Aug 10, 2026 · 18 min · 9 segments
Inflation, GLP-1 use and shifting shopping habits are reshaping spontaneous purchases, but not eliminating them, according to NielsenIQ’s Jack O’Leary who explains why digital merchandising, AI…
Jack O'LearyGuestElizabeth CrawfordHostWelcome to Food Navigator USA's Soup to Nuts podcast with Elizabeth Crawford, where I deal with trendsetters, tastemakers, and industry experts about everything from emerging trends to regulatory pressures to marketing strategies.
For decades, the grocery checkout lane was the home of impulse shopping, with carefully curated displays of gum, candy, and salty snacks, tempting even the most health or budget-conscious consumers as they waited in line to pay.
But what happens when more shoppers' journey shifts online and consumers become more deliberate about what they buy as they watch their budgets and waistlines? At first glance, the outlook appears pretty grim for spontaneous candy bar, bag of chips, or sweet treats online.
For example, a recent Pulse survey by Relax Solutions found 46% of 1,000 consumers in the US and UK caught back on snacks and junk food due to higher grocery prices.
Likewise, a study published in the Journal of Marketing Research found households with at least one GLP-1 user cut their grocery spending by 5.3% within the first six months of beginning the medication, with the heaviest cuts concentrated on calorie-dense processed categories, including a 10.1% drop in savory snack purchases.
As for the impact of e-commerce on spontaneous shopping, Nielsen IQ research shows that consumers are about half as likely to make an impulse snack purchase online as in brick-and-mortar stores.
Even as online sales account for nearly three-quarters of all CPG dollar growth, in 2025.
Taken together, those trends have fueled predictions that impulse shopping is in decline.
But according to NielsenIQ's director of e-commerce thought leadership, Jack O'Leary, impulse food purchases aren't disappearing.
In this episode of Food Navigator USA's Soup to Nuts podcast, O'Leary explains how social commerce, digital merchandising, and faster fulfillment, as well as AI-powered recommendations, are creating new opportunities to capture spontaneous purchases, even as consumers become more intentional about what they buy.
So before brands and retailers can take advantage of those new impulse opportunities, O'Leary says they need to understand how the landscape is changing, including emerging challenges and shifting consumer attitudes.
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Welcome to Food Navigator USA's Soup to Nuts podcast with Elizabeth Crawford, where I deal with trendsetters, tastemakers, and industry experts about everything from emerging trends to regulatory pressures to marketing strategies.
For decades, the grocery checkout lane was the home of impulse shopping, with carefully curated displays of gum, candy, and salty snacks, tempting even the most health or budget-conscious consumers as they waited in line to pay.
But what happens when more shoppers' journey shifts online and consumers become more deliberate about what they buy as they watch their budgets and waistlines? At first glance, the outlook appears pretty grim for spontaneous candy bar, bag of chips, or sweet treats online.
For example, a recent Pulse survey by Relax Solutions found 46% of 1,000 consumers in the US and UK caught back on snacks and junk food due to higher grocery prices.
Likewise, a study published in the Journal of Marketing Research found households with at least one GLP-1 user cut their grocery spending by 5.3% within the first six months of beginning the medication, with the heaviest cuts concentrated on calorie-dense processed categories, including a 10.1% drop in savory snack purchases.
As for the impact of e-commerce on spontaneous shopping, Nielsen IQ research shows that consumers are about half as likely to make an impulse snack purchase online as in brick-and-mortar stores.
Even as online sales account for nearly three-quarters of all CPG dollar growth, in 2025.
Taken together, those trends have fueled predictions that impulse shopping is in decline.
But according to NielsenIQ's director of e-commerce thought leadership, Jack O'Leary, impulse food purchases aren't disappearing.
In this episode of Food Navigator USA's Soup to Nuts podcast, O'Leary explains how social commerce, digital merchandising, and faster fulfillment, as well as AI-powered recommendations, are creating new opportunities to capture spontaneous purchases, even as consumers become more intentional about what they buy.
So before brands and retailers can take advantage of those new impulse opportunities, O'Leary says they need to understand how the landscape is changing, including emerging challenges and shifting consumer attitudes.
