The Drop by RPC

Seeing around corners for consumer brands & retailers

We’re aware of our clients’ focus on what the future holds for consumer brands and retailers amid sweeping reforms and ever-evolving regulation. Against a backdrop of unprecedented change across the sector, we have created a practical guide jam-packed with actionable intel to help you look ahead with clarity and confidence.

The Drop by RPC brings together insights from across our specialist sector group to highlight the most pressing issues likely to shape your strategy, risk profile and opportunities over the next 12 months. We look at how brands are ramping up investment in AI – from personalisation and pricing to supply chain and customer experience – and the legal, ethical and reputational questions that follow. We consider the evolving cookies and tracking landscape and what it really means for digital marketing, adtech and first‑party data strategies.

We also examine the regulators’ increasing interest in the sector: HMRC’s more assertive approach to consumer-facing businesses, and the CMA’s scrutiny of online pricing practices and transparency. Alongside this, we discuss recent M&A trends in consumer brands and retail, our Employment team unpacks key reforms under the new Employment Rights Act, whilst our cyber specialists outline why cyber resilience is now a board-level imperative rather than an IT issue.

We hope you find this a practical and insightful guide to what lies ahead in the rest of 2026 and beyond.

View publication below.

Access full screen here.