Download the full 2026 Retail Industry Trends Report here.

This free industry report outlines industry perspectives and expert advice from our team of retail consultants. You can view an excerpt of the report below, and if you’d like to discuss any of the above trends or other challenges in the retail space, connect with our team today.

Key Retail Industry Trends

As retailers enter 2026, they are entering a landscape shaped by ongoing economic uncertainty alongside changing customer expectations and continued technological change. Success will depend on a retailer’s ability to stay agile, deliver value to their customers, and efficiently leverage AI. Those that respond effectively to evolving expectations and adopt new technologies thoughtfully are more likely to earn shopper trust and loyalty over time.

Clarkston’s retail consultants have highlighted the top industry trends that businesses should consider and keep top-of-mind throughout the year:

1. AI & Agentic Tools 
2. Agile Retail 
3. Managing Price-Sensitive Consumers 
4. Retail Media Networks 
5. Continued Emphasis on Customer Experience   

Trend 1:

AI & Agentic Tools 

AI-powered tools and agents are increasingly common among retailers looking to enhance operations. In fact, 98% of retail executives expect to achieve full AI deployment by 2028. As AI usage continues to rise, retailers should make sure they are prepared to make the most out of what AI has to offer.  

One of the biggest shifts is the focus on agentic AI use cases for retailers, as seen at NRF 2026. Agentic commerce, agentic marketing, and other agentic use cases are top of mind as retailers try to streamline operations and adapt to customer expectations.  

Agentic tools take the recent AI surge beyond prediction and content generation, incorporating independent task execution. Agents can take a user prompt or other trigger, develop a plan, and then work through a multi-step process, potentially leveraging databases or APIs to execute tasks in other systems.  

Use cases are seen in customer service at Gap, where agents handle routine customer service requests, and at 7-Eleven, where agents help with time-consuming documentation tasks. One thing that is clear is the importance of these tools as enablers for the operator experience, not overrun or replace it.  

Beyond these applications, retailers continue to expand their use of AI across broader technology platforms to drive efficiency. AI-powered demand forecasting is becoming increasingly accurate, enabling retailers to optimize inventory levels, reduce waste, minimize out-of-stocks, and improve product availability.   

AI also continues to power customer personalization, allowing retailers to recommend products tailored to specific shoppers’ preferences and send targeted discounts and individualized email campaigns. Together, these capabilities enhance the customer experience and strengthen long-term loyalty. 

As AI becomes more embedded in retail operations in 2026, success will depend less on the technology itself and more on how prepared organizations are to use it. Governance and guardrails will be critical to ensure agents augment, rather than override, human judgment. When designed well, agentic and other AI tools will reduce operational burden and enable teams to focus on the customer experience.  

Trend 2:

Agile Retail

Agile retail is a growing framework that applies Agile development principles to prioritize speed and flexibility while staying closely aligned to customer needs in retail execution. As customer demands grow, retailers need to be able to be faster to respond – no longer can they wait until next season, or even next month, to be able to react to a change in demand or behavior.  

By leveraging data to spot trends in advance, Agile retail allows organizations to rapidly respond to potential shifts. It is emerging as a way for retailers to combat rising operational costs and volatile demand amid ongoing economic and political uncertainty. Agile retail supports improved delivery times and more automated fulfillment processes, ultimately driving greater efficiency. As retailers prepare for the new year, transforming Agile retail into an end-to-end operational strategy can help enhance responsiveness and adaptability at both the enterprise and local level. 

Smart warehouses and micro-fulfillment centers are just one of the ways Agile retail is expanding. These small, automated hubs can be strategically placed closer to shoppers to enable faster delivery times while reducing transportation emissions. This capability is increasingly important as 80% of shoppers expect retailers to offer same-day delivery. Moving away from large, centralized distribution centers can help retailers meet these rising expectations. 

In response, hyperlocal fulfillment is growing into a standard practice for retailers heading into 2026. Companies like Walmart are already leveraging micro-fulfillment centers to speed up delivery. This shift not only improves operational efficiency but also allows retailers to better align product availability with local preferences, leading to higher customer satisfaction. 

Retail experiences themselves are also becoming more localized. For example, McDonald’s has tailored its menu offerings globally to specific regions’ dietary preferences. With advances in generative AI and machine learning, retailers can now leverage customer data to localize product offerings and adapt products to the specific needs of each region.  

Looking ahead, Agile retail will continue to shape the industry. Retailers that invest in AI-driven forecasting and flexible fulfillment models will be prepared to meet shifting customer preferences. Additionally, those that adopt Agile principles will operate with higher efficiency, while those that don’t will risk falling behind in a competitive market.  

Continue reading by downloading the full report below.

Download the Full 2026 Retail Industry Trends Report Here

Read last year’s Retail Industry Trends Report here.

Contributions from Natalie Pollock