Bring! Shopper Guide 2026: Purchasing Decisions Are Made on the Sofa

Bring! Shopper Guide 2026: Purchasing Decisions Are Made at the Kitchen Table

These days, purchasing decisions are no longer made in stores, but at home—at the kitchen table, while cooking, or on the sofa. This is shown by the latest Bring! Shopper's Guide 2026 from the Zurich-based mobile tech company Bring! Labs. For the report, the company analyzed anonymized data from the shopping list app Bring! covering the period from March 2025 to March 2026, as well as the results of a survey of 21,139 users from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

86 percent of consumers in Switzerland create their shopping lists at home—56 percent while relaxing on the sofa or at the dining room table, and another 30 percent while cooking in the kitchen. Planning often begins as early as two days before the shopping trip and takes place in several short stages.

The Pretail Phase as the Most Important Touchpoint in Shopper Marketing

It is precisely in this quiet, everyday situation that the actual purchase decision is made—not just in the store in front of the shelf. The so-called «pretail» phase thus becomes the most important touchpoint in shopper marketing. Juan-Pablo Schmid, CCO of Bring! Labs, sums it up: “The pretail phase—the time between the initial thought of making a purchase and the actual store visit—is the most important moment in shopper marketing. This is where the decision is made about which brands even make it into the shopping cart. Whoever is present and relevant during the planning phase ultimately wins the receipt.”

What’s on the list ends up on the checkout conveyor belt: More than half of Swiss consumers (59 percent) stick to their shopping list almost 100 percent of the time while in the store. While spontaneous additional purchases do occur, only a very small number of shoppers completely change their minds while in the store. For just under half of Bring! users (49 percent), special offers prompt them to buy products to stock up—preferably food items with a long shelf life, such as coffee or pasta.

The Bread Comeback, Cabbage Craze, and Protein Boom in the Bring! Shopper Guide

On Swiss shoppers’ grocery lists, protein is moving out of the fitness niche and into everyday life. Compared to last year, sales of protein drinks have risen by 86 percent, protein shakes by 83 percent, and protein powder by 81 percent. Other functional foods are also making their way to the checkout counter more and more often: Goji berries are up 103 percent year-over-year, and psyllium husks are up 97 percent. Matcha is booming with a 135 percent increase—among caffeinated beverages, classic coffee continues to top the list, followed by cola and energy drinks.

The bread market is experiencing a true renaissance: sales of sourdough and multigrain bread have each increased by more than 200 percent. In the produce aisle, cabbage is the new rising star—fermented and Asian varieties in particular, such as kimchi and pointed cabbage, are becoming increasingly popular. Meanwhile, milk, eggs, and bread remain staples in the shopping cart, continuing to top the lists of Swiss Bring! users.

Beauty Boom Driven by Social Media

There’s also a lot going on beyond the grocery aisles. In the beauty sector, the social media makeup trend is driving demand: Lip gloss (+360 percent), bronzer (+131 percent), and blush (+77 percent) are benefiting from viral glow and contouring tutorials on TikTok and Instagram and are posting the strongest year-over-year growth.

Bring! Labs was founded in 2015 and now employs around 100 people at locations in Zurich, Basel, and Berlin. In addition to the shopping list app Bring!, the company also owns the deals app Profital. According to the company, the two apps support more than 21 million consumers worldwide through all phases of the shopping experience. With more than 4.2 million monthly active users in the DACH region, the platform aims to provide brands and retailers with touchpoints throughout the entire shopper journey.

You can find the full report at: https://hubs.li/Q04hv3Gm0