Consumer Behavior

Durham, N.C. – September 30, 2026 -- Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults said they would or might let an AI shopping assistant choose brands on their behalf if it consistently saved them 20% on purchases, according to a nationwide survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by Talker Research on behalf of payments platform Spreedly.

The findings arrive as AI shopping agents, including Meta's newly launched Muse, expand from product discovery into checkout, intensifying scrutiny over how much purchasing authority consumers will cede to automated systems.

Younger consumers show the weakest brand loyalty against AI-driven savings

Thirty-four percent of Gen Z and 30% of Millennials said they would abandon brand loyalty if an AI assistant consistently found the best products at the lowest prices. Among parents with children under five, 60% said they would let AI select brands for a consistent 20% savings.

San Francisco – – September 29, 2026 -- U.S. restaurant and foodservice sales are projected to hit a record $1.55 trillion this year, a 4.8% increase from 2025, according to the National Restaurant Association, as OpenTable releases its first U.S. Restaurant Impact Report quantifying the sector's economic ripple effects. Dining at OpenTable restaurants rose 11% year-over-year, with average per-person spend up 3% to $60, based on OpenTable data covering July 2025 through June 2026.

Restaurant meals trigger $138 in additional nearby spending

60% of diners spend money at neighboring businesses before or after a meal, averaging $138 per visit, per a Ripple Research survey of 1,501 U.S. consumers conducted July 28–August 4, 2026. That figure climbs to $171 for Gen Z diners and $158 for Millennials, pointing to generational differences in local economic contribution.

SAN FRANCISCO – September 28, 2026 -- More than 4 in 5 adults in the United States (85%) and United Kingdom (86%) say cost-of-living pressures have stopped them from donating or donating more over the past six months, according to a new Harris Poll survey of over 3,000 adults commissioned by nonprofit lender Kiva.

Despite the squeeze, 77% of U.S. and 80% of UK adults still gave money in some form during the same period, the survey found. The data lands against a backdrop tracked by Giving USA, which recorded record total charitable giving of $617.20 billion even as individual donors' share of that total slid from roughly 80% in past decades to 64% today.

Princeton, N.J. – September 24, 2026 -- Refuel Agency has introduced Afro-Latino consumers as a standalone research segment for the first time, finding this group leads all measured multicultural audiences in AI tool adoption at 31%, using platforms such as Gemini.

Afro-Latino consumers combine top AI adoption with strong home-centered habits

Despite ranking highest in AI tool usage, 58% of Afro-Latino respondents live in households with children and show a strong preference for entertaining and cooking at home, according to the 2026 Multicultural Explorer study. Refuel's analysts said this combination of digital-forward behavior and traditional household patterns made the segment impossible to keep classified under a broader "other" category.

Princeton, N.J. – September 24, 2026 -- Young adults aged 18-24 have overtaken teens as the primary drivers of brand discovery on TikTok and Instagram, according to Refuel Agency's newly redesigned 2026 Youth, College & Young Adult Explorer study of 1,545 respondents.

Social media engagement now peaks in young adulthood, not the teen years

Young adults lead brand discovery on TikTok at 30% versus 28% for teens, and on Instagram at 29% versus 23%. Adults log nearly double the weekly social media hours of teens -- 40 hours versus 24 -- with college students matching adults at 40 hours weekly. Liz Carmo, EVP Audience & Brand at Refuel Agency, said brand media plans still treating the teen years as the social-media high-water mark are reaching audiences at the wrong intensity.

Calgary – September 22, 2026 -- Forty-one percent of adults under 45 in the U.S. and Canada now pay for services that family and friends once provided, more than double the 18% reported by adults aged 62-80, according to a new study from Cashew Research.

The survey of 2,002 adults, titled The Capacity Gap, found that social support networks remain intact but are failing to convert into practical help. Seventy percent of respondents said they have a good emotional support system and 67% feel connected to a community, yet a widening share are turning to paid services to fill the gap between having support and having the time to use it.

Singapore – September 21, 2026 -- Seoul has emerged as the top overseas holiday destination worldwide for this year's Golden Week, recording a 91% year-on-year jump in international flight bookings, according to new data from Trip.com Group. Chinese travellers are combining Golden Week with the Mid-Autumn Festival into a 13-day break by taking three additional days off, with outbound departures expected to spike as early as September 25 and average trip lengths exceeding nine days.

Chinese Outbound Departures Shift Earlier to Avoid Holiday Rush

More than half of outbound flight bookings this season are for departures before the official holiday begins on October 1, with daily volume peaking on September 25 and 30. The shift comes as Mid-Autumn Festival lands the Friday before the October holidays, prompting travellers to front-load their trips.

San Diego – September 19, 2026 -- A new AI Patient Journey Study from Luth Research finds that roughly 80 percent of patients who use AI for health information pair it with other sources, forming a group the firm labels "hybrid researchers." The study tracked more than 1,500 consumers digitally and surveyed over 500 patients to map movement between AI tools, search engines, and health information sites.

AI speeds initial queries but trusted sites close the decision loop

Patients turn to AI first for speed and plain-language answers: 47 percent use it to explore a doctor's explanation more deeply, and 44 percent say asking AI is easier than asking their physician. When preparing for an appointment or making a treatment decision, reliance shifts to established health information sites trusted for clinical accuracy, which are used by 6 in 10 AI users as a companion source.

San Francisco – September 18, 2026 -- Kindred, the global home-swapping platform, has surpassed 500,000 nights swapped since launching in 2022, a threshold the company says confirms peer-to-peer home exchange has moved beyond niche travel behavior.

Kindred now counts 400,000-plus members across 150-plus cities

The platform reports a member satisfaction score above 9 out of 10 sustained through its recent growth phase. More than 90% of listed homes are members' primary residences rather than investment properties, distinguishing Kindred's model from short-term rental marketplaces and keeping that inventory outside the STR market.

Stockholm – September 18, 2026 -- Only 43% of shoppers believe AI will make their holiday shopping easier this year, down from 48% in 2025, according to new research from Sinch AB (publ) covering 2,501 consumers across eight markets ahead of Black Friday and the holiday season.

Confidence hinges on specific tasks, not AI broadly

While overall optimism about AI declined, confidence surges when AI is assigned a concrete function. 81% of shoppers trust an AI assistant to handle order tracking and shipping updates, and 74% trust it for pre-purchase questions. That confidence drops to 66% for account changes and 62% for payment or billing changes.