By Rich Kaminski
In June 2026, MasterCard published a report called “The next era of conscious consumption,” tracing the rise of what they called “circular commerce” and its impact on shoppers and brands alike. This concept is built on the idea of the “circular economy,” which focuses on sharing, reusing, renting and other environmentally focused actions designed to help extend the shelf lives of items. MasterCard’s report takes this a step further and examines how this idea has become so strongly embedded in shoppers’ actions and lives that it has redefined how they think of value and changed how shoppers act.
The insights highlight the tensions felt by shoppers (particularly younger shoppers) as they work to navigate the more tangible benefits of individual purchases (things like costs and longevity) with more abstract, personal drivers (e.g., personal values around ethical manufacturing and sustainability). It’s a very real situation that many struggle to address, particularly young people. And it has caused an increase in resale and second-hand shopping to help mitigate those concerns and also give items a second life. According to MasterCard, 38% of respondents agree with the statement “I look for secondhand or used items more often than before,” which increases to 43% for Gen Z and 41% for Millennials. In 2025, WSL Strategic Retail’s How America Shops research found that 58% of shoppers said that they were shopping for more second-hand items specifically to save money — and these skyrocket to 59% for Gen Z and 49% for Millennials. Clearly, second-hand shopping and the resale economy are very real phenomena embedding themselves in young shoppers lives and habits. Forward-thinking brands and retailers need to find ways to adapt to those new realities, especially in categories such as apparel, home, baby, technology.
However, where MasterCard is missing the mark is how they discuss rentals. They describe Gen Z and Millennials as “normalizing access over ownership” in an attempt to be more sustainable and circular. But in our recent 2026 work, we see that this is also about economic challenges. When describing their household’s economic situations in light of rising prices, 26% of Gen Z and 20% of Millennials say that “We were OK before this, but now can barely pay the bills” — significantly more than Gen X and boomers. And that’s on top of the 14% of Gen Z and 12% of Millennials that say, “We were barely able to pay the bills before this, and now we are cutting more essentials.” Gen Z and Millennials might actually be more open to rentals not because they place less value on ownership or because of its sustainability benefits, but simply because they cannot afford to own everything they want. So if they want any access at all, renting is their only option.
When trying to understand larger shopper trends, it’s important to look at the broader context of shoppers’ entire lives and ecosystems, not just their individual actions. The actions they take are influenced by their attitudes but also the contexts and ecosystems they live in. Brands, retailers and companies need to step back and take a holistic view that pushes back their assumptions and prioritizes the shoppers’ lives, voices and entire experiences before charting paths forward. That’s the only way you can know for sure that you’re actually being relevant to their needs.
Rich Kaminski is the research director at WSL Strategic Retail, a global retail strategy and shopper insights consultancy, and publisher of How America Shops, Shopping Life and the Future Shop podcast.
