2026 Global Consumer Products Industry Outlook

Consumers are increasingly moving from convenience and brand-driven choices to value-driven tradeoffs. 47% of consumers globally, including 35% of high-income households, now behave as value seekers, regularly sacrificing convenience to keep costs down, making price value scrutiny a mainstream expectation across income levels. Growth will favour more-value-for-the-price (MVP) brands that consistently feel “worth it” across price tiers, but only one-third of brands currently achieve that.

Deglobalisation and shifting trade policies are creating new pressure points that demand more active management. Companies are reducing exposure to policy risk, adjusting pricing strategies, and rethinking where and how they compete. By 2026, seven in ten executives expect high growth opportunities beyond their traditional markets, supported by expanded distribution, digital capabilities and e-commerce.

Consumer products companies are moving away from aisle-spanning conglomerates towards more focused portfolios. Two-thirds of surveyed organisations plan to grow through partnerships, while about half intend to rationalise SKUs to reduce complexity, improve efficiency, and stay closer to evolving consumer needs.

74% of surveyed companies are simplifying organisational structures to reduce interdependencies and enable faster, more accountable decision-making. Flatter structures and end-to-end processes, often supported by artificial intelligence (AI), are becoming prerequisites for scaling productivity and unlocking value. Many organisations also expect to pair simplification with outsourcing and centres of excellence to free capacity for growth and accelerate AI-enabled operations.

Investor expectations are shifting away from headcount growth towards productivity gains driven by digital transformation and AI. Growth is increasingly expected to come from doing more with the same workforce through automation, process redesign and better use of data, not simply by adding talent.

Traditional CPG-retailer roles are being reshaped. 79% of executives expect power to shift further towards retailers over the next two to three years, driven by private label growth, retailer scale and advantages in consumer data. The opportunity lies in deeper collaboration, with more joint operating models focused on shared planning, pricing, early innovation and cost reduction.

AI is transforming the supply side of the market, but consumers are becoming AI-powered too. As generative AI increasingly influences discovery and purchase decisions, the next battleground will include generative engine optimisation (GEO), AI-enabled checkout pathways, and agentic commerce. Yet only 31% of executives say they are actively addressing how to influence AI-assisted shoppers, suggesting a growing strategic gap.