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New Attain research reveals Gen Z Spends 25% less, shops more widely and has lower brand loyalty. Co-authored study with dentsu analyzing one year of observed purchase behavior finds Gen Z spreads a smaller wallet across more merchants, directs two-thirds of everyday spending to discretionary categories and challenges traditional views of brand loyalty. October 07, 2026 10:00 ET | Source: Attain NEW YORK, Oct. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Attain, the most trusted and comprehensive source for live purchase data, today released a new research report co-authored with dentsu, Inside the Gen Z Wallet: How Gen Z Spends, Where They Shop, and What They Care About. Drawing on Attain's proprietary consumer data, the study examines a year of Gen Z spending behavior, revealing a generation whose purchasing patterns challenge conventional assumptions about consumer loyalty, retail engagement and the path to purchase. The data depicts a shopper whose wallet is smaller than the average U.S. shopper's, but distributed across a broader set of merchants and disproportionately weighted toward discretionary spending. According to the findings, Gen Z shoppers spend approximately 25% less annually than the average U.S. shopper, yet spread their purchases across 6% more merchants. Their smaller wallets are disproportionately directed toward discretionary categories, including restaurants, entertainment, fitness and mobility. And while Gen Z is more likely than the average shopper to say it values brand names, that affinity doesn't necessarily translate into loyalty: Gen Z is 18% less likely to say it usually buys from the same brands. For brands and marketers, the findings highlight the challenge of understanding and reaching a generation whose spending is increasingly distributed across retailers, categories and purchasing occasions. A smaller wallet, spread across more merchants Analyzing purchase behavior from September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026, the report identifies five key findings: * A smaller wallet, spread wider. Gen Z spends approximately 25% less annually than the average U.S. shopper, yet shops across 6% more merchants. * Discretionary spending dominates. Gen Z directs 66% of its everyday wallet to discretionary categories, compared with 58% for the average U.S. shopper. * Experiences capture outsized spend. Public transit, rideshare, gaming, fitness and restaurants all command a disproportionately large share of Gen Z's wallet. * Brand-conscious, but not brand-loyal. Gen Z is 25% more likely to value brand names over price, but 18% less likely to stick with the same brands. * Convenience wins. Gen Z is 19% more likely to prioritize saving time and 12% less likely to prioritize everyday low prices. What Gen Z's changing wallet means for brands Gen Z's shopping behavior reveals the limitations of relying on individual retailers, platforms or categories to understand consumer demand. As this generation spreads its spending across more merchants and shows greater openness to switching brands, marketers need a more complete picture of purchasing behavior to identify growth opportunities and measure performance. "Gen Z is showing us why the traditional view of the consumer is no longer enough. They shop across more merchants, prioritize different spending occasions and are willing to switch brands," said Jeff Zifrony, SVP of Strategy at Attain. "When you can see what people actually buy across retailers and categories, you can begin to understand the full picture of consumer demand, not just the portion visible within any single platform. That's a critical advantage for brands looking to turn consumer understanding into growth." The report also highlights the importance of connecting brand investment to actual purchase behavior. With Gen Z expressing greater interest in brand names but lower repeat-brand preference, traditional measures of media efficiency may not tell the full story. New-to-brand acquisition, repeat purchase and cross-retailer sales outcomes offer additional ways to understand whether marketing investment is translating into customer growth. "Gen Z's fragmented spending behavior requires brands to connect audience understanding, media planning and buying, commerce and measurement rather than treating them as separate disciplines," said Aisha Khan, Head of Retail and Commerce, dentsu North America. "The research provides an evidence-based foundation for rethinking how brands compete for consumer spending across the full commerce ecosystem." Research Methodology Inside the Gen Z Wallet is a co-authored research report from Attain and dentsu, analyzing consumer purchase behavior from September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026. Spending behaviors are measured using Attain's consumer purchase data. All indexes compare Gen Z with the average U.S. shopper, with an index of 100 representing parity. The report examines shopping frequency, merchant breadth, transaction value, category reach, wallet share and consumer attitudes. Download the full report: here. About Attain Attain is the most trusted and comprehensive source for live purchase data. Through the consumer applications Attain builds and manages, Attain maintains direct relationships with millions of individuals, capturing real-time, deterministic commerce behavior. Attain extends that data across the advertising ecosystem, helping brands, agencies, retailers and media platforms connect media investment to verified sales outcomes. About Dentsu Dentsu is an integrated growth and transformation partner to the world's leading organizations. Founded in 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, and now present in approximately 120 countries and regions, it has a proven track record of nurturing and developing innovations, combining the talents of its global network of leadership brands to develop impactful and integrated growth solutions for clients. Dentsu delivers end-to-end experience transformation (EX) by integrating its services across Media, CXM and Creative, while its business transformation (BX) mindset pushes the boundaries of transformation and sustainable growth for brands, people and society. Dentsu, Innovating to Impact. Media Contact: Aimee Miller Broadsheet Communications for Attain [email protected]

AppsFlyer expands Signal Hub with Experian, Facteus, and Attain, bringing purchase and identity intelligence to audience activation. Three leading data providers join AppsFlyer's signal marketplace, giving marketers privacy-safe access to transaction signals and identity data for audience activation across media platforms SAN FRANCISCO - May 6, 2026 - AppsFlyer today announced that Facteus, Attain, and Experian are joining AppsFlyer Signal Hub as data providers, significantly expanding the depth and breadth of real-world signals available to marketers navigating signal loss and tightening privacy constraints. Signal Hub is AppsFlyer's curated signal marketplace, purpose-built for performance marketers. It enables marketers to build custom audiences from real-world signals like purchase behavior and identity data, and activate them directly across Meta, Google, TikTok, and preferred DSPs all in a single workflow with no additional systems required. Built on integrated clean room and identity-resolution technology, Signal Hub brings together only best-in-class data partners, and today's additions of Experian, Facteus, and Attain significantly expand the depth and breadth of purchase intelligence and identity data available to performance marketers who demand more from their data partnerships. "We built Signal Hub to go beyond addressing signal loss and give marketers the ability to create real custom audiences based on their unique business needs," said Edik Mitelman, General Manager, Data Collaboration Platform at AppsFlyer. "What sets Signal Hub apart is its dedicated to performance marketing. Adding Experian, Facteus, and Attain brings a powerful combination of purchase intelligence and identity data into that workflow, helping teams reach high-value audiences and measure impact across mobile, web, open web, and CTV - without ever leaving their existing system of record." Marketers can now access Facteus transaction intelligence through aggregated purchase signals at significant scale, enabling marketers to build purchase-based audiences and activate them across major platforms. Marketers can access insights derived from 185M active U.S. credit and debit cards, with an average of 4.8B transactions and $320B in spend over the past 90 days, plus $9.2T in five-year spend history refreshed with as little as a one-day lag. "Transaction intelligence should be usable for performance without putting sensitive data at risk," said Lorn Davis, Chief Product Officer at Facteus. "By making Facteus available through AppsFlyer, brands and agencies can apply purchase-based insights to targeting and optimization without receiving raw transactions or individual-level purchase records." Experian adds a complementary layer of credit, financial, and demographic identity data, giving Signal Hub users the ability to build segments that go beyond transactional behavior to reflect a fuller picture of the consumer. The partnership will help advertisers to unlock the reach and connectivity of a brand's first-party data - powering stronger match rates with partners and platforms to develop cross-channel campaigns. "In today's fragmented ecosystem, collaboration and connectivity are essential," said Colin Grieves, Managing Director of Marketing Services, Experian UK&I. "Advertisers need identity solutions that are flexible, interoperable, and privacy first by design. By integrating Experian's resolution capabilities with AppsFlyer, we're enabling UK advertisers to maximize the value of their first party data and improve performance - without compromising trust." Attain rounds out the trio by bringing permission-based consumer purchase data, sourced from credit and debit card transactions across all U.S. card purchasers, into a mobile-first activation environment for the first time at this scale. Attain's purchase-based audience segments are available as custom audiences inside Signal Hub. "Staying competitive today requires staying close to reality," said Brian Mandelbaum, CEO of Attain. "Attain directly captures how people actually spend at a granular level, across all verticals and payment methods. We're excited to be among the first partners in AppsFlyer's Signal Hub, helping define a new, privacy-first approach to activating audiences from live purchase data across the ecosystem."More information about AppsFlyer's Signal Hub can be found here: https://www.appsflyer.com/products/data-collaboration/signal-hub/. AppsFlyer, the Modern Marketing Cloud, today released the State of Subscriptions for Marketers 2026, an analysis of subscription trends across platforms, categories, and geographies. The data reveals a clear shift in what consumers are paying for, how they are paying for it, and where in the world they are doing it. Short Drama (bite-sized serialized video content designed for mobile consumption) is now one of the fastest-growing subscription app categories globally, with paid installs up 155% year-over-year. Audiences in India and LATAM are driving that growth as interest cools in North America, where spend fell 40%. At the same time, Android paid installs now make up the majority of all Android installs for the first time, reflecting a wave of new paying consumers in emerging markets that is reshaping the global app economy. About AppsFlyer. AppsFlyer is the Modern Marketing Cloud that helps businesses transform complex data into clarity and growth. A foundation for unified, measurable, autonomous marketing, AppsFlyer breaks down silos across measurement, deep linking, data collaboration, and autonomous AI workflows. For more than a decade, AppsFlyer has been the leader in mobile attribution, trusted by over 15,000 businesses worldwide. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com.