Here are the 10 trends shaping U.S. and global CPG right now – and the challenges and opportunities they create:

1. Health-Driven Consumption Goes Mainstream
   The expansion of GLP-1 adoption – now accelerated by the December FDA’s first approval of oral pill formats – marks a step-change, not a fad. In food and supplements, consumption patterns are shifting toward protein, portion control, and functional benefits – but dramatic weight loss is shifting consumer shopping, and consumption behavior well beyond these categories as functional, physical, and social needs evolve – forcing brands to rethink innovation, claims, and portfolio roles.
2. Value Is Re-Defined, Not Reduced
   Inflation fatigue and private label pressure remain real, but consumers are increasingly willing to pay for products that deliver clear outcomes – health, efficacy, or convenience. The opportunity lies in sharper value articulation and innovation to create value, not blanket price moves.
3. Retailer Power Continues to Consolidate
   As volume concentrates among fewer retailers, joint value creation (JVC) planning, Omnichannel execution, retailer-specific strategies, and sharp negotiation skills are becoming more critical to growth.
4. Retail Media Enters Its Accountability Era
   Retail media is no longer about presence. It’s about performance. Brand leaders are continuing to focus on incrementality, standardized measurement, and to link media to total business impact which requires effective negotiation approaches to manage heightened retailer investment demands.
5. Influencer Marketing Moves to the Center
   Unilever’s large-scale shift toward influencer-led marketing isn’t an outlier – it’s a signal. Creator-driven content is now a core growth lever, demanding new operating models, faster content cycles, and tighter retailer integration.
6. AI Shifts from Experimentation to Commerce and Infrastructure
   AI is rapidly reshaping shopping paths, demand forecasting, assortment decisions, content creation, and insights generation. Competitive advantage now comes from embracing aiCommerce and from proactively preparing data and systems to embed AI into everyday workflows – not isolated pilots.
7. OmniCommerce Becomes Non-Negotiable
   The line between physical and digital shelves has fully dissolved and conversational commerce is going to accelerate this. Search, content, availability, and execution gaps from ineffective structures and work flows now directly translate into lost growth.
8. Sustainability Moves from Story to Proof
   Retailers and consumers alike expect measurable progress – on packaging, sourcing, and operations – not aspirational messaging.
9. Speed Becomes a Strategic Advantage from Innovation to Go-to-Market
   Shorter trend cycles, demand volatility, AI-enabled personalization, and escalating retailer expectations are compressing planning horizons. Refreshed business models, corresponding KPIs and agile decision-making will drive disproportionate gains.
10. The Talent Gap Widens at the Brand–Retail Intersection
    Success increasingly requires understanding how strategies land inside retail organizations – not just how they’re built on the brand side.

So where does this leave CPG leaders?
With opportunity – but also unprecedented complexity. The brands that win won’t be the ones chasing every trend. They’ll be the ones that have the right strategies, business models, KPIs and organization designed to focus on the right problems, innovate to win, simplify decisions, ensure operational systems are ready for AI and execute with precision where it matters most. 

That’s where Simpactful is uniquely positioned to help.

We are a boutique consultancy built around experienced practitioners from both sides of the desk – brand and retailer. Our teams translate strategy into action because we understand how decisions are actually made, measured, and executed in today’s CPG ecosystem.

Our philosophy is simple: Solve simply. Make an impact. In a world of complexity and slick PowerPoints, we believe clarity and execution are the ultimate competitive advantages.

Simpactful’s team of experts can help! We can partner with you to rethink your brand and innovation strategy,  assortment vision, business models, KPIs, retail negotiation approach, data and operational systems or organizational design and workflows. Contact us at contact@simpactful.com or 925-234-6394. Visit www.simpactful.com to learn more.