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- [00:02]
A
Hello, it's January 20th, 2026. Welcome to episode 18 of the Commerce Riff with the CPG Guys weekly short segment. Snackable 10 minutes of content, audio and video. We hope you enjoy our curated stories. I'm of course your co host pbsb. I'm joined by Paparaj, the father of Pop stars Co founder CRO Think Blue Consulting. Bree, what's going on this week?
- [00:21]
B
How you doing man? So excited to be at FMI Midwinter again. We presented retail media to the Fresh Food Council yesterday. It was very well received. Today we're in front of the Growth Forum and a whole bunch of other forums on a new concept of enhancing joint business plans to be anchored around joint value creation. So what do you got for learnings?
- [00:38]
A
Coca Cola is shaking things up with a newly created Chief Digital Officer position as part of broader leadership changes tied to its CEO transition. Zef Salingan Sahin, a 20 year Koch veteran currently running the company's Eurasian Middle east operations, will step into the role. She'll lead digital transformation efforts and work to streamline cross functional collaboration. It matters because while Coca Cola has long positioned itself as a digital marketing leader, this formalizes digital strategy at the C suite level. Incoming CEO Henrique Braun called the role pivotal to the company's future, signaling digital isn't just a marketing plan anymore, it's enterprise wide strategy. The mission her immediate priorities are assessing how Coca Cola can strengthen execution, simplify workflows and deliver to consumers with more precision and speed. Classic digital transformation mandate for the CPG space. This is part of Braun's leadership team reshuffling. He was named CEO last month, as you remember Shree, replacing James Quincy, who has held the role since 2017. Sahin will take on some strategic responsibilities currently handled by the CFO John Murphy and report directly to Braun. Bonus move is that the Chief Marketing Officer, Manolo Arroyo is getting an expanded role too, picking up customer and commercial leadership duties from Murphy. His new title Chief Marketing and Customer Commercial Officer. All appointments are taking effective at the end of the first quarter. Coke is betting big on digital transformation At a time when CPG brands face massive technological disruption, creating a dedicated C level row shows that they're serious about making digital central to its entire business, not just marketing function. Over to you sri.
- [02:22]
B
Yeah Peter, I would say it's about time Coke got one of those roles because they're very advanced digitally. We see it in the marketplace every day. But sky and Stratably's 2026 data retail media report finds omnichannel orchestration and gen AI maturity separating winners from laggards Retail media has entered a defining new phase. Now accounting for nearly 30% of all U.S. digital ad spend, the channel is no longer a standalone or negotiable lower funnel tactic, but a central driver of omnichannel advertising strategy. According to this 2026 State of Retail Media report released yesterday by Sky Constratably, an independent research and advisory firm, brands that failed to integrate radiometer across search, Social, programmatic and CTV are rapidly falling behind. Based on an exclusive survey viewers, consumer goods brands and agencies, the fifth annual report showed that seven in 10 advertisers now meet or exceed their retail media performance goals. However, the study reveals a widening performance gap between leaders and laggards. Top performers are investing in unified orchestration, real time incrementality measurement, advanced applications of generative AI, while others struggle with fragmented, execut and limited, I would say visibility into true performance. Kroger in fact just announced their partnership with Google Gemini, so do check that one out. The brand succeeding in retail media aren't just spending more, they build fundamentally different operating models, said Michelle Irwin, CMO at Sky. Leading advertisers are treating retail media as the connective layer across cert, Social, Programmatic and ctv, she said. As I just mentioned, they're measuring incrementality in flight and applying AI across the full campaign life cycle, not just lower frontal measurement. In 2026 we'll also see agentic channel and AI driven inner interfaces continue to evolve and brands that don't plan, organize and measure for it or find themselves invisible at the point of discovery and decision. Invisible is the word. Peter Some findings. Brands now allocate 30% of even paid search dollars, 34% of paid social dollars to drive traffic directly to retail mass advertisers are coordinating 32% of total media budgets, not just digital. Through retail media, 59% are increasing retailer research spend, 57% boosting social commerce, 50% expanding CTV and 52% moving display budgets from open web to retail media DSPs. Those are huge numbers. 63% of marketers are using Genai and retail media programming, but its role is shifting. While early usage focused heavily on creative and content, brands are increasingly applying gen AI to campaign management, optimization, analytics, personalization. Brands actively measuring incrementality report tangible results 54% reduced waste spend, 49% increase new customer acquisition and and 29% improved competitive positioning. You heard it first year on the CPG guys five and a half years ago. If you are not a retail media guru, you are not a media guru anymore. Over to you, Sree.
- [04:58]
A
I imagine our friend Sarah Marzano from eMarketer is immersed in this research report.
- [05:03]
B
Who'S also chuckling listening to this.
- [05:05]
A
She probably is. All right, you know, Sree, you know Leadership changes are not just reserved to CPG Brands Walmart Inc. S incoming CEO John Furner announced a C Suite shakeup effective next month, per Friday press release. Among the changes David Gina, currently chief E Commerce officer for Walmart US will succeed Furner as the CEO of Walmart Inc. S U.S. business. Additionally, Walmart International CEO Catherine McLay is exiting the company. She will remain at Walmart through the first quarter to support a transition as Sam's Club's US CEO. Chris Nicholas succeeds her in the role. Seth Delaire, chief growth officer for the company's U.S. business, will take on the same title for Global Walmart Inc. Meanwhile, Latrice Watkins, chief merchandising officer for Walmart us will take on the CEO title for Sam's Club us. The C Suite shakeup marks the beginning of a new era for Walmart. When John Furner's appointment was announced in 2025, Macmillan noted that Ferner was uniquely capable of leading the company through this next AI driven transition earlier this month. Earlier this month, Walmart announced the appointment of Grammarly CEO Shishir Mehrotra to its board of directors. He has more than 25 years of technology experience, which includes co founding an AI platform and serving as YouTube Chief Product Officer and chief technology officer. Additionally, Fur told took the stage with Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai at the National Retail Federation's 2026 big show in New York City on Sunday to discuss AI. The executives debuted plans for a new consumer experience directly in Google's AI chatbot, Gemini. What won't change is our purpose, our values, the way we think about leading, fern told the audience when discussing how the retailer can adapt in light of AI's emergence. But everything else we are willing to change what we sell, how we interact with customers, with our associates. Shree, close this out, please.
- [06:56]
B
So real consumer spending growth is expected to decline to about 1.5% in 2026, though it will remain the backbone of the US economy, according to a Tuesday report from Moody's Ratings. More cautious consumer behavior and the impact of affordability concerns will leave the retail and consumer durable indust very vulnerable. A softening labor market with cooling wage gains is among the key pressures eroding households consumption growth, which could result in a more measured spending pace in the next year. Companies with multi tiered pricing structures and those best aligned with consumer value and convenience are more likely to have better financial outcomes. For Moody's analysts, a sharp deterioration in consumer fundamentals is not on the table in 2026 as long as unemployment remains stable. Still, consumer sentiment has dropped and shoppers are especially hungry for value. Value focused retailers are poised to gain market share as consumers trade down, Moody's analysts said. They also noted that households can lean on liquid assets, wealth gains credit and expected fiscal policy support in the new year. Discount retailers such as Dollar General, Dollar Tree have already reported an increase in higher income shoppers through 2025. Additionally, Dollar Tree has embarked on a long term multiprice strategy to expand its offerings. Data from Deloitte in October found that shoppers across income brackets and generations plan to curtail some of the holiday spending this past season. The latest report from Moody's notes that younger job seekers are struggling to find employment while the co drivers of spend. Middle aged workers are facing fairly low unemployment risk, helping to keep spend healthy. Health care costs such as increased deductibles co pays are another drain on household finances. According to Moody's. The pressures are even greater for consumers without any health insurance coverage, increasing the risk of depleted savings and borrowing needs. High child care prices and the rising cost of other essentials such as utilities property taxes pose a risk to consumer spending budgets. All of this is compounded by a demonstrated drop in consumer sentiment, which Moody's analysts say is partly driven by continued inflation and of course, political uncertainty.
- [08:46]
A
You're on mute as we wrap up a reminder to catch up on our recently released episode featuring Liz Rothsch of Albertsons Media Collective and Karam Malik from Walmart Connect. Alrighty folks, that's our take on relevant commerce happenings from so many announcements this past week. We hope you enjoyed it. Please do click like our post on all platforms. Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and now YouTube. See you next week. The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGuys, LLC or the individual author, hosts or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPG Guys, llc. The views expressed by guests are their own, and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. The views expressed by CPT Guys, LLC do not represent the views of their employers or the entity they represent. CPT Guys LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual's use of or reference to or inability to use this podcast or the information we present in this podcast.