New ISM research shows cultural identity shapes what shoppers buy — and which brands they stay loyal to
Forty percent of shoppers have switched brands because another brand better reflected their cultural identity or values. That decision happens in the store, at the shelf, exactly where in-store media is designed to have an impact.
Brands have gotten better at buying in-store media and measuring its impact. The creative running over the speakers or on the screens hasn’t followed. Most campaigns still treat every shopper the same, regardless of who’s actually walking the aisle. Brands are applying a mass-media mindset to a channel that’s capable of something far more targeted. The industry spent years optimizing in-store media for scale. Personalization got left behind, and in-store is where that trade-off is now showing up most visibly.
We surveyed over 1,000 shoppers across demographic groups to understand how cultural identity shapes purchase behavior. Over half say it’s important that advertising reflects their cultural identity or values. Roughly one-in-five shoppers (22%) overall cite cultural relevance as a direct factor in what they buy. That number climbs significantly when you look at specific groups.
Brands that aren’t accounting for this in their in-store creative are leaving purchase influence on the table at the one point along the shopping journey where it’s hardest to recover. Every other media channel has moved toward audience-level targeting. In-store has taken longer to get there, and the brand-switching data reflects that gap.
What the Data Actually Shows
Across all ISM survey respondents, 22% cite cultural relevance as a direct factor in what they buy in-store. Break that out by demographic group, and it climbs to 33%- 47%. Representation in advertising is part of the reason for these figures. Fifty-seven percent of shoppers say it’s important that advertising reflects their cultural identity or values, and 40% have switched brands when it didn’t.
Shoppers respond to creative that reflects how they actually live, what they value, and what they trust. Ads focused on product benefits (60%) and real-life family situations (59%) rank highest for building trust across all groups. For multicultural shoppers specifically, representation and language access push those numbers further; 43% say ads in their preferred language make advertising feel more trustworthy.
Brands that aren’t accounting for this in their in-store creative are giving up purchase influence at the exact moment shoppers are deciding.
The Audience Breakdown — Cultural Drivers Aren’t Uniform
Black and African American shoppers switch brands at the highest rate of any group surveyed — 59% have done so because of cultural alignment — and they respond most strongly to community support and products tailored to their cultural needs (59% and 58%, respectively).
For 38% of Hispanic and Latino shoppers, language is a significant trust driver. Another 56% say ads featuring people from their cultural background feel authentic, and 67% believe representation in ads signals that a brand actually understands them.
Asian shoppers index highest on cultural relevance as a purchase driver at 47%. They reportedly seek brands that understand their cultural identity through support for cultural events/communities (60%) and inclusive language (53%).
Product benefits and promotions have a greater influence on White and Caucasian shoppers, but 33% have still switched brands over cultural or value alignment.
Across every group, the specifics differ. What stays consistent is that shoppers are paying attention to whether a brand truly sees them, and they’re making purchase decisions accordingly. The barrier keeping brands from acting on this is infrastructure.
Most in-store creative systems weren’t built for differentiation. There’s no store-level audience data feeding creative decisions, no infrastructure for serving different executions to different stores, and campaign management tools that were designed for reach, not relevance. The result is one execution running everywhere, regardless of who’s shopping.
What Shoppers Are Actually Asking For
Shoppers have told brands exactly what moves them. Across groups, the responses are specific and consistent enough to act on:
- Representation in creative– 57% say it’s important that advertising reflects their cultural identity or values.
- Community investment– 43% point to brand support for cultural events and communities as a trust signal
- Product relevance– 41% say products tailored to their cultural needs demonstrate that a brand is paying attention
Brands already have the playbook: representation in creative, language access, community alignment and real-life storytelling. What’s missing is the infrastructure to deliver against them at the store level, where the purchase decision is actually happening.
The In-Store Moment Is Where This Gets Won or Lost
Brands largely understand the problem. What’s been missing is a way to solve it at scale. The store is the last point of influence before purchase. Every other touchpoint in the path to purchase, like digital ads, social, and search, happens before a shopper is standing in the aisle with a decision to make.
In-store media is the one channel that reaches them at that moment. Programmatic in-store media gives brands the ability to use it with precision, serving culturally relevant creative to the right audience in the right store rather than one message running everywhere regardless of who’s shopping.
Cultural relevance is a purchase driver, and in-store media is where it pays off. ISM gives brands the infrastructure to act on what shoppers are already telling them — the right creative to the right audience in the right store — and the results to prove it’s working. To learn more about how ISM makes that possible at scale, visit www.instoremarketplace.com.
