Key Takeaways
- Location data is retail’s most reliable signal of demand. As AI search and zero-click experiences reshape discovery, understanding where shoppers actually go has become the clearest indicator of intent.
- Q1 is a critical moment to act on behavioral shifts. Returns, gym sign-ups, travel planning, and tax preparation all mark the start of a new demand cycle.
- Cuebiq connects planning, activation, and measurement. With privacy-safe location data and incrementality-proven measurement, retailers can link real-world behaviors to ROI across every channel.
In 2025, retailers learned a hard truth: digital engagement is no longer enough. As AI search and zero-click behavior reshape how people discover products, the clearest signal of demand has shifted from clicks to real-world movement, and the ability to measure it with precision.
In 2026, leading retailers will use location data to track changing patterns, forecast demand, and allocate spend based on real-world behavior, not digital clicks.
Q1 is a reset moment for retail. Shoppers return gifts, join gyms, plan trips, and prepare for tax season. Cuebiq helps brands see these real-world behaviors as they happen, activate the right audiences, and measure how campaigns drive visits and revenue across channels.
Turning Store Visits Into Measurable Growth
In 2025, retailers proved the value of store visits. In 2026, the focus shifts from proving to performing. What looks like a post-holiday lull is actually the beginning of a new demand cycle.
According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. holiday sales grew 4 percent in 2024 to a record $994 billion, signaling a strong start to the year ahead. NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz called the season “a notable success,” citing renewed in-person shopping and healthy consumer confidence. That spending strength shifts categories in January, and the opportunity is in tracking how that energy moves from holiday gifting to new-year priorities.
As shoppers move from holiday spending into new routines — returning gifts, joining gyms, booking trips, and organizing finances — the first quarter becomes a critical window to sustain that momentum. Cuebiq’s mobility platform reveals when and where consumers re-engage with categories like fitness, wellness, and personal finance at the start of the year. Retailers who plan audiences and creative around these patterns are the ones turning early intent into measurable in-store results.
Q1 Momentum is Already Underway
Consumer activity changes direction after the holidays. As shoppers wrap up gift season, they stay active in the market through returns, exchanges, and early-year purchases. The same consumer who’s back in-store to make a return often buys something new, beginning the next phase of the retail cycle.
That shift is reflected in post-holiday data. According to Appriss Retail and Deloitte data reported by Digital Commerce 360, U.S. consumers returned $685 billion in merchandise in 2024, about 13 percent of all retail sales. In the week following Christmas, return volume climbed 12 percent year over year and total return value rose 14 percent, with many of those visits leading to exchanges or follow-on purchases.
For retailers, this marks the first measurable wave of intent in the new year. Location data captures that early movement, helping marketers spot where demand is rising while competitors are still waiting for Q1 results. Those shifts set the stage for the new routines and audience behaviors that define the first quarter.
New Year, New Routines: The Audiences That Matter Most
The first weeks of the year bring a unique opportunity. Consumer intent is already in motion, and the brands that act on it first will shape demand for the months ahead. That’s where Cuebiq’s Audience segments come in, helping marketers identify and reach the audiences whose real-world activity signals they’re ready to buy.
These audiences represent the behavioral shifts driving early-year retail: where shoppers go, what they prioritize, and how they signal intent before purchase. Rooted in verified location-based visitation data, these seasonal segments reflect where people are spending their time and attention:
- Fitness & Wellness Shoppers: Gym-goers, health-conscious buyers, and sporting-goods shoppers establishing new routines.
- Financial & Tax-Season Planners: Visitors to tax-service providers and financial institutions preparing for returns and refunds.
- Travel & Leisure Audiences: Spring-break travelers, vacation planners, and event attendees building their 2026 calendars.
- Valentine’s & Seasonal Shoppers: Jewelry buyers, candy-store visitors, and restaurant patrons planning early celebrations.
Each of these audiences is available for activation directly in The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, and other leading DSPs, ready for retailers to reach with precision across digital and offline channels.
As 2026 begins, success will come from acting on behavioral signals. Cuebiq turns those signals into strategy, helping retailers plan smarter, activate faster, and measure every visit that matters.
How Leading Brands Activate Early Intent
The strongest Q1 campaigns start early, reach the right audiences, and measure real-world movement, not just online engagement.
The strongest Q1 campaigns start early, reach the right audiences, and measure real-world movement – not just online engagement. By planning around behavioral signals rather than waiting for digital clicks, brands capture consumer intent while it’s still taking shape.
Across Cuebiq’s partner network, this approach consistently drives measurable, incremental lift. Consider Yokohama Tire: the brand ran a cookieless activation using Cuebiq’s measurement framework and achieved a 356% lift in projected in-store visits — clear proof that offline engagement can be optimized with the same precision as digital conversions.
Across industries, the takeaway is the same: brands that connect planning and measurement from the start are already outpacing those that treat them as separate steps. Whether in retail, automotive, or entertainment, Cuebiq equips marketers to identify movement trends, activate high-intent audiences, and prove ROI through verified incremental visits.
Real-world engagement is now the clearest signal of return. Cuebiq turns it into a measurable advantage, helping brands plan smarter, move faster, and prove impact across every channel.
Plan, Activate, Measure: The Continuous Loop of Proof
The brands outperforming their peers aren’t guessing. They’re following a disciplined loop: plan, activate, measure, repeat. Planning and measurement now operate as one continuous cycle where each campaign informs the next and results compound in real time.
Plan
Start early. Refresh audience segments before Q1 begins to align with emerging behaviors like wellness, renewal, and reward. Use Cuebiq’s location-based insights to see where these audiences are already moving and size each opportunity by geography or DMA. Creative and media plans built around real-world intent consistently outperform those guided by last year’s assumptions or digital proxies.
Activate
Once audiences are defined, reach them wherever they spend time, online and in the physical world. Combine search, social, CTV, and OOH to connect consistent messaging with verified movement patterns. Cuebiq’s integrations across major DSPs such as The Trade Desk and LiveRamp make it seamless to turn audience intelligence into live campaigns that reach real consumers in the moments that matter most.
Measure
Don’t wait for the quarter to end to evaluate performance. With Cuebiq’s real-time dashboards, marketers can validate incremental lift, track Cost Per Incremental Visit (CPIV), and compare visit-rate efficiency by DMA as campaigns run. That visibility powers the next round of planning, closing the loop between insight and action. Learn more in Cuebiq’s Incrementality White Paper.
The “store-first” mindset that once defined measurement now extends upstream into strategy. With Cuebiq, planning, activation, and measurement function as one connected system, giving retailers the agility to spot shifting demand, act faster, and prove performance across every channel.
Why Location Data Will Define Retail Wins in 2026
Retail’s next competitive edge will come from visibility into real-world behavior. As AI search and zero-click experiences reshape product discovery, brands are losing access to the digital signals that once defined intent. At the same time, evolving privacy standards are making reach and attribution harder to track through traditional data sources.
In this new environment, location data has become the most reliable signal of demand. It reveals where consumers go, how they move through markets, and when they’re ready to buy — insights digital metrics can’t match. Cuebiq makes those signals actionable, connecting audience movement to measurable outcomes across every channel.
Cuebiq’s platform is built on three principles that make that visibility meaningful:
- Privacy-first architecture that maintains compliance without sacrificing precision.
- Incrementality-proven measurement that quantifies true causal lift across campaigns.
- Real-time intelligence that unifies planning, activation, and measurement in one system.
In 2026, success will belong to the retailers who can interpret and act on real-world intent faster than their competitors. Cuebiq gives them the clarity to do exactly that.
Capture the Next Wave of Retail Demand
The next demand cycle is already forming. Cuebiq gives you the visibility to find high-intent audiences, reach them in real time, and prove every visit that drives growth.
FAQ
Why does location data matter for retailers in 2026?
AI search and zero-click experiences have reduced visibility into online behavior. Location data shows where shoppers actually go, giving retailers a real-time view of intent and demand.
How does Cuebiq protect consumer privacy?
Cuebiq’s platform is built on a privacy-first framework that complies with GDPR and CCPA, using anonymized, aggregated, consent-based data.
What makes Cuebiq’s measurement approach different?
Cuebiq’s incrementality-proven model isolates true causal lift, showing how exposure drives store visits and delivering clear metrics like Cost Per Incremental Visit (CPIV).
How can retailers activate Cuebiq Audiences?
Cuebiq Audiences, based on verified location data, are available in major DSPs like The Trade Desk and LiveRamp to reach high-intent consumers in real time.
