Marketing, Consumer Behaviour & Business Strategy Research Trends 2026

Emerging Research Trends in Marketing, Consumer Behaviour and Business Strategy in 2026

Marketing, consumer behaviour and business strategy are entering a period of significant transformation. Artificial intelligence is changing how consumers search for information and how companies create marketing content. Personalisation is becoming more sophisticated. Social platforms are becoming commercial environments rather than merely communication channels. Consumers are increasingly balancing convenience, experience, trust and value when making purchasing decisions. At the same time, businesses face a strategic challenge. Technology may make it easier to understand and reach customers, but competitive advantage increasingly depends on whether organisations can convert that technological capability into meaningful customer value. For management scholars, 2026 therefore presents an important research opportunity. Researchers can move beyond traditional questions about advertising effectiveness, brand loyalty and market competition to investigate how AI-assisted discovery, digital consumer journeys, algorithmic personalisation, value consciousness, trust, customer experience and rapidly changing competitive environments are reshaping both marketing and business strategy. Current consumer research highlights this complexity. McKinsey's 2026 State of the Consumer report identifies technology-driven paths to purchase, increased cost consciousness, demand for experiences and changing consumption priorities as major forces shaping consumer markets. For the ISB&M Journal of Business Issues & Research (ISBMJBIR), these developments create strong opportunities for interdisciplinary scholarship connecting marketing, consumer psychology, strategic management, analytics, entrepreneurship, digital business and organisational decision-making.

Why Marketing Research Is Changing in 2026

Marketing has traditionally focused on understanding customer needs, creating value, communicating offerings and building long-term relationships. These objectives remain important. What is changing is the environment in which organisations attempt to achieve them. Consumers now move between search engines, AI assistants, social platforms, e-commerce marketplaces, brand websites, physical stores, influencers, messaging platforms and digital communities. As a result, the traditional linear customer journey is becoming increasingly difficult to observe. A consumer might discover a product through short-form video, research it through AI-powered search, compare prices on a marketplace, examine reviews on another platform and finally purchase through either a physical or digital channel. For researchers, this creates new questions concerning attribution, consumer trust, platform influence, decision shortcuts and customer experience.

Research Opportunity 1: AI-Powered Consumer Discovery

One of the most important emerging areas concerns how artificial intelligence changes product and brand discovery. Traditional digital marketing depended heavily on search engines, advertisements and social-media feeds. AI-powered search and conversational interfaces increasingly allow consumers to ask detailed questions and receive synthesised recommendations. This could significantly alter how consumers discover brands. McKinsey reported in late 2025 that AI-powered search had already become part of consumer discovery behaviour and projected that it could substantially influence future commercial activity. Research questions may include:

How do consumers use AI systems when researching products?
Do consumers trust AI-generated brand recommendations?
How does AI search affect brand visibility?
Does AI reduce traditional search-engine dependence?
How do consumers evaluate competing AI-generated recommendations?
Which brands benefit most from AI-mediated discovery?
How should marketing strategy adapt to AI search?

This research area connects digital marketing, consumer behaviour, information systems and strategic management.

Research Opportunity 2: Generative AI in Marketing

Generative AI is changing how marketing teams develop content, analyse customer information and personalise communications. Organisations can potentially use generative AI for:

Advertising copy
Product descriptions
Customer service
Email marketing
Campaign ideation
Customer segmentation
Social media content
Market research synthesis
Sales enablement

The management research question is not simply whether firms are using these tools. Researchers need to determine whether AI-generated marketing actually improves customer outcomes and business performance. Potential questions include:

Does AI-generated advertising improve engagement?
How do consumers respond when they know content was AI-generated?
Does AI increase marketing productivity?
How does AI affect creativity?
Can generative AI weaken brand distinctiveness?
What types of marketing decisions should remain human-led?

McKinsey's 2026 marketing research identifies insights, creativity, personalisation, agentic commerce and orchestration as important AI-enabled marketing capabilities. This provides an important research agenda for scholars examining the changing relationship between technology and marketing capability.

Research Opportunity 3: Hyper-Personalisation and Consumer Response

Personalisation has become an important marketing capability. Organisations can use customer information to tailor recommendations, offers, communications and digital experiences. Deloitte's 2026 retail outlook reports that personalisation remains a major strategic investment area, with retailers increasingly exploring AI-enabled recommendations and enhanced omnichannel experiences. However, more personalisation is not automatically better. Consumers may appreciate relevant recommendations but become uncomfortable when companies appear to know too much about them. Researchers can examine:

Personalisation and customer satisfaction
AI-based recommendations
Personalisation and privacy concerns
Consumer perceptions of surveillance
Personalisation and brand loyalty
Customised pricing
Personalisation fatigue
Cross-channel personalisation

A particularly valuable research question is: At what point does personalisation shift from helpful to intrusive? This tension between relevance and privacy is likely to remain central to consumer behaviour research.

Research Opportunity 4: Consumer Trust in Artificial Intelligence

Trust is becoming increasingly important as consumers interact with AI-generated recommendations, automated customer-service systems and synthetic content. Consumers may not always understand how AI systems produce outputs. Deloitte's 2026 Digital Consumer Trends research highlights an important trust problem: some consumers overestimate the accuracy and neutrality of AI-generated information. This creates research opportunities involving:

Trust in AI recommendations
Perceived AI accuracy
Consumer knowledge of AI
AI disclosure
Algorithm transparency
Consumer scepticism
AI-generated misinformation
Brand responsibility for AI outputs

Researchers can also explore whether consumer trust changes depending on the type of decision. Consumers may be comfortable allowing AI to recommend entertainment but less comfortable relying on it for financial or healthcare-related decisions.

Research Opportunity 5: Value-Conscious Consumer Behaviour

Price and value remain powerful influences on consumer behaviour. Technology may change how consumers discover products, but economic considerations continue to influence purchase decisions. McKinsey's 2026 consumer research identifies sustained cost consciousness as one of the major forces shaping customer behaviour and highlights the rise of increasingly resourceful consumers. This creates research opportunities involving:

Price sensitivity
Value-seeking behaviour
Private-label adoption
Promotional responsiveness
Brand switching
Subscription cancellation
Discount strategies
Perceived value
Premium versus affordable positioning

Researchers should examine whether cost-conscious behaviour represents a temporary response to economic pressure or a longer-term behavioural shift.

Research Opportunity 6: The Experience Economy

Consumers increasingly evaluate brands through experiences rather than products alone. The physical product may remain important, but consumers also consider service quality, convenience, entertainment, interaction and emotional value. McKinsey's 2026 consumer analysis identifies the experience economy as one of the important trends reshaping consumer sectors. Potential research areas include:

Experiential marketing
Customer experience
Retail experiences
Brand communities
Event marketing
Immersive experiences
Phygital retail
Customer journey design

Researchers can investigate whether experience-based strategies generate lasting loyalty or primarily short-term engagement.

Research Opportunity 7: Omnichannel Consumer Behaviour

Consumers increasingly move between digital and physical channels. They may research online and buy offline. They may inspect products in stores and purchase through an application. They may interact with customer service through messaging platforms before buying through an e-commerce marketplace. Deloitte's 2026 retail research shows that retailers continue to prioritise omnichannel experiences as part of customer-value and personalisation strategies. Research opportunities include:

Online-to-offline behaviour
Channel switching
Omnichannel loyalty
Mobile commerce
In-store digital technology
Customer journey integration
Channel consistency
Omnichannel service recovery

The challenge for marketers is no longer merely operating multiple channels. It is creating a coherent experience across them.

Research Opportunity 8: Social Commerce and Creator Influence

Social platforms increasingly influence both product discovery and purchase decisions. Consumers may discover brands through creators, live streams, recommendations, social communities and short-form video. Social commerce therefore combines marketing communication, entertainment and transaction. McKinsey's 2026 analysis of the beauty sector estimates that US social-commerce sales across consumer categories could reach approximately $100 billion in 2026. This creates research opportunities around:

Influencer credibility
Creator-brand fit
Live shopping
Short-form video commerce
Social recommendations
Parasocial relationships
Impulse purchasing
Social proof
Consumer trust in creators

Researchers can also investigate whether consumers respond differently to professional advertising, creator recommendations and user-generated content.

Research Opportunity 9: Consumer Acceptance of AI-Generated Content

AI is changing media as well as marketing. Brands can increasingly generate images, video, audio and text at scale. However, consumer acceptance may depend on transparency and context. Deloitte's 2026 Digital Media Trends research found meaningful consumer openness to AI-created content when it is clearly identified as such. Potential research questions include:

Does disclosure increase trust?
Does AI-generated content reduce perceived authenticity?
Do consumer responses differ by product category?
Does AI content affect brand credibility?
Can consumers accurately identify synthetic content?
How should marketers communicate AI involvement?

This emerging field connects marketing ethics, consumer psychology and digital media research.

Research Opportunity 10: Brand Authenticity in an AI-Driven Market

As marketing automation expands, authenticity may become more important rather than less. Consumers may increasingly encounter polished AI-generated advertisements, automated recommendations and synthetic influencers. This can make genuine human identity, creativity and brand purpose strategically valuable. Deloitte's 2026 retail outlook emphasises maintaining brand differentiation and human creativity even as AI becomes increasingly embedded in customer experiences. Researchers can examine:

Brand authenticity
Human versus AI-created communication
Brand personality
Consumer scepticism
Emotional brand connection
Corporate transparency
Purpose-driven branding

An important strategic question is whether AI creates marketing efficiency while simultaneously making distinctive human creativity more valuable.

Research Opportunity 11: Customer Loyalty in Low-Switching-Cost Markets

Digital marketplaces make it easier for consumers to compare products and switch between brands. This creates challenges for traditional loyalty strategies. Researchers may examine:

Loyalty programme effectiveness
Switching behaviour
Customer retention
Subscription loyalty
Rewards programmes
Emotional loyalty
Price-driven switching
Digital loyalty platforms

Researchers should distinguish between behavioural loyalty and genuine brand preference. A customer who repeatedly purchases a brand because of discounts may behave loyally without developing strong emotional attachment.

Research Opportunity 12: Consumer Health and Wellness Behaviour

Health and wellness increasingly influence consumer markets. McKinsey's 2026 State of the Consumer research identifies the continuing health revolution as an important consumer trend. This creates opportunities across food, fitness, beauty, hospitality, technology and services. Possible research areas include:

Health-conscious consumption
Wellness branding
Functional foods
Fitness technology
Preventive health consumption
Consumer trust in wellness claims
Health influencers
Personalised wellness

Researchers can also study whether stated wellness preferences translate into consistent consumer behaviour.

Research Opportunity 13: Retail Media and Customer Data

Retailers increasingly operate not only as sellers but as advertising platforms. Customer transaction data can help brands target advertisements and measure outcomes. This creates opportunities for retail-media research. Potential themes include:

Retail media networks
First-party customer data
Personalised retail advertising
Retailer-brand relationships
Advertising effectiveness
Customer privacy
Data monetisation

Research can investigate whether retail-media ecosystems improve customer relevance or primarily create additional commercial pressure within the shopping journey.

Research Opportunity 14: Consumer Privacy and Data Strategy

Personalisation depends heavily on consumer information. This creates an unavoidable strategic tension. Businesses want more data because better information may improve targeting and recommendations. Consumers may simultaneously become more concerned about privacy. Deloitte's recent connected-consumer research identifies privacy, accuracy and trust as important considerations surrounding increasingly intelligent digital services. Research areas include:

Privacy concerns
Data-sharing intention
Consent behaviour
Privacy-personalisation trade-offs
Consumer trust
First-party data strategy
Ethical marketing analytics

Research Opportunity 15: Regional and Tier-City Consumer Markets in India

India provides a particularly important environment for consumer behaviour research. Consumer growth is increasingly distributed beyond the largest metropolitan centres. World Economic Forum analysis published in February 2026 highlights the increasing importance of emerging consumer cities and regional middle-class growth in India. This creates research opportunities involving:

Tier-2 and Tier-3 consumer markets
Regional brand preferences
Digital consumption
Local-language marketing
Rural and semi-urban consumers
Regional e-commerce
Affordable premium products
Changing middle-class consumption

Researchers can examine whether strategies developed for major metropolitan markets remain effective in smaller cities.

Research Opportunity 16: Generational Consumer Behaviour

Consumer markets increasingly contain several economically important generations simultaneously. Researchers should avoid oversimplified assumptions such as treating all younger consumers as digitally sophisticated or all older consumers as traditional buyers. Relevant research areas include:

Gen Z purchasing behaviour
Millennial brand preferences
Gen X spending patterns
Age differences in AI adoption
Cross-generational digital behaviour
Generational loyalty
Differences in sustainability preferences

Strong research should examine measurable behavioural differences rather than relying on generational stereotypes.

Research Opportunity 17: Sustainable Consumption and Green Marketing

Environmental concerns continue to influence marketing research. However, researchers need to distinguish between environmental attitudes and actual purchasing behaviour. Consumers may state that sustainability matters but still prioritise price, quality and convenience. Potential research areas include:

Green purchase intention
Sustainable branding
Eco-labels
Greenwashing
Responsible consumption
Circular consumption
Second-hand marketplaces
Consumer willingness to pay

This area also creates natural interdisciplinary connections between marketing, sustainability and strategic management.

Research Opportunity 18: Strategic Agility in Consumer Markets

Consumer behaviour can change rapidly. Businesses therefore need strategies capable of adapting to new channels, technologies and expectations. McKinsey's 2026 consumer and retail research emphasises the interaction between technological acceleration and shifting consumer priorities. Researchers can examine:

Strategic agility
Dynamic capabilities
Rapid market sensing
Resource reallocation
Competitive response
Marketing agility
Business-model adaptation

An important research question is whether organisations that understand changing consumers faster than competitors achieve superior performance.

Research Opportunity 19: Marketing Strategy and Competitive Advantage

Technology has made many marketing tools widely available. Competitors may use similar AI platforms, analytics systems and advertising channels. This raises an important strategic question: If everyone has access to similar technology, where does competitive advantage come from? Possible answers may include:

Better proprietary data
Stronger brands
Superior customer understanding
Organisational capabilities
Faster experimentation
Creative differentiation
Customer communities
Distribution advantages

Research examining how marketing capability contributes to sustainable competitive advantage remains highly relevant.

Research Opportunity 20: Measuring Marketing Effectiveness in the AI Era

More marketing technology also creates more metrics. Organisations can measure impressions, clicks, engagement, conversion rates, customer acquisition and numerous other indicators. However, more data does not automatically mean better measurement. Researchers can investigate:

Marketing return on investment
Attribution models
Customer lifetime value
Incrementality
Brand-equity measurement
AI marketing productivity
Cross-channel effectiveness

The strongest research should distinguish between activity metrics and meaningful business outcomes. A campaign generating millions of impressions may still create little incremental value.

Moving Beyond Descriptive Marketing Research

Marketing researchers should increasingly move beyond simply documenting emerging technologies or consumer preferences. Instead of asking: “Do consumers use AI?” Researchers might ask: “How does AI-assisted discovery influence purchase confidence?” Instead of: “Do consumers prefer personalised recommendations?” Research might examine: “At what level of personalisation do privacy concerns outweigh relevance?” Instead of: “Are consumers active on social media?” Researchers could investigate: “How does creator credibility affect conversion and long-term brand trust?” These deeper questions can produce stronger theoretical and managerial contributions.

Methodological Opportunities for Marketing and Consumer Researchers

Marketing and consumer behaviour research can benefit from considerable methodological diversity. Researchers may use:

Consumer surveys
Experiments
Field experiments
Choice modelling
Eye-tracking studies
Neuromarketing methods
Customer transaction data
Digital behaviour data
Social media analytics
Interviews and focus groups
Mixed-method research
Longitudinal studies
Panel data

The methodology should always follow the research problem rather than being selected simply because a particular technique is fashionable.

Opportunities for Indian Marketing and Strategy Scholars

India offers a particularly rich environment for studying marketing and consumer behaviour. Researchers can investigate:

AI-enabled shopping behaviour
Digital payment adoption
Social commerce
Tier-city consumption
Regional brands
Quick-commerce behaviour
Value-conscious consumers
Affordable premiumisation
Influencer marketing
Omnichannel retail
Local-language digital marketing
Sustainable consumption

The increasing importance of consumer growth outside India's largest metros makes regional market research particularly valuable. Researchers should nevertheless avoid treating India merely as a geographical sample. The strongest studies should explain how economic, cultural, technological and regional conditions influence consumer behaviour and business strategy.

What Makes a Strong Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Research Paper?

A contemporary topic does not automatically create a strong research paper. Authors should clearly establish:

The research problem
The theoretical foundation
The research gap
The consumer or organisational context
The methodology
The findings
The theoretical contribution
The managerial implications

Researchers should also avoid treating broad concepts such as AI, personalisation, customer experience and digital marketing as single variables without careful definition. Clear constructs improve research quality and interpretation.

ISBMJBIR as a Platform for Marketing, Consumer and Strategy Research

The ISB&M Journal of Business Issues & Research provides a scholarly platform for research examining contemporary challenges affecting markets, organisations, managers and consumers. Marketing, consumer behaviour and business strategy fit naturally within the journal's business and management orientation because each field contributes to understanding how organisations identify opportunities, create customer value and respond to competitive change. Researchers working on AI marketing, consumer psychology, digital commerce, branding, strategic management, business analytics, customer experience, sustainability and related interdisciplinary areas are encouraged to consider the journal's current submission opportunities. Authors should review the latest Aims & Scope, Call for Papers, Author Guidelines and manuscript submission requirements before preparing their manuscripts.

How Digital Publishing Infrastructure Supports Modern Business Research

Rapidly developing research fields require organised scholarly publishing systems. Modern journals increasingly rely on:

Professional journal websites
Online manuscript submission
Editorial tracking
Peer-review workflows
Structured article publication
Metadata management
DOI workflows
Digital archives

ISB&M Journal of Business Issues & Research is powered by ScholarJMS, supporting journal website, manuscript submission and editorial workflow infrastructure. ScholarJMS: https://www.scholarjms.com Institutions operating OJS journals can use OJSCloud for OJS hosting, technical support, migration assistance, journal launch support and ISSN consulting. OJSCloud: https://www.ojscloud.com Journals planning persistent article-identification workflows can use GetDOI for Crossref DOI setup, sponsorship guidance and DOI workflow assistance. GetDOI: https://www.getdoi.com Publishers seeking more transparent scholarly evaluation can explore Scholar9 and its research-trust and transparent peer-review ecosystem. Scholar9: https://www.scholar9.com

A Note for Institutions Planning a Marketing or Management Journal

Universities, business schools and research institutions may wish to establish journals focusing on marketing, management, entrepreneurship, finance or broader business studies. A credible journal requires more than a website. Institutions should plan:

Journal aims and scope
Editorial positioning
Editorial board
Author guidelines
Publication ethics
Peer-review policies
Manuscript submission workflows
Journal website architecture
ISSN readiness
Crossref DOI planning
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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the major marketing research trends in 2026? Important areas include AI-assisted consumer discovery, generative AI marketing, hyper-personalisation, customer trust, social commerce, omnichannel experiences, value-conscious consumer behaviour, retail media and data-driven marketing strategy. Current consumer research also highlights technology-led shopping journeys, cost consciousness and experience-driven consumption. How is AI changing consumer behaviour? AI can influence how consumers search for products, receive recommendations, interact with brands and evaluate alternatives. It also introduces questions around trust, accuracy, transparency and privacy. What is AI-powered consumer discovery? AI-powered discovery occurs when consumers use conversational AI, AI search tools or recommendation systems to identify products, compare alternatives or support purchasing decisions. Is personalisation still an important marketing research area? Yes. AI is allowing companies to personalise recommendations and interactions more extensively, while researchers continue to investigate privacy, relevance, customer satisfaction and trust. What is social commerce? Social commerce refers to product discovery, promotion and purchasing activities that occur through social-media environments, creators, communities or related digital platforms. Why is consumer trust important in AI marketing? Consumers increasingly interact with AI-generated information and recommendations. Trust influences whether they accept these outputs, while concerns about accuracy, bias and privacy can weaken adoption. What is value-conscious consumer behaviour? Value-conscious consumers carefully compare price, quality, convenience and benefits before purchasing. This behaviour can influence brand switching, private-label adoption, promotions and pricing strategy. What is omnichannel consumer behaviour? Omnichannel behaviour describes consumers moving across physical and digital touchpoints during a single customer journey, such as researching online before buying in a physical store. What are good consumer behaviour research topics for Indian scholars? Potential topics include Tier-2 and Tier-3 consumer behaviour, AI-assisted shopping, social commerce, quick commerce, digital payments, regional brands, influencer marketing, affordability and sustainable consumption. Can marketing scholars study generative AI? Yes. Potential topics include AI-generated advertising, consumer trust, content authenticity, marketing productivity, brand differentiation and AI-assisted customer engagement. Is business strategy research relevant to consumer behaviour? Yes. Changes in consumer behaviour directly influence market positioning, pricing, innovation, resource allocation, business models and competitive strategy. Can doctoral researchers submit marketing research to ISBMJBIR? Doctoral and early-career researchers can consider submitting work aligned with the journal's current scope and manuscript requirements. Authors should consult the latest Author Guidelines before submission.

Conclusion: Understanding the Consumer Is Becoming a Strategic Capability

Marketing research in 2026 is increasingly inseparable from technology, analytics and business strategy. Artificial intelligence is changing product discovery. Generative AI is changing marketing production. Personalisation is becoming more sophisticated. Social commerce is bringing discovery and transaction closer together. Economic pressures are strengthening value-conscious behaviour. Consumers continue to expect meaningful experiences while simultaneously asking difficult questions about trust, privacy and authenticity. Current 2026 consumer research reflects this complexity, particularly the interaction between technological acceleration and cost-conscious behaviour. For management scholars, these developments create substantial opportunities. The strongest research will not simply describe new tools or changing customer behaviour. It will investigate why these changes occur, how they affect organisational performance and what businesses should do differently as a result. Researchers can contribute by examining AI-assisted consumer journeys, personalisation, trust, social commerce, customer experience, strategic agility, regional consumption and the changing foundations of competitive advantage. The ISB&M Journal of Business Issues & Research encourages academicians, researchers, doctoral scholars and practitioners to contribute rigorous and practically relevant scholarship addressing these emerging business issues. Authors working in marketing, consumer behaviour, strategic management, digital business, branding, analytics, entrepreneurship and related interdisciplinary fields are encouraged to review the journal's current Call for Papers and Author Guidelines. For universities, business schools and journal publishers Support is available for: