71% of Consumers Say Viral Trends Drive Purchases, Putting New Pressure on Retail Fulfillment, Finds Locus Robotics

New consumer study highlights how elastic, autonomous fulfillment is becoming a competitive necessity in the modern supply chain

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Locus Robotics, the leader in Flexibility-First Warehouse Automation, today announced a national consumer study on how viral demand and operational uncertainty is reshaping the future of the supply chain. The findings reveal how viral demand compresses planning cycles and forces brands, retailers, and 3PLs to perform under real-time visibility and operational responsiveness.

As social media–driven spikes from platforms like TikTok and Instagram dictate when and how products move, consumers are signaling that speed, resilience, and transparency now define the retail experience. Traditional fulfillment models are struggling to keep pace, exposing the limits of rigid automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) and labor-dependent systems. For brands, retailers, and 3PLs, this means delays, stockouts, and service failures are seen as brand-defining moments.

“Moments like viral TikTok crazes are a preview of the operating environment ahead,” said Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics. “When demand arrives instantly and reverses just as fast, the supply chains that outperform are the ones built to absorb disruption and recover in real-time. Planning for averages and seasonal peaks simply isn’t sufficient anymore. The future is all about adaptability and meeting the moment head-on.”

Viral moments are no longer isolated events, but repeatable demand shocks that hit fulfillment operations first. The study identifies four structural shifts shaping how leaders must respond:

1. Virality Drives Demand, Not Just Awareness
   Virality has become a dominant and recurring source of demand. Seventy-one percent of consumers say they have purchased or considered a product because it went viral. And among Gen Z, that figure rises to 75%. More than half of consumers report that viral trends influence their purchasing behavior at least sometimes, indicating that viral commerce has shifted from an occasional trigger to a common behavior.
   Social-driven spikes now override seasonal forecasts, forcing brands, retailers, and 3PLs to manage long-term planning alongside short-term surges.
2. Demand Now Moves at Social Speed and Hits the Warehouse First
   Thirty-eight percent of consumers decide within 48 hours of seeing a viral product, and 58% decide within a week. For Gen Z, more than half convert within two days. These surges are concentrated in logistics-heavy categories such as food and beverage, fashion, and electronics, where rapid replenishment and continuous restocking are essential. However, labor ramp-ups, slotting changes, and physical reconfiguration often take weeks, exposing the limits of traditional ASRS fulfillment models built around fixed workflows and labor-dependent throughput.
3. Fulfillment Failure is Now a Visible Brand Failure
   When trending products are unavailable, 62% of consumers abandon the brand or buy elsewhere, and 68% report feeling frustrated when retailers can’t keep up with sudden spikes in demand. Nearly 70% of consumers believe these failures reflect system or capacity limitations rather than chance, signaling that fulfillment breakdowns are now perceived as structural. Nearly three-quarters of consumers expect transparency, accurate inventory visibility, and fast shipping when demand surges.
   Fulfillment has shifted from a back-office function to a front-line measure of brand credibility, where Operational Confidence is defined by the ability to perform and recover as conditions change.
4. Resilience is Becoming the Defining Competitive Advantage
   More than half of consumers say retailers should either be prepared for sudden demand spikes or be able to recover quickly when they occur. For brands, retailers, and 3PLs, resilience has become a competitive advantage. Operational Confidence is quickly moving beyond optimizing for a single forecast or peak to focus on sustaining performance through constant uncertainty.

Demand now arrives faster than labor can scale, spans logistics-heavy categories, reverses without warning, and carries expectations for speed, visibility, and reliability. Locus Robotics is already leading this shift. Through its Robots-to-Goods (R2G) model and the introduction of Locus Array alongside Locus Origin and Locus Vector, the company is extending automation into fully autonomous execution, turning volatility from an operational liability into a source of competitive advantage and Operational Confidence.

To explore the full findings from the study, and learn how R2G and Locus Array help organizations scale with confidence, Download the infographic, and read the companion blog on locusrobotics.com.

Consumer Study Methodology

Locus Robotics conducted a survey with Dynata in January 2026, targeting 1,000 general U.S.-based consumers over 18 years of age.

About Locus Robotics

Locus Robotics is the leader in Flexibility-First Warehouse Automation, delivering Operational Confidence to warehouse operators navigating an environment defined by constant uncertainty. Locus Robotics enables organizations to plan, execute, and adapt across volume volatility, labor variability, and evolving order profiles.

Powered by the LocusONE platform, Locus Robotics orchestrates fulfillment workflows across picking, replenishment, sorting, and pack-out through a unified system of robotics, orchestration, and applied AI. The platform provides predictive visibility, adaptive decision-making, and elastic execution—giving operations leaders clear insight into capacity, throughput, and risk without fixed infrastructure or disruptive facility redesigns.

Trusted by more than 150 retail, healthcare, 3PL, and industrial brands across 350+ sites worldwide, Locus Robotics supports operations at every stage of the automation journey. Delivered through an industry-first Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, Locus Robotics enables performance to evolve as operational needs change.