Léger’s 2026 edition of its WOW study shows that in-store performance declined across both Ontario and Western Canada, driven by rising prices, longer waits at checkout, persistent stockouts, and fewer interactions between shoppers and store staff. The research underscores a critical tension: shoppers continue to value belonging, quality, variety, and price competitiveness, yet they are increasingly sensitive to value when judging the in-store experience.
The findings are based on surveys of recent retail visitors conducted between October and November 2025, with Ontario results drawn from more than 11,000 respondents aged 16 and over, evaluating 176 retailers across 22 sectors. In Western Canada, the study involved more than 7,000 respondents evaluating 88 retailers across 12 sectors.
What the WOW Index Measures
The in-store WOW Index is a benchmarking score ranging from 0 to 100, based on performance across 16 customer experience dimensions tied to products, price, service, store environment, and customization. These dimensions include product quality, variety, and new discoveries; price competitiveness and promotional activities; staff courtesy, competency, attentiveness, and efficiency at checkout; and store ambiance, layout, and signage.
The index has tracked in-store customer experience for 15 years and serves as a standard measure of retail performance and shopper advocacy across Canada.
Ontario: A Broad-Based Decline
Ontario saw a notable reversal in 2026. After a strong improvement in 2025, the province experienced widespread performance decline. The study shows that 29% of retailers improved their scores, 39% declined, and 32% remained stable, resulting in an overall drop in the WOW Index.
Visit incidence is declining across most sectors in Ontario, with the most significant declines in alcohol, men’s clothing, specialty food, and hardware and home improvement. Despite these headwinds, the drivers of store recommendation remain consistent. Belonging, variety, quality, and price competitiveness continue to rank as the strongest reasons shoppers recommend a retailer.
Pre-visit digital behaviours are also softening, with slightly fewer shoppers visiting a retailer’s website before going to the store or consulting online reviews.
The most significant irritants remain rising prices, waiting at checkout or waiting to be served, stockouts, and missing price tags on products. The proportion of visitors who interacted with employees for advice or product information has slightly declined, while performance on product variety, innovation, and promotions has weakened.
Shoe stores and department stores posted the highest increases, while convenience stores and natural products experienced the largest declines.
Western Canada: More Stable, But Pressures Continue
Western Canada presents a more stable picture than Ontario, though not an entirely positive one. In 2026, 21% of results increased, 27% decreased, and 52% remained stable, resulting in a slight overall decline in the WOW Index.
Visit incidence remains relatively stable across most sectors, suggesting that store trips are holding up better than in Ontario. As in Ontario, belonging, price competitiveness, quality, and variety remain the strongest drivers of store recommendation.
Familiar Irritants Across the Region
The most significant irritants in Western Canada include rising prices, no employees available to serve customers, waiting at checkout, and not finding the desired product. The proportion of visitors receiving advice or information to help choose the right product is decreasing, as is the incidence of unplanned impulse purchases, a concern particularly for categories that rely on in-store discovery.
Performance on product variety declined in Western Canada, while other dimensions remained stable. Specialty stores showed the strongest increases, while sports and outdoors experienced the largest declines.
Experience Versus Price: A Widening Tension
A central feature of the 2026 study is its experience-versus-price framework, which classifies retailers into nine categories based on perceived experience level and perceived price level. This matrix highlights the relationship between what shoppers feel they experience and what they believe they are paying.
In Ontario, only 12% of retailers fall into a positive ratio where experience clearly outweighs price. Half are viewed as balanced, while 39% are seen as having a mismatch where experience does not keep pace with price.
In Western Canada, 17% of retailers are positioned in the premium category, 9% in the experience-plus category, and 7% in the popular category. By contrast, 16% fall into the selective category, 17% into the functional category, and 7% into the economic category. Standard retailers account for 23% of those evaluated, while Minimalist concepts represent 5%.
Consumer Willingness to Trade
The study suggests shoppers are more willing to accept a lower-quality in-store experience in exchange for lower prices. A majority, 54%, say they would accept a lower-quality experience to benefit from a slight price decrease, compared with 29% willing to accept a price increase to maintain the current experience and 30% to obtain a better experience. Only 26% say they would pay slightly more simply because a brand is perceived as prestigious or distinctive.
When asked what trade-offs they would accept to help retailers maintain or reduce prices, shoppers point to several measures, including the withdrawal of paper flyers, the use of simpler or reused packaging, increased use of self-checkout, and reduced store hours.
When asked what would justify higher prices, shoppers highlight high-quality products, a highly advantageous or exclusive loyalty program, and the ability to easily order out-of-stock items with fast delivery. Also cited are expert, passionate, and well-trained employees, exceptional customer service, fast and frictionless service, and a smooth, intuitive, and enjoyable shopping experience. An attentive, always available, and proactive team, along with complementary services such as gift wrapping or free delivery, also support price premiums.
Top In-Store Experiences in Ontario
Ontario’s highest-ranked in-store experiences are led by specialty and experiential retailers that emphasize product expertise, service consistency, and emotional connection.
Top performers include Saje Natural Wellness, Lee Valley Tools, Penningtons, M&M Food Market, Global Pet Foods, The Bone & Biscuit, Lego, L’Occitane en Provence, Lindt Chocolate Shop, and Nespresso.
Additional strong performers include Lush, Cabela’s, Hermès, Ren’s Pets, Laura, and Chocolats Favoris.
These retailers tend to share common characteristics. They control their store environments, invest in staff training and expertise, deliver clarity around price and value, and offer either specialized product knowledge or an experiential element that extends beyond transaction efficiency.
Top In-Store Experiences in Western Canada
Western Canada’s highest-ranked in-store experiences are dominated by premium and specialty retailers.
Top performers include Saint Laurent, Lindt Chocolate Shop, Everything Wine, Saje Natural Wellness, Wine and Beyond, Home Alive Pets, Dior, Prada, Nespresso, Hermès, and Remedy’sRx Pharmacy.
The prominence of specialty food and beverage retailers underscores the importance of assortment depth, product knowledge, and experiential merchandising in categories where discovery and guidance matter. Premium fashion maintains a strong presence by operating as destination banners supported by knowledgeable staff and carefully curated assortments.
Pharmacy also appears among the strongest performers, with Remedy’sRx highlighting how smaller, service-oriented formats can differentiate themselves through accessibility, customer recognition, and staff interaction.
ShopperFlow: How Distance and Visit Duration Drive Store Choice
A newer component of the WOW study is ShopperFlow, a location-based analysis using anonymized GPS data from over 5.6 million mobile devices tracked throughout 2025. The analysis provides insights into how far shoppers travel and how long they stay in store.
More specialized categories tend to draw shoppers from farther away. Alcohol, pharmacy, and men’s apparel show higher levels of local convenience shopping, while sports and outdoors, natural products, and furniture and decor see longer travel distances as shoppers treat them as destination categories.
There is no direct correlation between distance travelled and time spent in store. In Ontario, in-store visits tend to be longer than in Quebec, with a greater share of visits extending beyond 30 minutes.
Pet Retail Dynamics
Within the pet retail sector, distinct shopping patterns emerge. Pet Valu stands out as the reference retailer, combining the highest share of visits with a strong concentration of single-retailer shopping behaviour. By contrast, banners such as Ren’s Pets and The Bone & Biscuit show more multi-retailer shopping patterns, reflecting complementary roles rather than direct competition.
Ren’s Pets and PetSmart customers travel approximately 4.5 kilometres to visit, while Global Pet Foods customers travel 2.5 kilometres, and Pet Valu customers travel just 1.2 kilometres. With a median travel distance of just 0.5 kilometres, The Bone & Biscuit stands out as a highly local banner within Ontario’s pet retail landscape.
What the 2026 Results Signal for Retailers
The 2026 WOW study reinforces a pressing message. In-store experience continues to matter, but it is being judged through a sharper value lens. Shoppers want quality, variety, a sense of belonging, and competitive prices, but they are quicker to notice when staffing, checkout speed, on-shelf availability, or pricing fall short.
Retailers face a difficult balancing act. Shoppers demonstrate limited appetite for price increases to fund experience improvements, yet they are explicit about what justifies premium pricing, including high-quality products, meaningful loyalty programs, expert staff, and practical service enhancements that reduce friction.
The retailers that perform best in the 2026 rankings tend to be those that consistently execute the fundamentals. Staff knowledge, product clarity, store environment, and service flow remain decisive factors in how shoppers evaluate value, particularly in a retail environment where patience is thin. For specialty and experiential retailers, the ability to provide a clear reason to visit in person, whether through expertise, discovery, or emotional connection, remains a decisive competitive advantage.
