These pressures are likely to deepen in our K-shaped economy where different groups recover at different speeds. Regardless of the cause, brands need a broader and more flexible definition of value. Value is not singularly defined by cost, it’s defined by context. It’s fluid, situational, and often contradictory, stretching across time, convenience, identity, and emotional payoff. In 2025, we saw many consumers trade down in essential categories so they could splurge in discretionary ones, a clear sign that value varies by moment¹.

We can no longer market to static personas. Instead, we need to market to value moments and ask a simple question: what is the consumer optimizing for right now? Sometimes value means saving money. Other times it means saving time through convenience, speed, cognitive ease, or reliability. And often it is emotional, fueled by sustainability, aesthetics, nostalgia, social signaling, community, or personal achievement. In many cases, value is a blended calculus across all three.

A starting point is reframing retail media networks from a cost of doing business to a creative insights engine. Retail media often feels like a pay-to-play line item, yet it offers one of the most detailed views of consumer behavior available. Basket composition, purchase frequency, repeat rates, and loyalty churn provide real behavioral breadcrumbs that reveal how people define value.

When read correctly, these signals allow marketers to build value-based cohorts, scale them with lookalike modeling, and personalize messaging across both onsite and offsite channels.

This shift helps us meet people not only where they are, but where their definition of value sits on any given day.