Looking ahead to 2026, brands and retailers face a landscape that has been fundamentally reshaped by trade disruptions, technological transformation, and evolving consumer priorities. McKinsey and The Business of Fashion’s latest State of Fashion report reveals an industry that is no longer defined by “uncertainty”, but by constant change – a “new normal” that demands agility, innovation, and strategic clarity.

Social media is always changing. Blink, and new features, algorithm updates, and trends are completely different. The mainstay of social media is that everything changes — and trends come and go. Keeping track of it all is the key to success. Stay on top of trends is more than a full-time job, and it’s also what makes social media marketing so interesting and rewarding. To help make life easier, we compiled what we thought are the top 11 social media trends for 2026.

Pinterest isn’t just where ideas start, it’s where shoppers make decisions. Consumers now use Pinterest as a visual search engine, arriving with plans, projects, and purchase intent already in motion. For brands selling across retailers and their own sites, this usage creates a high-impact moment to influence discovery and guide shoppers directly to where they prefer to buy.

Leading brands are using Pinterest to drive high-intent commerce: optimizing for search-driven behavior, making every touchpoint instantly shoppable, and connecting media to measurable omnichannel outcomes. Read on to learn how to ensure your products show up prominently, showcase availability in real time, and convert when inspiration turns into action.

Gen AI is quickly becoming the front door to commerce, but not the checkout lane. To earn high intent traffic through a reshaped funnel, retailers & brands need to be discoverable in the platforms during research, inspiration, and price comparison. They need to earn this new high intent traffic through content + agentic commerce strategy.

Gen AI is a decision accelerator, not a transaction destination (yet). Awareness and usage are very high across generations (88% of respondents are familiar if not using, with 69% using already). But intent to purchase through Gen AI platforms is low with most respondents preferring to further research & transact on a brand or retailer website.

Consumer behaviour is changing fast, and 2026 is going to accelerate every shift we started to see this year. From frictionless shopping and fading brand loyalty to the rise of wellness tech, smart homes, and micro-communities, the year ahead will change more than what people buy. It will change how they discover products, make decisions, and connect with brands across channels and moments. 

In 2026, the front end of retail and the back end of delivery are no longer separate worlds. AI assistants compare products and delivery promises in seconds. Retail media networks monetize tracking pages. Shoppers switch between home, store, lockers, and cross-border offers without thinking about channels at all. This article looks at one of the most important 2026 delivery trends in our research: the evolution of retail demand itself. It’s the context that all the 2026 hot topics we have identified sit inside.

Ten delivery trends that decide who wins customers and margin in 2026. Delivery is no longer back-end plumbing. It is where brands keep or break their promises, where logistics costs become real, and where shoppers quietly decide whether to buy again. This research report maps ten interconnected trends that are reshaping delivery across the EU and the UK, from AI and platforms to regulation, resilience, and retail demand.

What is actually happening on social media right now? Which platforms grew this year? Where do people interact the most? What formats grab attention? Social platforms move fast, but data always reveals the truth. In our Social Media Study 2026, we reviewed more than 39 million posts from over a million real accounts. This report contains hundreds of pages that show what brands, businesses, and creators actually did on each platform over the past year.