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From Invisible AI to content automation. In this article we’re taking a look at the future of retail and which retail trends we think will shape retail in 2026.
Between content automation, sustainability, online grocery shopping and AI shopping agents, 2026 is looking to be an exciting year for retail. So as the year comes to a close we’re taking a look at the future of retail and the retail trends we think will shape the state of retail in the future.
With the increase in generative AI many of us hoped that the question of content automation would soon be solved, but even though we’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of AI generated content being pushed, we have yet to see someone solving what continues to be one of the biggest challenges, not just in retail marketing, but in most areas of marketing.
In an interview, Jaro Krieger-Lamina from ÖAW (Östereische Akademie der Wissenschaft) stated that “the big problem is the tendency of AIs to ‘hallucinate’ and invent ‘facts’. AI systems can generate text that sounds plausible but conveys false information. That is why their field of application is still limited today.”
Most research on problems related to AI generated content focuses on the societal impact of misinformation and disinformation. This is understandable, as the impact on everything from elections for education can be dire.
But it’s not like a content riddled with wrong information isn’t problematic from a business perspective. In fact, we’ve already seen AI powered chatbots promise to sell cars for $1, promise discounts beyond what was available, and include the inclusion of a food bank on a “recommended locations to visit”. All of this is of course problematic.
But as we’re looking through the early results of our global survey The State of Retail Operations, and we see challenges around content creation and content automation pop up over and over in the answers, we can’t help but ask ourselves if the true problem with content automation still lies in generating content at scale.
It seems the bulk of challenges companies are facing, when it comes to AI generated content, isn’t actually the “generating content at scale” part. The main problem is the quality of the content.
When you ask consumers and retailers about AI and how it’s changing the retail experience, you’ll hear about self-checkouts, chatbots, personalized recommendations and cashierless stores.
Those are the visible shifts that AI is bringing. It’s also the things we see being criticized most about AI adoption, both from a quality standpoint as we see AI fails over and over again, but also from a socio-economic standpoint.
But the thing is, everyone from consumers to executives and even most AI engineers are too focused on the visible and very obvious changes AI is bringing about, to fully understand what is going on.
And understandably so, as there is a lot going on when it comes to AI in retail operations, especially when we talk about the way AI can be used behind the scenes.
And that’s what will really change the landscape of retail in 2026, as more and more retailers will begin to use AI and pattern recognition to not just predict but also drive consumer behaviour through personalized offers, discounts, and pricing.
And that’s just on the ‘solution’ end of what invisible AI will mean for retailers over the next 12 months.
If we start looking at how consumers will use AI to interact with the retailers we’re going to see significant challenges as well, especially as consumers start to use AI shopping agents to manage their shopping.
In a recent report the Boston Consulting Group warned that zero-click searches, and agent-driven interactions is not just muddying the numbers of direct traffic, it removes the retailer’s ability to observe, influence, and understand consumer behavior at scale.
In essence, as retailers all over the world are looking at how AI can help them, shoppers are doing the same, which means that very soon, your best customer might not be human.
Last year, when we did our predictions for 2025, we also had retail media and retail media networks on our list. And while a lot has changed since then, one thing that hasn’t changed, is the impact and potential retail media has.
Even with the economic challenges that’s been part of these past 12 months, retail media is still growing, and since then retail media has now climbed into the top-three advertising channels brands use, alongside search and social.
A survey by McKinsey on the state of consumers, they found that rising prices was the number-one cause for concern among consumers across all surveyed markets, and that this issue far outranked both climate change, international conflict, unemployment and job security.
79% of consumers said they were trading down when shopping, but not necessarily by purchasing fewer items or seeking out lower priced retailers. Even though the two options were common strategies, more than half of the respondents said that they were looking for deals on every purchase they made. 49% of US respondents even said that they plan to delay purchases over the next three months.
Additionally, cross-category trade downs (spending less in one category to afford something in another) has also become more common. More than 33% of respondents in the survey said that they have traded down in one category in an effort to splurge in another.
Now, if we’re looking at what this means for the individual retailer, it means that competitive prices and discounts are probably going to be the number one tool for acquiring and retaining customers, but in the broader scheme of things it also hints at a potentially stunted growth for retailers over the course of 2026.
Over the past decade we’ve seen an increased popularity when it comes to locally produced goods and small manufacturers. And over the past five years it’s gone from a niche market to a disruption of local consumer brands that challenge their multinational counterparts.
In 2025 we’ve seen this disruption explode, and as new global trade agreements begin to take shape, we predict to see a continued evolution of this trend going into 2026.
In a global survey, 47% of consumers identified local ownership of the companies they purchase from as being important to their purchase decision. The survey uncovers a few different factors related to this:
While this is good news for small manufacturers and brands, this means that multinational companies will have a much higher bar to clear, if they want to be successful beyond their core markets.
For retailers specifically it means that an increased focus on small supplier collaborations and locally produced products can be a winning strategy going into 2026.
Especially when we look at Europe, the subjects of sustainability, responsibility, and compliance are going to be very important moving into 2026. While we could of course list consumers’ increased focus on sustainable products as the reason, it is in fact compliance teams who will be the key driver in this challenge.
In 2026 many European countries will move further down the PPWR timeline, as many of the regulatory requirements of the PPWR (which came into effect on February 11 of this year) will kick in August of next year.
At the same time the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and similar regulatory initiatives will mean an increased focus on everything from reducing packaging waste to minimizing greenwashing claims and a broader implementation of Digital Product Passports.
While covid and the lockdowns of 2019 and 2020 did have an impact on online grocery sales, the growth in the market started before a global pandemic restricted our access to physical stores, and it has continued even after we regained unlimited access to physical grocery stores.
In 2026, global online grocery sales is expected to cross $1 trillion dollars, and is expected to grow by close to 10% every year until 2030.
This growth may have started as online grocers like Nemlig (Denmark) and Flink (Germany and the Netherlands) started popping up, but many traditional retailers have expanded their operations with online shopping experiences where they either offer deliveries (like Tesco in the UK) or click and collect shopping (like the Danish bordershop Fleggaard).
Private label, own-brand, store brand. Whatever you want to call it, every statistic from the past few years shows that private label products are increasing in popularity among consumers.
And every statistic on the subject suggests that the importance of private label offerings is only going to grow in the future. In a survey by the PLMA (Private Label Manufacturers Association), 51% of Gen Z respondents said that their choice of retailer is based on the own brand selection, and a staggering 64% said that they often choose store brands and private label products over name brands.
