Five CPG shopper truths from our new Global CPG Pulse — and what to do about them

Discover key insights from the Global CPG Pulse 2025 on shopper behavior and strategies to boost brand loyalty, visibility, and conversions.

Brand loyalty is loose — especially in treats and cleaning

Up to 70% of buyers were new to brand in the past year, with the most switching in Candy & Chocolate and Household Cleaning. Translation: shoppers are auditioning brands every week, leaving the door open for marketers to win new customers with the right mix of visibility, tailored messaging, and competitive offers.

Source: Criteo Commerce Data – Global, CPG products purchased in the period of Jul 8-21, 2025 with 12 months of past purchase behavior considered. Hundreds of Retailers and Brands observed. Buyers had made at least one other purchase in the product category over the last 12 months. New to Brand indicates they had not purchased this brand in that 12 months.

What you can do:

• Maximize visibility for challenger and emerging brands with onsite display and video ads to capture shoppers in brand-switching mode.
• Activate prospecting campaigns with competitive offers and personalized creatives to convert high-intent shoppers open to trying something new.

More tabs, more brands in play

When shoppers browse across multiple retailers, they view up to 80% more brands than when they stick to a single site. More tabs equal more competitors on stage — and more chances for you to appear.

Source: Criteo Commerce Data – Global, Grocery, Household Supply and Health & Beauty products purchased during the period Jul 8-14, 2025; 1 month browsing behavior considered. Hundreds of Retailers and Brands observed. Same shoppers assessed for # brands viewed in the month at the retailer they purchased from vs all retailers with which they viewed similar CPG products.

What you can do:

• Run multi-retailer and offsite retail media campaigns. Stay visible throughout the shopper journey and intercept switching behavior with timely, targeted placements.
• Use audience signals to identify in-market browsers and push them to wherever your products are sold with competitive creatives that position your brand as the standout choice during high-consideration moments.

Ads flip the buy switch — and momentum is up

About 1 in 2 CPG shoppers say ads motivated a purchase. Year over year, that share jumped notably in key markets — +14pp in the UK, +8pp in Germany, +7pp in the US. Ads are driving trial, impulse adds, and incremental growth.

Source: Criteo Shopper Survey, 2025 Q2 (N=3689). Global.

What you can do:

• Keep full-funnel on. Blend awareness with conversion tactics for continuity from browse to buy.
• Use high-impact placements and personalized recommendations to trigger impulse buys and brand trial at the point of sale.

Specialty retailers attract higher-value shoppers

Shoppers who go beyond big-box — shopping specialty only or specialty plus large retailers — purchase from more partners, place more orders, and spend more per order and in total than large-retailer-only shoppers. In short, specialty shoppers are gold.

Source: Criteo Commerce Data – US, purchase behavior of shoppers in Food & Beverages products during May 1 – July 30, 2025. Large retailers are top 10% of retailers in terms of sales during the period of analysis. Values are indexed to shoppers who purchase at both large and specialty retailers, with their metrics set to 100. For example, shoppers who only buy from large retailers have an average order value that is 75% of those who shop at both large and specialty retailers.

What you can do:

• Ensure coverage in specialty environments. Use a mix of formats to ensure strong presence across both large and specialty retailers.
• Capture attention early in the journey with optimized product content, targeted ads, and brand storytelling.

CPG grows baskets — and helps more carts cross the finish line

Baskets with CPG items are workhorses. In a 6-month period, shoppers buy 3.4 times as many units and make around 10% more transactions on CPG items than non-CPG items. The result is that total spend on CPG is roughly 30% higher, demonstrating how affordable essentials build bigger baskets and drive revenue. Baskets with CPG items also have a 9% lower abandonment rate, showing that essentials make a checkout completion more likely.

Source: Criteo Commerce Data – United States, New Buyers from major retailers during Black Friday Weekend (Nov 29 – Dec 2, 2024), and their repeat purchases on the same retailer in the following 6 months. *New buyers are first-time buyers on a given retailer.

What you can do:

• Use essentials as the “cart stabilizer.” Feature them in bundles and cart-builder modules. Target retailer audiences who have added to cart but have not purchased.
• Retarget with CPG-led creatives. Emphasize utility and urgency to recover abandons, using essentials as a lever to drive final conversion.

Get the full CPG Pulse

This was the highlight reel. For more insights — including spending plans and the impact of AI-assisted product research — download the Global CPG Pulse 2025 and turn these insights into your next quarter’s wins.