Retailers face an uphill battle when it comes to loyalty and enticing repeat customers in 2026. Customers challenged by high prices are searching for the best deals wherever they can find them. And compared with practical considerations like convenience and customer satisfaction, brand love isn’t as effective in influencing customers as some marketers think.
Social media tops the priority list for 84% of US digital media professionals, outpacing influencer marketing (61%) by 23 percentage points, according to an October survey from Integral Ad Science and YouGov.
"Retailers are reinventing the ways that they connect with their customers in real life," said our analyst Blake Droesch during a recent “Behind the Numbers” episode. "The D2C revolution that we saw play out online has now really reached its limitations, giving way to a disconnection between brands and their customers."
It’s not just for fintechs and credit bureaus.
As budgets consolidate and scrutiny intensifies, retail media networks are being asked to prove their value in the same way that the rest of digital media does. That shift was on full display at CES, where platform updates from Albertsons, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart Connect signaled a deeper evolution underway. Rather than chasing more inventory or novel formats, retail media players are investing in the foundational capabilities that underpin long-term credibility: measurement, data access, and intelligence.
Google’s latest AI tools let users buy via chat as the company tries to turn its search dominance into agentic commerce gains.
As genAI assistants play a more prominent role in shopping, retailers and brands will have to rethink how their loyalty programs support direct consumer relationships, and how loyalty benefits can be surfaced in AI conversations.
A 229,000-square-foot superstore may help Amazon boost offline share and strengthen its ecommerce fulfillment.
Uber is expanding premium storytelling through Journey Takeovers, which turn entire rides into narrative canvases—and delivering unusually long, high-quality attention.
Despite upbeat holiday sales updates from several mall-based retailers, revisions to Q4 guidance point to mounting challenges.
Aldi looks to expand its reach by expanding its footprint and revamping its website.
CTV’s evolution will hit full stride in 2026 amid rising viewership, better measurement, and interactive ads.
Podcast listeners are sought out by marketers for high engagement, and listenership is only set to grow.
Even if tariffs ease, their effects on consumer behavior will linger into 2026, redefining how consumers evaluate value, loyalty, and where they spend.
This FAQ explains how data clean rooms have become essential infrastructure for retail media, enabling privacy-safe data collaboration, closed-loop measurement, and proof of performance as ad spend grows and marketers demand greater accountability.
China’s ad rebound remains narrow; Q4 spending stabilized, but concentrated in low-risk, performance-driven channels—signaling a cautious market entering 2026.
Wellness is now a full-year play, not just a January focus.
Creator programs become table stakes: Pacsun and David’s Bridal are the latest retailers to rely on social commerce and user-generated buzz to boost sales.