For retail leaders, 2026 is a year of radical adaptation. You must be prepared to serve the AI agent that restocks the pantry, while simultaneously delighting the human who walks into the store. With the middle ground rapidly closing, navigating this dual reality is the most critical challenge facing your business.
VML's "Future 100: 2026" vertical cut for Retail provides the strategic insights you need to thrive. This essential report details the 10 key trends shaping the industry, from the rise of agentic commerce to the economic psychology of the modern shopper. Learn how to make your brand invisible when it serves the customer and unforgettable when it counts.
The Future 100: Retail Trends & Insights 2026
VML's Future 100 vertical cut on Retail features 10 key trends from Acommerce to Gen Alpha to guide your strategy in 2026
The Retail landscape is splitting into two distinct tracks: the race for invisibility and the race for immersion. The Future 100 is your guide to winning both.
Top trends in Retail from our Future 100 2026 report include:
#61: Treatonomics
In a high-cost world, small indulgences and moments of joy drive frequency, community and share of basket.
#67: Ephemeral retail
The pop-up matures into a cultural lab – scarcity, story and ritual over racks.
#68: Acommerce
AI agents will compare, curate and transact, so your product data quality – and integration with Agentic Commerce Protocols – becomes “the new media buy.”
Download our 2026 Future 100 Retail vertical cut here:
FAQs
To prepare for AI-driven Acommerce (agentic commerce), brands must start marketing to machines. This means treating your product metadata as creative, perfecting your product taxonomy, enriching data attributes (like sustainability proofs and availability), and integrating with emerging Agentic Commerce Protocols (ACP) to ensure your products are discoverable and recommended by AI agents.
In a high-cost world, consumers are driven by the pursuit of joy. Capture the "Treatonomics" dollar by merchandising "little treats" and small indulgences across all price points. These status snacks and joy-focused moments drive purchase frequency, build community, and increase share of basket.
The reinvention of physical retail is driven by the need for immersion. Next-gen malls are becoming cultural playgrounds. Ephemeral retail is maturing the pop-up into a cultural lab focused on story and ritual. And Livestreamed shopping is turning the shop floor into an entertainment studio
Watch our Future 100 video
Welcome to the 12th edition of “The Future 100” – VML’s unparalleled research report examining key global trends. This report features our latest projections, interviews with top industry experts, exclusive statistics and global consumer insights for 2026 from a proprietary 16-country survey.
About The Future 100 report:
After another year marked by economic upheaval, polarizing political currents and environmental setbacks, 2026 will be a year for building resilience, courageous creativity and redrawing the boundaries of what’s possible. From the personal to the planetary, from human engineering to geoengineering the climate itself, a new class of creators and collaborators is multiplying potential in ways we are just beginning to imagine.
Helping to shape these worlds are AI tools that democratize world building and new economic models for building empires. As both creativity and AI go global, voices from Buenos Aires to Busan are challenging Western dominance and creating tools that reflect their own cultures.
Amidst this “metamorphic” current, the desire for human connection remains unmistakable. In the year ahead, human impulse will shape brand strategies, influencing the top marketing trends in 2026, and draw people back to immersive, high-impact experiences that demonstrate the value of authenticity and unlock infinite possibilities.
Download your copy of our 2026 Future 100 report here:
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