The State of Grocery in 2026

Trends, risks and opportunities

Grocery has entered a discipline era.

Online is normalized. Value-seeking is permanent. Trips are shorter and margins are thinner. In 2026, execution—not strategy—will decide who wins.

This report breaks down what changed in 2024–25 and what grocery leaders must execute consistently across stores, channels and teams to protect margin and loyalty.

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Built for grocery leaders responsible for results

This report is for:

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Grocery executives and operations leaders
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Merchandising, pricing and promotions teams
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Digital, omnichannel and eGrocery leaders
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If store-level execution affects your P&L
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What actually matters in 2026

Inside the report, you’ll learn:

  • Why grocery shifted from disruption to discipline
  • How shorter trips raise the cost of price, promo and availability errors
  • Where margin leaks most often (and why they’re hard to see)
  • How omnichannel fulfillment and marketplaces really impact profitability
  • Why private label, retail media and fresh only work when execution is tight

This is not a trend list. It’s an execution lens.

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A practical playbook so you can act today

The report includes:

  • A 2025 market snapshot shaping 2026 decisions
  • Operator-focused analysis of value, eGrocery, retail media and private label
  • Workforce and frontline readiness insights tied to execution speed
  • A grocery-specific KPI framework for 2026
  • Short-, medium- and long-term execution priorities
  • A quick execution checklist for store and field leaders

Because strategy fails on the floor

Most grocery strategies don’t fail in planning. They fail in execution.

Axonify helps grocery leaders turn priorities into consistent action with frontline enablement that improves readiness, reinforces critical behaviors and closes the loop between communication and execution.

This report reflects what we see every day: readiness is the multiplier.

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Get The state of grocery in 2026: Trends, risks and opportunities and pressure-test your priorities for the year ahead.

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