2026 is shaping up to be a year where consumer electronics marketers are moving faster and getting smarter. AI is now expected, retail media is driving most purchases, and pricing and inventory can change week to week. These shifts are creating new opportunities for brands that can adapt quickly and stay connected to how people actually shop. Read on to learn what these changes mean for the year ahead and how CPG marketers can take the right lessons into 2026 with confidence.

Wonder which platforms marketers will be focusing on this year? Want to know how content mixes will change? Find out what professional marketers plan to do with their paid and organic activities, video marketing, content mixes, and AI over the next year in the 18th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

Inside this detailed 44-page report, Social Media Examiner uncovers:

• Which platforms B2C and B2B marketers regard as most important.

Shoptalk 2026 proved that social commerce is reshaping ecommerce, and creator marketing is at the center. Learn what Meta’s new tools mean for influencer marketers and how to act now. Our team just got back from Shoptalk 2026, and there was an undeniable buzz around creator marketing on the expo floor and beyond. Creator-focused networking events were packed, influencer marketing keynotes drew some of the biggest crowds, and attendees were intentionally seeking out our booth to learn about Aspire’s suite of tools.

Should brands really be investing their dollars into virtual influencers? Artificial intelligence is changing the influencer marketing world as we know it. From editing photos with generative AI to automating engaging captions with the click of a button, brands and creators have been quick to jump into new trends and opportunities brought on by AI.  

Now, the latest phenomenon making waves is the advent of virtual influencers. These computer-generated personas are taking over social media, charming audiences with their flawless aesthetics and perfectly curated lives. 

Influencer marketing ROI is the ratio of measurable business outcomes — revenue, pipeline, brand equity — to total program investment, including product costs, fees, and platform overhead. The best-performing creator programs combine multiple attribution methods rather than relying on last-click tracking alone, because creator influence often happens well before a customer converts.

Here’s what you need to know:

In March 2018, I witnessed the high-water mark of Big Tech’s data mismanagement from the inside. I was an industry manager at Facebook for the CPG vertical when the Cambridge Analytica story broke. Fifty million users’ had their data collected without meaningful, informed consent and stealthily repurposed for political targeting.

This flippant misuse of data didn’t just damage Facebook’s reputation. It didn’t just wipe more than $100 billion off Facebook’s market cap. It marked the end of an era.

Now in its 5th year, Kenshoo Skai’s yearly survey of retail media marketers uncovers the key trends, challenges, and opportunities that are defining the future of this crucial marketing channel. Only 15% of brands report strong confidence in measurement. The shift isn’t post-campaign reporting; it’s infrastructure that steers decisions in-flight. Leaders have moved from “did this work?” to “what should we change right now?” Seven in ten brands meet or exceed retail media goals, while laggards fall further behind, showing the impact of in-flight, data-driven decision-making.

During the 2025 holiday season, GenAI and AI agents drove $262 billion in global holiday revenue through personalized recommendations and deeper customer engagement, accounting for 20% of all retail sales. Traffic from AI search channels like ChatGPT and Perplexity doubled year over year. Shoppers referred from AI-powered search converted at nine times the rate of social media referrals.

What does this mean for how brands reach consumers? We see it playing out on three fronts: