Salesforce Engagement Manager

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]

Dentsu Africa and Blitz formalise partnership after years of collaboration. Dentsu Africa has strengthened its presence in Southern Africa through the signing of an affiliate partnership agreement between dentsu Zambia and Blitz Interactive Agency Limited, one of Malawi's leading independent marketing and communications agencies. The agreement establishes an official dentsu affiliate presence in Malawi, expanding the network's reach across the region and enhancing its ability to support clients operating across Southern Africa with integrated media, creative, data, and marketing solutions. While the agreement formalises dentsu's presence in Malawi, the relationship behind it has been years in the making. Dentsu Zambia has supported cross-border clients operating in Malawi since 2020 and has long recognised the market's strategic importance. As opportunities grew, so too did the search for the right local partner. Rather than pursuing rapid expansion, dentsu focused on finding an agency whose culture, values, ambition, and entrepreneurial spirit aligned with its own. Over the past two years, dentsu Zambia and Blitz invested time building that relationship, working together, learning from one another, and establishing the trust needed for a long-term partnership. Founded in 2014 in Blantyre, Blitz Interactive Agency has grown into one of Malawi's most respected independent agencies, serving local, regional, and international brands. The agency's entrepreneurial approach and formidable reputation made it a natural fit for dentsu's vision of combining regional scale with deep local market expertise. "When we started operations in a one-room office in Blantyre in 2014, all I had was a belief that this would work," said George Damson, Managing Director of Blitz Interactive Agency. "From those early days to becoming a trusted partner to leading brands, its journey has been built on resilience, passion, and an ambition to create something meaningful. What makes this partnership special is that it was not built overnight. It grew through shared values, mutual respect, and a common vision for growth. "This is not about chasing quick wins. It's about creating a healthy, sustainable, and profitable business together, opening new opportunities for our people and delivering even greater value for our clients." For dentsu Zambia, the partnership reflects a deliberate commitment to finding the right long-term partner rather than the quickest route into a new market. "We've been supporting clients with interests in Malawi since 2020, and we always knew we wanted to strengthen our presence in the market," said Chishimba Musonda, Managing Director of dentsu Zambia. "But Marketing Spread weren't looking for a partnership simply for the sake of expansion. Marketing Spread were looking for the right people, the right culture, and the right entrepreneurial mindset. "Over the last two years, we've built a genuine relationship with George and the Blitz team. We saw the passion, ambition, and determination that have shaped their success. The decision to formalise this partnership was built on trust, patience, and a shared belief that together we can create something even stronger for our clients, our people, and the wider region." The partnership reflects dentsu Africa's strategy of combining regional scale with strong local expertise. As brands increasingly seek integrated solutions across multiple African markets, the combined strengths of dentsu and Blitz will create new opportunities for growth while delivering connected strategies rooted in local relevance and regional reach. More than an expansion into a new market, the partnership represents a shared commitment to building a lasting business, investing in local talent, and creating meaningful impact across Southern Africa.

Code wars: AFL trounces NRL, but live sport the winner for broadcasters. The annual battle for the most-watched broadcast on Australian free-to-air TV has been settled for 2026. The deciding factor was the audience figures for Sunday night's NRL grand final. The ratings war is a two-way battle between Nine and Seven, and their respective NRL and AFL coverage. It's a battle that will rage for sometime, given Nine's new NRL broadcast deal securing coverage until 2034, and Seven's AFL contract stretching until 2031. However, this year's ratings war is being tempered by a new Nine and Seven sales JV. It also occurred during a changing of the guard at the wider SCA/Seven group and to whom it out-sources its corporate communications to. October 6, 2026 11:52 Short of a major last-minute upset, the most-watched show for 2026 is likely to be the AFL grand final on Seven and 7plus. It's a return to the top of the ladder for the AFL, after 2025 saw the NRL grand final top the annual ratings with a total TV audience of 4,564,000 viewers. This year, the audience for the NRL dipped, with 4,286,000 watching Sunday's grand final across both Nine and 9Now. A week prior, the audience watching the AFL grand final was 4,520,000, some 234,000 more viewers than the NRL. (An updated Total TV Consolidated 7 AFL Grand Final audience 4,655,000 pushes the lead out to 369,000 until the NRL consolidated number is released next week.) As the chart below indicates, Nine was able to boast a bigger BVOD audience and also a bigger pre-game entertainment audience. While that may be surprising, given that the AFL secured Kylie Minogue, the NRL pre-game (which featured Amy Shark and Dave Gleeson) went to air in primetime Sunday night, compared to Minogue's performance before 2pm on a Saturday afternoon. While Seven now has the 2026 bragging rights for the #1 sport, don't expect the code wars to be a highlight in PR spin. Although longtime arch rivals, peace has (almost) been achieved between the longtime combatants, with Nine revealing at its 2027 upfront a "landmark joint venture with Seven", claiming advertisers are set to reap the benefits. Nine wrote in a follow-up release the joint venture, set to launch in early 2027, is a direct response to estimates that over $300m is lost annually in Australia's $1b BVOD market to non-transparent tech fees and programmatic supply chain bloat. Live sport is the winner. The spin now from the FTA networks is how the medium is the winner with live sport being the main attraction for viewers. Or more accurately, "free live sport" is the big winner. With Foxtel and Kayo TV ratings still not available to the public, the FTA broadcasters have free reign to flood the media with their ratings claims. Former Dentsu chief investment officer Ben Shepherd, who has spent most of the past two years working on strategy for the NRL, summed the situation up succinctly in a Linkedin post on Monday. "One thing was clear from the performance of the footy code grand finals in 2026 - there is huge appetite from audiences for the biggest matches," Shepherd wrote. "Both big codes can deliver strong audiences and neither cannibalises the other. Sporting audiences can like more than one thing. The growth of all sports in Australia (including the footy codes) relies mainly on getting fans of other sports to watch a little bit of your sport as well." The code wars are alive and well on social media, though. A longtime warrior for the NRL is former News Corp rugby league writer Phil "Buzz" Rothfield. Although he left the Holt Street bunker last year, Rothfield remains active on social media. Looking for a plus in the NRL data yesterday, Rothfield posted this win for the code on his X account: "TV ratings for NRL v AFL pre game grand final entertainment. 2.25m for Amy Shark at NRL. 1.86m for Kylie at the AFL (updated Consolidated 7 figure) Interesting ..." More than one person commented that the match figures told a different story. The NRL grand final was outrated by the AFL final this year, but had motorsport to compete with over on Foxtel and Kayo Did Foxtel help keep the NRL audience down? Probably not. But it is worth noting that the NRL grand final on Sunday night did clash with Foxtel and Kayo's live coverage of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday evening. The Formula 1 race was supposed to start at 6pm AEST, but rain in Malaysia delayed the start until just after 7pm, shortly before the NRL grand final started. While there is no suggestion that the F1 may have kept too many fans away, the motorsport is one of Foxtel and Kayo's main attractions, with dedicated fans who watch in all hours of the night. Many would have been hoping to watch both the race and the match, but with the F1 running late - and the rain and more car software drama giving the Malaysian circuit extra elements of uncertainty - some would have stayed longer with Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri than they might have initially hoped. With the F1 race decided with less than 20 minutes left of the NRL decider, many sporting fans were forced to choose sides. James Manning is the former Mediaweek editor and publisher and "perhaps the best known journalist inside the media industry." Have your say. Or comment anonymously Your comment will be marked as unverified