Top 10 consumer trends shaping marketing strategy worldwide in 2026
The 2026 global marketer survey on leading consumer trends reveals a landscape defined by two structural forces pulling in opposite directions: the acceleration of digital and AI-powered consumer experiences on one hand, and the growing consumer demand for authenticity, sustainability, and privacy protection on the other. AI-personalised experiences — cited by 82% of marketers as a significant trend — reflects the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence across every touchpoint of the consumer journey, from personalised product recommendations and AI-generated content to predictive customer service and dynamic pricing. The broader social media context for reaching consumers across these trend-driven channels is in our social media statistics and facts analysis.
The presence of sustainability (74%), privacy-first purchasing (61%), and value-driven buying (58%) alongside AI and social commerce trends reflects a sophisticated consumer landscape where technological capability and ethical consumption coexist as priorities. Marketers are navigating a world where consumers simultaneously expect hyper-personalised AI-driven experiences and genuine brand commitment to environmental and social values — a combination that was considered paradoxical five years ago but is now a mainstream expectation. The social media advertising context for reaching these trend-aware consumers is in our social media ad spend worldwide analysis.
Top 10 Consumer Trends by Marketer Citation Rate (2026, % of Marketers Worldwide)
Social commerce at #3 (71%) reflects the convergence of social media and e-commerce that has fundamentally changed the consumer purchase journey. Consumers increasingly discover, evaluate, and purchase products within a single social media session — without leaving TikTok, Instagram, or Pinterest. This in-app shopping behaviour — driven by TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping, and Pinterest's shoppable pins — has moved social commerce from a niche behaviour to a mainstream expectation. The social media platforms driving social commerce adoption are in our social media platforms used by marketers worldwide analysis.
Leading Consumer Trends 2026 Full Data Table
| Rank | Consumer Trend | % Marketers Citing | vs 2025 | Category | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI-personalised experiences | 82% | +14pp | Technology | Generative AI and LLM deployment |
| 2 | Sustainability and eco-conscious purchasing | 74% | +6pp | Values-driven | Climate awareness, Gen Z influence |
| 3 | Social commerce and in-app shopping | 71% | +13pp | Digital commerce | TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping |
| 4 | Short-form video content consumption | 68% | +4pp | Content formats | TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts |
| 5 | Creator economy and influencer trust | 65% | +11pp | Trust and authenticity | Micro-influencer growth, creator tools |
| 6 | Privacy-first and data transparency | 61% | +3pp | Values-driven | GDPR expansion, consumer awareness |
| 7 | Value-driven and budget-conscious buying | 58% | -2pp | Economic | Persistent inflation, cost of living |
| 8 | Wellness and mental health focus | 54% | +5pp | Lifestyle | Post-pandemic health consciousness |
| 9 | Community-led brand loyalty | 49% | +11pp | Trust and authenticity | Discord, Substack, owned communities |
| 10 | Augmented reality in shopping | 44% | +12pp | Technology | Snap AR, Meta glasses, Apple Vision |
The creator economy and influencer trust trend at #5 (65%, +11pp YoY) reflects a structural shift in how brands think about influencer marketing. The shift is away from celebrity macro-influencers (millions of followers, lower engagement rates) toward micro-influencers (10,000-100,000 followers, high engagement, niche audiences) and nano-influencers (1,000-10,000 followers, community trust). Marketers increasingly cite trust and authenticity as the primary driver of influencer marketing effectiveness — and smaller creators consistently deliver higher trust metrics than celebrity endorsements. The social media platforms where creators build these audiences are in our biggest social media platforms by users analysis.
Short-Form Video 78%, AI Tools 71% Most Prioritised Marketing Channels in 2026
The marketing channels that marketers are prioritising in 2026 directly reflect the consumer trends they have identified. Short-form video leads at 78% — consistent with its position as the primary vehicle for reaching consumers on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. AI content tools at 71% reflects the near-universal adoption of generative AI for content creation, campaign optimisation, and customer personalisation across marketing functions. The convergence of AI tools and short-form video is notable: AI-generated video scripts, AI-assisted editing, and AI-driven video personalisation are enabling marketers to produce short-form video at scale previously only achievable with large content teams. The social media usage reasons that drive consumer engagement with these channels are in our social media usage reasons worldwide analysis.
Community platforms at 43% — platforms like Discord, Substack, Geneva, and brand-owned communities — represent one of the fastest-growing channel priorities in percentage terms, up from approximately 28% in 2024. This growth reflects marketers' response to the community-led brand loyalty consumer trend (#9 in the overall ranking): as consumer trust in traditional brand advertising continues to decline and algorithm-driven social media reach becomes less reliable, owned community channels that don't depend on platform algorithms are becoming strategically critical. The daily social media usage patterns across these community platforms are in our daily social media usage worldwide analysis.
AI Tools +18pp, Short-Form Video +14pp and Traditional Media Losing Ground Fast
Marketing budget allocation shifts from 2024 to 2026 provide the clearest quantitative evidence of where marketers are acting on the consumer trends they identify. AI tools and automation showing the largest budget increase (+18pp) is striking — it means the average marketer's budget now devotes approximately 18 percentage points more to AI tools than two years ago. This is not merely an incremental shift but a structural reallocation. Traditional media (print, TV, radio) losing 12 percentage points of budget share in two years represents one of the fastest sustained declines in any advertising category ever recorded. The global economy context for these structural advertising budget shifts is in our global economy analysis.
Influencer and creator marketing's +11pp budget increase reinforces the creator economy consumer trend (#5) identified in the survey. Budget for influencer marketing is not only growing in absolute terms but also maturing — with more sophisticated measurement, longer-term creator partnerships replacing one-off campaigns, and greater investment in nano and micro-influencer programmes at scale. The creator economy infrastructure enabling this — TikTok Creator Marketplace, Instagram Creator Marketplace, and YouTube BrandConnect — has lowered the barrier to running influencer campaigns, enabling smaller brands to access creator marketing that was previously limited to large advertisers. The social network penetration context for reaching consumers through creators is in our social network penetration worldwide analysis.
Asia-Pacific 91%, North America 88% AI Personalisation Trend Adoption Varies by Region
The regional variance in AI personalisation trend adoption reveals important differences in how marketers in different parts of the world are engaging with the leading consumer trend of 2026. Asia-Pacific's 91% citation rate — the highest globally — reflects the region's advanced AI deployment in consumer-facing applications, particularly in China (where AI-powered retail and content platforms are market leaders), South Korea, Japan, and Singapore. North America's 88% reflects the US technology industry's central role in generative AI development and the rapid deployment of AI tools across the US marketing ecosystem. The social network penetration by region context for these differences is in our social network penetration by region analysis.
Eastern Europe's lower 64% citation rate for AI personalisation reflects both the region's smaller technology ecosystem and the significant market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which has constrained marketing investment and digital innovation across much of the region. Latin America at 71% — above the Middle East (68%) and Eastern Europe (64%) but below Western markets — reflects a rapidly growing digital marketing ecosystem where AI adoption is accelerating but infrastructure and regulatory frameworks lag behind North America and Western Europe. The number of social media users by region that marketers are reaching through these AI-powered channels is in our social media users by region analysis.
AR Shopping +12pp, Community Loyalty +11pp, Creator Economy +11pp Fastest Momentum Trends
Comparing the 2025 and 2026 marketer survey citation rates reveals which consumer trends are accelerating fastest in marketer consciousness. Augmented reality in shopping shows the fastest momentum at +12pp (from 32% in 2025 to 44% in 2026), reflecting the rapid improvement in consumer-accessible AR technology — Apple Vision Pro's launch, Snap's AR Commerce partnerships, and Meta's smart glasses have all contributed to making AR shopping more tangible and close to mainstream adoption. Social commerce at +13pp (from 58% to 71%) shows the fastest momentum of any top-five trend, reflecting TikTok Shop's rapid expansion across new markets in 2025-2026. The world population context for the consumer markets adopting these trends is in our world population analysis.
The value-driven buying trend (#7 in the overall ranking, 58%) is the only trend in the top 10 showing year-on-year decline (-2pp from 2025's 60%). This modest decline suggests that the acute cost-of-living pressure that dominated 2022-2024 is very gradually easing — consumers are still budget-conscious, but slightly less intensely so than at the peak inflation period. However, at 58%, value-driven buying remains firmly in the top 10 consumer trends, suggesting it will be a persistent feature of the consumer landscape even as inflationary pressures moderate. The global economy context for these macroeconomic pressures on consumer behaviour is in our global economy analysis.
Technology Trends Average 64.7% Citation vs Values Trends at 62.7% Near-Equal Consumer Priority
Categorising the top 10 consumer trends into technology-driven and values-driven groups reveals a near-equal split in marketer attention. Technology trends — AI personalisation (82%), social commerce (71%), short-form video (68%), AR shopping (44%) — average approximately 64.7% citation rate. Values-driven trends — sustainability (74%), privacy-first (61%), value-driven buying (58%), wellness (54%), community loyalty (49%) — average approximately 59.2%. This near-parity illustrates the sophistication of the 2026 consumer landscape: marketers cannot focus exclusively on technological engagement without addressing the growing consumer expectation that brands operate with genuine environmental, social, and privacy values. The internet companies responding to both technology and values trends are in our internet companies revenue analysis.
The AI market size and growth context for the AI personalisation consumer trend that dominates the 2026 ranking is significant — global AI market spending is growing at approximately 25-30% annually, creating new marketing capabilities faster than most brands can deploy them. The gap between marketers who are successfully deploying AI for consumer personalisation and those who are not is widening rapidly, creating significant competitive dynamics in industries where marketing effectiveness is a key differentiator. The AI market context for this trend is in our AI market size worldwide analysis.
Leading Consumer Trends Marketers Worldwide 2026 Key Statistics
Frequently Asked Questions Leading Consumer Trends Marketers Worldwide 2026
The top 5 consumer trends according to marketers worldwide in 2026 are: (1) AI-personalised experiences (82%), (2) Sustainability and eco-conscious purchasing (74%), (3) Social commerce and in-app shopping (71%), (4) Short-form video content consumption (68%), and (5) Creator economy and influencer trust (65%). Source: Statista, HubSpot State of Marketing 2026, GWI Consumer Trends 2026. ±3–5pp.
AI-personalised experiences is the biggest marketing trend in 2026, cited by approximately 82% of marketers worldwide as a significant consumer trend — the highest citation rate of any trend and a +14pp increase from 2025. This reflects the rapid deployment of generative AI across consumer touchpoints including personalised recommendations, AI-generated content, and predictive customer service. Source: HubSpot State of Marketing 2026. ±3–5pp.
Yes. Sustainability ranks #2 in the 2026 consumer trends ranking with 74% of marketers citing it as significant — up +6pp from 2025. Sustainability has been consistently in the top 3 consumer trends identified by marketers since 2021, making it the most structurally durable trend in the ranking. It is particularly significant for marketers in retail, FMCG, fashion, and travel. Source: HubSpot State of Marketing 2026, GWI. ±3–5pp.
Marketing budgets in 2026 are shifting toward AI tools (+18pp), short-form video (+14pp), and influencer/creator marketing (+11pp), while declining for traditional media (-12pp), traditional display (-8pp), and SEO/content (-4pp). These shifts reflect marketers' responses to the leading consumer trends identified in 2026. Source: HubSpot State of Marketing 2026, eMarketer. ±3–5pp.
Social commerce ranks #3 in the 2026 consumer trends ranking with 71% of marketers citing it as significant — showing the fastest year-on-year momentum of any top-five trend at +13pp from 58% in 2025. This acceleration reflects TikTok Shop's rapid international expansion and Instagram Shopping's enhanced checkout experience. Social commerce converges product discovery and purchasing into a single platform session. Source: HubSpot State of Marketing 2026. ±3–5pp.
Asia-Pacific shows the strongest adoption of leading consumer trends in 2026, particularly AI personalisation (91% citation rate — the highest globally). North America follows at 88%. Asia-Pacific's leadership reflects advanced AI deployment across China, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore. Eastern Europe shows the lowest adoption at 64%. Source: Statista regional marketing survey 2026. ±4–6pp.
Yes. The creator economy and influencer trust ranks #5 in the 2026 consumer trends ranking with 65% of marketers citing it as significant — up +11pp from 54% in 2025. The trend has evolved from celebrity macro-influencer campaigns toward micro-influencer and nano-influencer programmes at scale, with authenticity and community trust as the primary value drivers. Influencer/creator marketing also shows +11pp budget increase from 2024 to 2026. Source: HubSpot State of Marketing 2026. ±3–5pp.
The creator economy trend in 2026 reflects the growing influence of independent content creators — on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Substack — as trusted intermediaries between brands and consumers. Marketers are shifting from celebrity macro-influencer campaigns toward micro-influencers (10K-100K followers) and nano-influencers (1K-10K followers) who deliver higher engagement rates and stronger community trust. Marketing budgets for influencer/creator content have increased +11pp from 2024 to 2026. Source: HubSpot State of Marketing 2026. ±3–5pp.
Statista — Leading Consumer Trends According to Marketers Worldwide 2026 — Primary source for consumer trend citation rates and overall trend ranking. Statista compiles HubSpot, GWI, and independent marketing surveys. ±3–5pp per trend.
HubSpot State of Marketing 2026 — Primary survey source. HubSpot's annual State of Marketing report surveys 1,200+ marketing professionals globally on consumer trends, channel priorities, and budget allocation. ±3–5pp. Survey conducted Q1 2026.
GWI Consumer Trends Report 2026 — Secondary source for consumer trend validation and regional breakdowns. GWI surveys approximately 60,000+ consumers and marketers quarterly in 50+ markets. ±3–5pp per region.
eMarketer — Marketing Budget Allocation Survey 2024–2026 — Source for marketing budget allocation shift data from 2024 to 2026. eMarketer surveys marketing decision-makers on planned budget changes annually. ±3–5pp per category.
