For years, the retail narrative was simple: Gen Z lives online, so meet them there. That narrative is wrong. According to PwC, 61% of Gen Z now prefers to discover new products in-store. A 10-point surge in planned in-store shopping signals this isn’t a blip, it’s a behavioral shift.1 Gen Z treats shopping as an event: they want to touch products, experience store environments, and create content while doing it. TikTok hashtags like #mallhaul and #shopwithme generate millions of views, turning physical retail spaces into content studios.2
The challenge for brands isn’t getting Gen Z into stores. It’s making sure your media is doing the work to get them there. According to Ovative Group’s latest EMR Power Rankings release—a ranking of the most effective paid media channels from data across their retail brand portfolio—Audio Streaming, Snapchat, Linear TV, and Display Retargeting are the paid channels best built to bridge digital engagement and physical store visits for the generation brands thought they’d lost to digital.
Snapchat: From Reach Play to Store-Traffic Driver
Most brands still treat Snapchat as a reach channel. That’s leaving performance on the table. With 483 million daily active users and a core base in the 13–34 age range, Snapchat sits exactly where Gen Z spends its time, and it’s far more geographically and contextually relevant than most marketers give it credit for.3
“What makes Snapchat impactful is that it sits at the intersection of discovery, intent, and action for a generation that still values the in-store experience,” says Hanna, Sr. Manager of Paid Social at Ovative. “Store traffic doesn’t always come from the most obvious lower-funnel placements; sometimes it comes from platforms that reduce the gap between inspiration and action.”
A lean Snapchat-to-store campaign doesn’t require a big budget. “The most effective approach is to begin with priority markets, a clear retail objective, and a creative message that gives consumers a real reason to show up,” says Tory, Sr. Manager of Paid Social at Ovative. Tools like Promoted Places and Snapcodes make the path from discovery to store visit immediate without overcomplicating execution.
On measurement: “We use a combination of Media Mix Modeling (MMM) and holdout testing to size Snapchat’s impact on store revenue,” says Quinn, Sr. Director of Measurement at Ovative. “Marketers should be skeptical if providers aren’t contextualizing performance with multiple data sources.” Single-source attribution creates false precision.
Where to start: Build a campaign around a concrete reason to visit, activate Promoted Places, and set measurement expectations around store intent signals and traffic lift, not last-click conversion.
Audio: Top-of-Mind in the Moments That Matter
Audio Streaming ranks first among EMR Power Rankings’ store-drivers, Brick and Mortar Movers. The reason is simpler than most expect.
“Audio reaches people while they are already moving through the moments where store decisions happen: commuting, running errands, going about daily routines,” explains Lauren, Director of Video, Programmatic Media, and Paid Social at Ovative. “A relevant message in those high-receptivity moments can keep a brand present until the listener is ready to act.”
Fifty-five percent of Americans are monthly podcast listeners, 67% have purchased based on a host recommendation, and Americans find podcasts 23 times more trustworthy than social media.4 No feed algorithm can replicate the intimacy of a host recommendation heard through earbuds on a morning commute.
Where to start: Add audio to your next planning cycle with a store-visit objective in mind. Start with podcast host reads aligned to your consumer’s routine, and measure with brand lift and store visit attribution from day one.
Linear TV: Not Dead. Doing Things Digital Can’t.
Linear TV’s presence in the top Brick and Mortar Movers surprises marketers who’ve been told it’s dying. The data says otherwise. iSpot found TV campaigns drive foot traffic lifts ranging from 131% (Kohl’s) to more than 580% (Dick’s Sporting Goods). Viewers watch 71% of TV ads versus 30% on mobile, and TV delivers 2.2x higher unaided recall and 1.3x greater purchase intent.5
“Linear is uniquely strong at reaching the people other channels miss, such as adults 55–64, who watch roughly 25% more TV per day than younger adults,” notes Maren, Director of Video and Programmatic Media at Ovative. That’s a high-purchase-power demographic that digital struggles to reach. The bigger opportunity is using linear and streaming together: “Use linear to generate mass awareness and in-store urgency, then let CTV or digital retarget the exposed audience,” Maren says. Syncing both manages frequency, extends reach, and closes the attribution loop.
Where to start: Don’t benchmark linear on digital ROAS. Evaluate it on reach, recall, and store traffic lift. Layer CTV retargeting against linear-exposed audiences to connect exposure to measurable outcomes.
Display Retargeting: The Connective Tissue Between Intent and Action
Ninety-eight percent of website visitors don’t convert on their first visit.6 That gap between digital discovery and final purchase is exactly where retargeting lives and where its in-store impact is most underestimated.
“It’s about intercepting purchase intent at the right moment and keeping your brand top-of-mind during the consideration window,” says Maren. A significant share of retail purchases that start online still convert in-store. Retargeting is the connective tissue. There’s also a behavioral layer that doesn’t appear in click data: repeated exposure builds the familiarity that makes a shopper choose your store when they’re finally ready to buy, even if they never clicked the ad. “Think of it less as a one-to-one redirect and more as a sustained influence campaign that bridges online intent and offline action.” Segmented retargeting increases CTR by 76% and conversions by more than 150%.6 Creative specificity matters as much as timing.
Where to start: Audit your retargeting creative. Segment by intent signal—product page viewers, cart abandoners, in-market audiences—and pair each with localized, action-oriented messaging. Measure store visit lift alongside online conversion.
Building the Omnichannel Bridge
What these four channels share is a job most digital channels aren’t designed to do: connecting where consumers discover to where they decide to buy.
The brands winning on Brick and Mortar revenue aren’t running them as isolated placements but rather as a system, where each channel reinforces the path from awareness to in-store action. Store traffic lift, brand recall, and in-store revenue need to sit alongside digital conversion metrics or you’ll consistently underinvest in the channels doing the most work.
At Ovative, we partner with enterprise brands to build media strategies that move consumers from digital engagement to physical store revenue. The channel insights here come from our 2026 EMR Power Rankings. To see the full data or talk through what it means for your retail strategy, connect with our team.
Sources: 1) PwC, 2) Socium Media, 3) Sprout Social, 4) iHeartMedia, 5) iSpot / The Measure, 6) Marketing LTB
