Why discipline matters more than trends
Over the past year, I’ve spent time inside CPG and wellness brands at very different points in their growth journeys. Some are scaling quickly. Others are trying to regain momentum after years of expansion. Almost all of them are wrestling with the same reality.
Too many things are changing at once.
New technologies. New channels. New consumer expectations. New pressure on margins and trust. The pace of change is not slowing, and the playbooks that worked a few years ago feel less reliable.
What leaders are really asking is not which trend to follow next. It is how to build organizations that can absorb complexity without losing focus.
Heading into 2026, a few forces stand out.
AI is shifting from execution to leverage
AI has moved well beyond novelty. What I am seeing now is a clear divide between teams that use AI to do tasks faster and teams that use it to make better decisions.
Smaller brands often move first here. With fewer layers and clearer priorities, they integrate AI into creative iteration, analytics, and prioritization. It becomes part of how decisions are made, not a separate initiative.
Larger organizations usually have access to the same tools but struggle to embed them into everyday workflows. The gap is not technology. It is operating clarity.
The opportunity is not more AI.
It is clearer systems that make AI useful.
Retail media is becoming a trust channel
In health and wellness categories especially, consumers are cautious. They research. They compare. They look for validation before committing.
Retail platforms have become where these decisions are shaped. Media investments are following that behavior. Retail media is less about broad reach and more about credibility at the moment of choice.
This changes how paid media should be planned. Success is no longer just volume or efficiency. It is relevance, accuracy, and trust when consumers are deciding.
Consumers expect coherence, not channel excellence
One of the most consistent signals I see today is how quickly consumers notice disconnects.
A brand promise on social that does not show up on Amazon. A promotion online that does not align with retail. Messaging that shifts depending on where the customer encounters it.
These gaps erode trust.
Omnichannel today is not about being everywhere. It is about being consistent wherever the customer engages.
DTC is evolving into infrastructure
Direct to consumer has matured. For many brands, its most valuable role is no longer incremental revenue. It is learning.
DTC provides insight into customer behavior, messaging, pricing, and product performance. When used well, it informs retail strategy, innovation, and lifecycle design.
The brands that struggle treat DTC as a silo. The brands that scale treat it as infrastructure that supports the entire ecosystem.
The common thread leaders often miss
AI, retail media, omnichannel expectations, and DTC evolution are not separate trends. They are interconnected forces.
The brands that fall behind tend to chase each one independently. The brands that move forward design systems that allow these forces to reinforce each other.
This is where discipline matters.
Discipline in priorities.
Discipline in tradeoffs.
Discipline in how decisions cascade across teams.
Growth in 2026 will not reward constant motion.
It will reward aligned execution.
That is what allows complexity to compound instead of collapse.
That is the discipline of scale.