# Impact.com tracked 2,319 brands and found shoppers spent 8% more per order while buying 7% less often in H1 2026 *The shift to fewer, bigger baskets is a pricing opportunity for physical-product brands with bundling discipline.* By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC. Published 2026-10-05. Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/impactcom-2026-10-05t15-1 Subject: Impact.com Tags: pricing, bundling, basket size, ecommerce, conversion --- Impact.com's mid-year benchmark across **2,319** brands found North American shoppers made **7% fewer purchases** in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, while average order value climbed **8%**, according to the company's published report. The pattern held across categories: consumers consolidated trips and expanded baskets. The brands in the study didn't engineer this shift. Shoppers did. Rising base costs and delivery friction pushed buyers toward fewer, denser orders. But the brands that captured the larger baskets were the ones that made bundling visible and simple at the moment of consideration. They surfaced sets, offered threshold incentives, and priced multi-item orders to feel like wins rather than upsells. The mechanism is straightforward. When a buyer decides to consolidate, they mentally allocate a larger budget to the session. They're already committed to shipping cost or trip effort, so incremental items carry lower perceived friction. The brand's job is to show them what fits together and make the math obvious. A skincare brand that displays a three-step routine with a modest bundle discount captures the **8%** lift. A brand that treats each SKU as an island leaves money in the abandoned cart. The second dynamic: price sensitivity didn't disappear, it shifted. Shoppers will pay more per order if the per-unit value holds or improves. That means the bundle discount doesn't need to be steep. A **10% to 15%** reduction on a three-item set often converts better than a single-item discount of the same depth, because the perceived savings scale with the larger absolute number. The buyer sees dollars off, not just percentage points. The steal for a small physical-product brand starts with inventory position. Identify your three to five fastest-moving SKUs. Build a landing page or a dedicated section that groups them as a set. Write the copy to frame the bundle as the default purchase, not an upsell. Example: "Most customers start here" or "The full kit" rather than "Save when you buy more." Price the bundle at **12% off** the sum of individual items. That margin hit is smaller than a paid-acquisition cost and it moves the average order value into the range the Impact.com data shows buyers are willing to spend. On the logistics side, fulfill the bundle as a single pick. If you're hand-packing, pre-kit your top three bundles in mailers so they ship same-day. If you're using a 3PL, create bundle SKUs in your system so the warehouse treats them as units, not multi-line orders. This cuts pick time and reduces error rate. The customer sees faster shipping, you see lower fulfillment cost per dollar of revenue. For brands with a Shopify or WooCommerce stack, install a bundle app that auto-applies the discount and displays inventory in real time. Set the bundle to show as in-stock only when all components are available. Nothing kills conversion faster than a bundle page that lets a buyer add to cart, then fails at checkout because one item is back-ordered. Build the page, link it from your homepage hero and your email footer, and track conversion rate weekly. If the bundle converts above **3%**, expand the assortment. If it underperforms, test different item combinations or adjust the discount. The broader implication: fewer purchases with higher values means customer acquisition cost per order stays flat or rises, but revenue per new customer increases if you can convert them into the bigger basket on first purchase. This flips the traditional logic of loss-leader first orders. Instead of discounting a single item to acquire, you're offering a better per-unit deal on a multi-item set that delivers more margin in absolute terms. The **8%** basket lift funds the **12%** bundle discount and still leaves you ahead. That's the trade shoppers are making in 2026, and the brands capturing it are the ones who make bundling the path of least resistance. ## The takeaway Shoppers are buying less often but spending more per order; bundle your core SKUs at a modest discount to capture the bigger basket. --- ## Publisher **Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339. Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**. - Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about - LLM context: https://www.pops4.com/stash/llms.txt - MCP endpoint, for AI agents: https://mcp.pops4.com/mcp - Client dashboard: https://dashboard.pops4.com/ - Catalogue: 70,000+ products, 200+ brands