Mars (2026) — Future of shopping and retail

Summary:

This source previews how snack shopping could change over the next decade. Mars argues that repetitive “same again” purchases will shift to AI, forcing retailers and apps to make the rest of the journey more enjoyable, personalized, and experience-led.

The report comes from Mars, with Kantar and Synthesis. The business intent is clear: encourage brands and retailers to redesign shopping in ways that grow snacking — framed as identifying shopper expectations shaping retail’s future.

Mars says it scanned 180,000+ “signals” across four continents, drawing on 11 expert/stakeholder views, 30+ prior reports, plus large volumes of English-language news and podcast content (Jan 2024–Dec 2025), with no geography filters.

The central claim: AI will handle replenishment and routine household buying, involving shoppers mainly for approvals or exceptions. Shopping splits into two lanes — automated essentials versus intentional shopping for discovery, enjoyment, and social connection.

It centers on three shopper demands: frictionless purchasing, deeper personal curation, and experience-driven retail. It also warns the new fight won’t just be shelves or search—it’ll be getting into the AI-curated shortlist.

Personalization is expected to become more individual, spanning taste plus health and wellness priorities. It points to immersive environments, livestream commerce, and shopping embedded in social platforms, games, and streaming, supported by a handful of external metrics.

Key caveats: it’s Mars-produced and naturally angled toward Mars-friendly outcomes, and much of it is projection rather than observed behavior. The method is broad but light on details (how signals were selected, scored, and interpreted), reading as content-driven trend forecasting with expert input and some third-party stats.