Clicks Before Carts: Why Discovery, Not Discounts, Drives Loyalty Now

Digital isn’t just a slice of the pie anymore; it’s the crust holding everything together.

According to Profitero’s 2025 Digitally Influenced Shopper report, digital touchpoints now influence 3x more retail sales than traditional eCommerce data suggests. Yet many brands still allocate digital budgets based on outdated metrics. In an era where nearly every purchase decision starts on a screen, the consequences of this misalignment are too costly to ignore.

At DDefinition, we’ve worked with brands that mistakenly underinvested in digital, only to find their in-store sales suffering as a result. Digital isn’t a department. It’s the infrastructure of modern commerce.

Digital Isn’t Just a Channel, It’s the Decision Driver

Let’s clear the air. Digital doesn’t equal online sales. That’s the trap most brand executives fall into.

While traditional models still benchmark digital performance by how much revenue closes online, the Profitero study reveals that 64% of all retail purchases, even in-store ones, are now influenced by digital touchpoints such as product reviews, search results, retailer websites, and social media. And in some categories like Electronics, that influence climbs to 79%.

“Digital is the doorway to most purchase decisions,” the report states. Brands that still treat it as an isolated marketing funnel are risking relevance in every aisle.

Generational Divide: The Future Buys Differently

Gen Z and Millennials, now the dominant purchasing demographics, are more digitally influenced than any generation before them:

• 77% of Gen Z and 72% of Millennials say digital plays a role in their shopping decisions
• They’re less brand loyal and more experimental
• They’re 2x more likely to use AI chatbots or buy directly via social platforms like TikTok

If your brand’s discoverability and credibility aren’t dialed digitally, you’re invisible to the audiences that matter most for future growth.

Your Content is Doing the Heavy Lifting (Quietly)

Profitero’s findings also reinforce a truth we’ve seen firsthand with clients at DDefinition: content is your new front-line salesperson.

• 54% of shoppers say content and reviews on a retailer’s site influence them more than in-store signage
• 59% say that poor product content negatively impacts their brand perception

Yet we continue to see brands with pixelated hero images, vague product titles, and outdated PDP copy. These aren’t cosmetic issues. They’re conversion killers.

Content is now packaging, signage, and the sales associate all rolled into one. Failing to optimize it is like sending a blank box to a retail shelf and expecting it to sell.

Discovery is Digital: And You May Already Be Losing

The truth is, 57% of shoppers are more likely to discover new brands via retailer websites than in-store. That means your next loyal customer might never even see your packaging unless you win Page 1 in search. 

Discovery isn’t accidental, it’s a science:

• Are your keywords aligned with real shopper queries?
• Are you leveraging first-party retailer data to guide placements?
• Are your product titles, thumbnails, and ratings doing the heavy lifting on the search page?

If not, you’re leaving discoverability and revenue to your competitors.

Reviews Are Make-or-Break

Consumers don’t just glance at reviews anymore; they depend on them.

• 68% of shoppers avoid trying a new product online if it has bad reviews
• Review count and star ratings are the third most influential factor in brand switching after price and past purchases

That means even your best ad creative or campaign will fail to convert if the reviews don’t back it up.

Social Media is Now a Checkout Aisle

TikTok isn’t just for dancing anymore. For Gen Z and Millennials:

• 1 in 4 have purchased from TikTok Shop in the last year
• 1 in 6 say influencer content swayed their purchase decision

Social-first commerce is no longer experimental, it’s expected. If your brand isn’t visible (and compelling) in these moments, you’re giving ground to brands that are.

Why “Price-Only” Messaging is a Race to the Bottom

62% of consumers are adjusting their shopping habits due to budget pressures, but only 16% are planning to switch to private labels. Which means Consumers still want quality and brand value, they just need you to prove it.

Instead of discounting endlessly, brands need to:

• Bundle intelligently (e.g. limited editions, co-branded items)
• Offer exclusive SKUs for online
• Use digital shelf real estate to highlight differentiation (eco-friendly, better-for-you, premium ingredients, etc.)

Consumers aren’t chasing the cheapest; they’re searching for the smartest buy.

It Might Not a Digital Problem, but Rather a Leadership One.

The Profitero report ends with a warning and an opportunity.

“Brands must evolve their ways of working, not just where they invest.”

This means:

• Dashboarding new KPIs: Search share, content health, digital out-of-stock rates, not just sales velocity
• Cross-functional accountability: Digital is not just eComm’s job. It’s everyone’s KPI
• Retailer collaboration: Joint Business Plans should include digital shelf, media, and product experience, not just trade spend

We call this the “Digital Shelf Trinity” aligning media, content, and product strategy into one seamless execution framework.

It’s Not Just About Being Present, It’s About Being Preferred

If your product can’t be found online, it might as well not exist. If your content can’t convince, shoppers will scroll past. If your brand can’t differentiate, a cheaper label will win the cart.

The 2025 Digitally Influenced Shopper report makes it crystal clear: Digital isn’t just the future of commerce, it’s the filter through which all purchase decisions pass.

From discovery to decision, from Gen Z loyalty shifts to AI shopping assistants, the shelf has changed. And it’s digital first.

The issue is that most brands are still budgeting and operating like it’s 2015.

So ask yourself:

• Is your product discoverable when consumers search, not just when they scroll?
• Is your brand positioned to win in a digitally influenced world?
• Is your content acting like your best salesperson, educating, building trust, and converting directly from the search page, not just the PDP?

If the answer to any of those is “not really,” your sales aren’t just at risk online.
They’re slipping across every aisle online and in-store.

At DDefinition, we help brands audit, optimize, and dominate their digital shelf presence aligning content, media, and product visibility to how modern shoppers actually buy.

Don’t let outdated strategies hold back your growth.