Customer first

Retail trends 2026

5 forces reshaping the retail landscape

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What’s changing in retail? In a word, everything. So where should retailers focus? Our experts break it down.

In this PoV, our industry leaders identify the five trends that matter most to retailers, and how organisations can respond to unlock growth, adapt to new dynamics, and lead with purpose.

Explore the top technologies, market dynamics, and customer expectations our experts say are reshaping the retail industry.

  1. Moments over merchandise: Unlocking growth in the experience economy
  2. The year of the private label: Differentiating on value
  3. Searchless retail: Anticipating intent and delivering via GEO
  4. Invisible AI: Creating frictionless customer experiences behind the scenes
  5. Trust as a profit driver: Driving margins through consistency, care, and contextualisation
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Did you know:

71%
of consumers want
Gen AI-integrated shopping interactions
78%
of shoppers are buying private-label or low-cost brands
over name brands
45%
of shoppers are willing to order
products via AI tools

Our trends POV features initial findings from the latest edition of our annual consumer research, What matters to today’s consumer, which is set for publication in January 2026.

As retailers face new technologies, evolving consumer expectations, and shifting market dynamics, staying ahead takes more that awareness—it requires action.

Contact our experts to set up a consultation and learn more about how Capgemini can help your organisation unlock channel growth, adapt to compete, and lead with purpose.

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Meet our experts

Catherine Strowger

Catherine Strowger

Head of Retail | Capgemini Invent
Catherine leads the Retail practice for Capgemini Invent, the innovation, design and transformation arm of the Group. With over 15 years’ experience in retail industry and consulting roles, she leads a team of retail experts who blend deep transformation expertise with their lived experiences working for some of the UK’s best known retail brands. Catherine leads consulting engagements across the end-to-end retail operating model, with particular subject matter expertise and love for store operations and colleague experience. Alongside this, she is passionate about sustainability and helping our retail clients to use data and AI to drive greater transparency and conscious decision making in their operations.
Simon Butler

Simon Butler

VP, Head of Retail
Simon heads up Capgemini’s Retail business in the UK. With over twenty-five years of retail industry experience, he blends operational knowledge from his experience working at the sharp-end of retail with extensive consulting expertise spanning strategy and operating model design through to multi-year technology-enabled transformation programmes. Simon is a deep subject matter content knowledge across the end-to-end retail value chain, particularly buying, merchandising and supply chain. Simon has a proven track record of shaping, building and leading large teams both on consulting engagements and through the development of a diverse and inclusive Retail Centre of Excellence whose skills and ambition have been at the heart of Capgemini’s retail success story.
Dreen Yang

Dreen Yang

EVP, Global Consumer Products and Retail Lead
Dreen Yang is Global Industry Leader for Consumer Products & Retail at Capgemini, driving strategic growth across 50+ countries. With deep FMCG expertise and leadership at Coca-Cola, he’s launched $100M+ ventures and revitalised billion-dollar brands. Dreen excels at transforming complexity into opportunity through data-driven strategy and next-gen tech.
Mark Ruston

Mark Ruston

VP, Global Retail Lead
Mark Ruston is Capgemini’s Global Retail Lead with 22+ years in consulting and transformation. He helps Tier 1 retailers and CPGs bridge strategy and execution, driving growth and measurable outcomes. With global experience and deep supply chain expertise, Mark champions AI to boost productivity and reduce waste — positioning operations as a key driver of consumer experience.
Jessica Leitch

Jessica Leitch

Managing Director, frog North America, part of Capgemini Invent
Highly experienced business, customer, design and consulting leader. Currently Managing Director for frog North America