5. Brand loyalty may not mean much

According to personal finance app NerdWallet, 65% of a brand’s business comes from returning customers. But tariff-driven inflation might put paid to that idea. Numerator’s survey shows that once prices rise, 40% of all shoppers (and 51% of boomers) will go anywhere they can find the best deal. In Wunderkind’s findings, nearly half of respondents (46%) indicated they’d remain loyal to whatever brand sends them special offers.

“Brands should not sit back and assume that loyalty is going to continue to drive revenue over their competitors,” said Glomb. Companies that historically rely on loyalty will have to think about incentives, he said, and, meanwhile, “challenger brands have a massive opportunity to go for the throat in their category to win new customers.”