CPG Resolutions to Turn Headwinds into Momentum
AFTER A YEAR of tariff shocks, price fatigue, and frozen budgets, CPG teams have a choice in Q1: resume business as usual or use smarter, faster insight loops to regain demand, loyalty, and shelf power.
It’s been a tough stretch for many brands. The pandemic years masked deeper structural issues with price-led growth. Now, costs remain high, shoppers are trading down, and insights budgets have often been the first to go. The result: fewer launches, slower innovation, and teams flying blind.
But 2026 brings a clean slate and a chance to rebuild momentum with methods that meet consumers where they are. In my career, I’ve seen first-hand how the right approach to market research can help leading CPG and FMCG brands uncover more emotional, contextual feedback that drives impact and revenue.
Here are seven resolutions for CPG leaders ready to make 2026 a turning point:
1. Build a continuous feedback rhythm
Traditional studies often start and stop, taking months to field and analyze. Instead, create a steady cadence of short, mobile-based “learning sprints” that track shopper sentiment, message response, or pack preference each month. This rhythm keeps teams connected to real behavior and makes insights a habit rather than a seasonal expense.
2. Bring research into consumers’ daily lives
People don’t think about your category in a focus group room. Text- and chat-based approaches meet them on the same channels where they share opinions, photos, and routines. By capturing reactions through their phones, you get feedback grounded in real context, based on what’s in their fridge, cart, or kitchen counter in that moment.
3. Use AI to reveal what shoppers can’t explain
Many CPG decisions are automatic. AI-assisted analysis can flag when responses are shallow and prompt for richer detail, uncovering emotions that drive seemingly routine choices. This can be especially valuable in low-involvement categories like oral care or cleaning products, where subtle emotional cues often reveal more than rational explanations.
4. Stay ahead of change, not just on top of it
Disruption rarely arrives with warning labels. The brands that adapt the fastest are those that keep listening even when things seem stable. Tyson Foods did this during the pandemic, using mobile diaries and follow-up video chats to study how morning routines were shifting. Those findings informed both retail and foodservice plans, helping the company emerge stronger once habits normalized.
5. Treat price and promotion as storytelling tools
Pricing is no longer just math. It’s communication about fairness, quality, and trust. Pair elasticity models with quick conversational tests to explore how packaging, claim language or portion sizes shape perception. In an inflation-weary market, subtle framing changes can sustain trust and protect margin more effectively than across-the-board discounts.
6. Share insights in ways people use
Even the best data loses momentum if it stays in a Powerpoint deck. Turn findings into short, visual stories that move easily through your organization, employing reporting that includes things like video highlights, bite-size mobile summaries or dashboards that update automatically. To go back to our Tyson Foods example, the company now uses dynamic video deliverables from their studies as onboarding tools for new hires; a reminder that great insights can even inspire culture.
7. Redefine quality through participant engagement
There’s a lot of talk out there about the threat of bots and fraudulent actors, especially as technology accelerates. But disengaged humans can also affect outcomes. So I encourage you to design research that respects participants’ time and attention by keeping surveys short, intuitive and conversational. Recontact engaged respondents for quick follow-ups, and recruit through trusted communities when possible. When the experience feels human, response quality rises naturally and so does stakeholder confidence in the data.
As budgets reset, this is the moment to lay seeds for the year ahead. CPG leaders have a rare chance to rebuild curiosity and momentum after a challenging stretch. The teams that stay close to consumers – continuously – will see opportunity sooner and act with more confidence. If 2025 was about surviving turbulence, 2026 can be about rediscovering rhythm. Time to make those resolutions!
Jonathan Dore is an Executive Vice President of Reach3 Insights, an innovative marketing research consultancy focused on insight gathering through conversational approaches and communities. For more information, please visit www.reach3insights.com.
