corners — sneaker customization labs, engraving stations, digital personalization tools — so customers can design or co-create.

6. Sustainability & Transparency in Design

For Gen Z, sustainability is not a “nice-to-have” — it’s a requirement. Colliers (2024) points out that they trust brands who integrate ecological principles visibly into their retail design.

This includes the use of natural materials, energy-efficient systems, and storytelling about product origin and environmental initiatives.

Fit-out implication: implement recycled and sustainable materials, energy-efficient lighting, and transparent communication through in-store signage and digital displays.

7. Fast, Easy & Mobile-Friendly

Mintel (2024) research shows Gen Z values speed and convenience above all. They expect fast checkout, minimal waiting, and effortless service.

Retail Dive (2024) confirms: if lines are long or preferred payment options (Apple Pay, contactless, mobile wallets) are missing, they walk away.

Fit-out implication: integrate modern mobile payment systems, contactless terminals, and mobile-first store layouts that support fast movement and minimal friction.

Case Studies: Who’s Getting It Right?

Several retailers are already putting these principles into practice.

Rituals: Turning Shopping Into a Ritual

Rituals transforms stores into tranquil sanctuaries: warm lighting, signature scent, and water basins for product trials. The result is a mindful, sensorial experience that aligns with Gen Z’s values around self-care and authenticity — and it’s deeply shareable (Retail Design Lab, 2024).

Nike House of Innovation: Customization & Community

Nike’s House of Innovation (Paris, New York, Shanghai) merges app-enabled discovery, real-time product info, and on-site customization with events that build community. It’s part showroom, part playground — a perfect match for Gen Z’s desire for personalization and belonging.

Bath & Body Works: Interactive Scent Lab

With the Gingham+ concept, open layouts and playful scent bars invite hands-on discovery, turning browsing into a tactile, social experience that’s naturally suited to Gen Z behavior. This also ties to the category insight that beauty is a strongly in-person preference for Gen Z.

Samsung Experience Stores: Tech in Action

Samsung blurs the line between showroom and store: workshops, guided demos, and try-before-you-buy zones make technology approachable and participatory — exactly how Gen Z prefers to learn and decide.

What the Data Says (and Why It Matters)

In-person is sticky for Gen Z.

Adyen (2025) found that almost three-quarters of Gen Z shop in person weekly, and the majority consider it an “experience.” All generations report spending more in-store vs. online — but the why is pivotal for Gen Z: immediacy, in-store discounts, and convenience of location.

Friction kills conversion.

Three in five Gen Z shoppers will abandon a purchase if the checkout line is long; more than a quarter will leave items behind if their preferred payment method isn’t available (Adyen, 2025). Speed and payment flexibility are non-negotiable.

Omnichannel is table stakes.

NielsenIQ (2024) shows Gen Z’s “omni” reality: social discovery + digital research + in-store verification + flexible fulfillment. The stat that nearly half of their spend sits in physical mass merchandise and grocery reinforces that stores remain essential in the journey.

Social commerce is mainstream.

With 53% using social “buy” buttons (NielsenIQ, 2024), the store should act as both destination and content engine — supporting creator-led discovery and giving shoppers moments worth sharing.

Best Practices: How Retailers Can Adapt (Backed by Evidence)

Design for immersion

Create multi-sensory zones (light, sound, scent, texture), hands-on testing areas, and open sightlines. For beauty, fragrance, and luxury — where Gen Z already prefers in-person — lean into trial and guided discovery to raise dwell time and conversion.

Engineer for speed

Long lines and slow checkout are proven deal-breakers. Offer mobile POS, self-checkout, and clear wayfinding to reduce perceived wait. Keep payment options broad — from contactless to wallets — to prevent abandonment.

Close the omnichannel loop

Let shoppers scan for reviews and inventory, buy online/pick up in store, and return anywhere. NielsenIQ’s (2024) data shows Gen Z expects seamlessness — your physical and digital must feel like one.

Live your values in-store

Show sustainability (recycling points, materials transparency), inclusivity (representative imagery, sizing, accessibility), and community impact — not in a CSR PDF, but on the shop floor. NielsenIQ (2024) finds value alignment materially influences purchase.

Empower your people

Train teams as hosts and co-creators of experience, not just cashiers. Authentic conversations and product storytelling outperform scripts with Gen Z.

Program the space

Run workshops, drop-ins, collabs, and pop-ups that turn stores into social hubs. Use visual moments (customization stations, creator corners) that translate to shareable content and reinforce discovery. NielsenIQ’s (2024) insights on social-to-store behavior support programming as a growth lever.

“For Gen Z, stores are stages — places to connect, discover, and share.”

Roadmap: Start Smart, Scale What Works

Step 1 — Audit the journey
Walk your store like a first-time Gen Z visitor: is the first impression compelling? Can I find, try, and pay fast? What would I post on social from this visit?

Step 2 — Prioritize quick wins
Fix lighting, music, and zoning. Add simple try-me fixtures (scent bars, tester walls), QR for reviews, and small content moments (mirror decals, feature plinths).

Step 3 — Pilot & experiment
Trial a frictionless checkout lane, BOPIS pickup theater, or a customization bar. Use one store or a pop-up to prove the case before rollout.

Step 4 — Measure what matters
Beyond sales, track dwell time, abandonment at checkout, BOPIS adoption, repeats, NPS, and social mentions. Adyen’s (2025) abandonment insight and NielsenIQ’s (2024) omni behaviors give you the why behind the numbers — optimize there.

Conclusion: From Transaction to Transformation

Gen Z is rewriting retail’s rules. They don’t just come to buy — they come to connect, discover, and experience. The data is unequivocal: they prefer in-person for key categories, spend more in stores, and will punish friction. Meet their standards for speed, omnichannel fluidity, and authentic values, and the payoff is loyalty and higher lifetime value.

The future of retail isn’t about more shelves.
It’s about staging experiences, removing friction, and living your values — every time a shopper walks through the door.

“In the Gen Z era, the most successful stores evolve from transaction to transformation.”

Sources

• Adyen (2025) – Gen Z Retail Insights

• NielsenIQ (2024) – How Gen Z Consumer Behavior Is Reshaping Retail

• Retail Dive (2024) – Gen Z favors in-person shopping for beauty and luxury, Adyen finds

• Colliers (2024) – Gen Z and Retail Space Expectations

• WebDesk Solution (2024) – The Importance of Omnichannel Customer Experience

• Mintel (2024) – Gen Z Retail & Payments Study

• Retail Design Lab (2024) – Case Study: Rituals Hasselt