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State of CPG: March 2026

A CMO Briefing by Power Digital

Budgets are tighter. Scrutiny is higher. And the path to purchase just got harder to predict. This briefing tells you exactly where CPG shoppers are validating, switching, and converting in 2026 (and how the highest-growth brands are designed for it.)

The CPG shopper hasn’t disappeared. They’ve gotten smarter. With household budgets under pressure and private label quality improving, consumers aren’t spending less because they can’t. They’re spending less because the bar for “worth it” just got higher. The brands winning right now aren’t the ones with the loudest presence across channels. They’re the ones showing up with the right proof, at the right moment, in the right place.

This briefing draws on a 2,021-person U.S. consumer survey conducted February 2026 to map exactly how shoppers are discovering, validating, and purchasing across Food and Bev, Beauty, and Health and Wellness — and what it takes to be the brand they choose.

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Budgets are tighter. Scrutiny is higher. And the path to purchase just got harder to predict. This briefing tells you exactly where CPG shoppers are validating, switching, and converting in 2026 (and how the highest-growth brands are designed for it.)

The CPG shopper hasn’t disappeared. They’ve gotten smarter. With household budgets under pressure and private label quality improving, consumers aren’t spending less because they can’t. They’re spending less because the bar for “worth it” just got higher. The brands winning right now aren’t the ones with the loudest presence across channels. They’re the ones showing up with the right proof, at the right moment, in the right place.

This briefing draws on a 2,021-person U.S. consumer survey conducted February 2026 to map exactly how shoppers are discovering, validating, and purchasing across Food and Bev, Beauty, and Health and Wellness — and what it takes to be the brand they choose.

What You’ll Learn

  • What 2,021 U.S. CPG consumers say is actually driving discovery, channel preference, and purchase decisions in 2026

  • Why nearly 1 in 5 shoppers ages 25 to 34 already use AI tools to find CPG products — and what it takes to show up there

  • How Amazon, DTC, and retail each “earn” their role in the purchase journey (and what most brands get wrong about all three)

  • Where budget pressure is showing up in real shopper behavior — promo-waiting, trade-down, and dupe-switching — and how to protect your brand’s value position

  • Category-level loyalty data across Food and Bev, Beauty, and Health and Wellness so you know exactly how “sticky” your category is and what drives switching

  • The multi-touch validation framework the highest-efficiency CPG brands use to sequence discovery, proof, and conversion

Built for CPG CMOs who need to act on data, not just read it — this is a channel-by-channel growth blueprint grounded in real shopper behavior, not category assumptions.