The 10 e-commerce trends 2026
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Digitalization is no longer a new phenomenon. Online shopping has been popular for over 30 years. Yet it has weathered numerous changes. As the number of online stores continues to grow and challenges mount, it’s essential to adapt to new trends. It’s not enough to simply create a good online store. You need to focus on creating personalized, trustworthy shopping experiences. It’s important to ensure these experiences are consistent across all channels—from search to returns.
The most prominent trends in e-commerce today are personalization, AI, omnichannel, and fast logistics. In this article, we’ll describe how these are used in online stores. According to Google Trends, social commerce will be particularly popular in Germany by 2026. The use of AI agents is gradually increasing. Voice shopping is next on the list.
To be successful in online retail, the advice of a technical SAP consultant would be advisable. You need to know the current trends in the industry. Below are ten important e-commerce trends that you should definitely keep an eye on.
Personalized experience
An online store is seen as more than just a sales platform. It should be tailored to customer preferences and behavior. Customer needs are fully understood. The homepage is different for each customer, designed based on purchase history, click behavior, and time of visit. Customers prefer to visit stores of this kind and do so more often. Personalized offers, campaigns, and product displays are created to deliver tailored shopping experiences. Customers feel understood and return to this store time and again to make purchases. As a result, new customers become loyal buyers. An emotional connection is formed with them. This is how companies increase customer loyalty.
AI-Driven Personalization
Enterprise AI is emerging as the next e-commerce trend. To tailor online stores to individual customer needs, various technologies such as machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), predictive analytics, and augmented reality (AR) are used. In this context, particular attention must be paid to maximum agility, composable commerce, and green logistics. According to Statista, companies use AI in various areas—including customer service, marketing and communications, accounting, management, and sales. It is used most extensively in customer service.
Agentic Commerce
The use of autonomous AI assistants is a current e-commerce trend that is growing in popularity. Online retailers are using Agentic Commerce to make their stores even more appealing to customers. They are investing in AI agents that interact with systems via APIs or AI-powered backends. Using large language models (LLMs), these agents independently research and make decisions—and can even process purchases.
AI-Agents
Virtual assistants are software programs that can perform various actions on their own without human assistance. Unlike traditional chatbots, which only answer questions or find necessary links, AI agents can check orders or appointments, review emails, update databases, cancel tickets, or transfer money. They are important digital employees that automate various processes.
People don't need to spend a lot of time researching. They also do their shopping with the help of assistants. That's why it's important to make online stores visible to AI agents. If you're interested, please contact our chatbot Agency.
Omnichannel Commerce
Customer loyalty increases significantly not only through high-quality, comprehensive service, but also through a connected infrastructure and the intelligent integration of customer data. Shoppers appreciate being able to order products online and pick them up in-store, as well as organize returns via an app and communicate with customer service through social media.
In light of the omnichannel trend, e-commerce giants like Amazon also serve their customers in physical stores. Digital business can boost e-commerce sales through interactive kiosks and pop-up stores. In addition to fulfilling demand for online orders, it offers greater convenience and faster delivery through in-store pickup.
Unified commerce is an evolution of omnichannel. It is a modern e-commerce business trend. It enables seamless switching between touchpoints while allowing businesses to keep track of all customer data across multiple channels.
Voice Shopping
People enjoy shopping using voice commands. This requires virtual assistants such as Google Assistant from Gemini, Siri from Apple, Alexa from Amazon, and Bixby from Samsung. They recognize voice queries and translate them into actions. This allows shoppers to find products much faster than by typing search queries. Natural language is processed by speech recognition technology and can be accepted by a variety of devices. The user experience improves because it’s convenient and saves time. According to Roots Analysis, the voice commerce market is projected to grow to $923.83 billion by 2040.
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Mobile shopping
As more and more shoppers are using smartphones and tablets to make purchases, digital commerce geared towards mobile devices is essential. M-commerce, also known as mobile commerce, already accounts for the largest share of global online commerce and will certainly continue to grow in the coming years.
Improving the smartphone checkout means providing specific functions that are optimised for the capabilities of mobile devices. An optimised checkout process involves removing obstacles that prevent the user from proceeding directly to the shopping cart. Ideally, they access the shopping basket with just one touch of the screen, without pop-ups, extra clicks and unnecessary steps.
Simplify password recovery; make your purchase history easily accessible; use the customer's location; display the correct keyboard for each form to fill in fields; offer smartphone-optimised payment options. Pay special attention to detail: this will make your e-commerce stand out from the competition.
Marketplace
Successful large companies sell their own products not only through their own online stores but also on marketplaces. By selling through both channels, they can achieve a global reach.
In the marketplaces, consumers are looking for solutions rather than brands. That is why companies need to transform their product pages on marketplaces into rich and engaging experiences and offer unique, customized products through their own channels. Customers are increasingly rewarding companies that offer personalized experiences.
For smaller businesses, marketplaces are an excellent way to handle sales on an international level without having to manage logistics, marketing, or payment infrastructure. Another reason why online retailers list their products on marketplaces is the ability for AI agents to make purchases on their own. They structure the data so that virtual assistants can access it and make their own products available.
Social Commerce
This is a popular and widespread trend that is growing even more every year. Customers are increasingly making purchases directly through social media without leaving the platform. It’s convenient because they aren’t redirected to the online store. Gen Z and Millennials make up the largest share of social media shoppers. They shop online frequently by watching product videos. There’s no need to open a browser and spend a long time searching for the store. As a result, it’s a fully-fledged sales channel that’s growing tremendously.
The most popular platforms include TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube. Many brands use social commerce as a central element of their strategy.
B2B Commerce
B2B e-commerce is big, according to Statista, B2B sales today reach 31.19 bn USD. Wholesale customers expect the B2C features of wholesale e-commerce websites. This means that B2B online shops should be just as convenient as B2C online shops. Also, thanks to marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba, the line between B2B and B2C is blurring. B2B e-commerce trend needs to be strongly kept in mind by wholesalers.
More conscious consumption
In addition to all these points, customers are increasingly adopting sustainability and social impact as purchasing criteria. Many consumers would change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment. To ignore the sustainability trend is to ignore a large consumer base that is increasingly discerning about what they consume and who supplies them with products. Such customers appreciate companies' commitment to ethical and sustainable issues.
A good example is the sale of used luxury products - a business model known as recommerce. Organic products and internet searches for sustainable products are also on the rise.
E-commerce brands that want to remain relevant and competitive in the future should adopt sustainable practices in their production chain. The most important recommendation for e-commerce is to use biodegradable packaging and recyclable materials. Also of great importance is the creation of recycling policies, the introduction of sustainable transport, the establishment of a home office for employees to reduce energy and water consumption, more sustainable alternatives for products currently sold, etc.
Online retailers must prepare for the new EU regulation. Digital Product Passports (DPP) will be introduced starting in 2027. All information regarding origin, recyclability, and supply chains will be listed on product detail pages and will be visible to customers.
Augmented reality
Companies are already investing thousands of dollars in new functions and are focusing on the further development of virtual reality (VR) and augmented (AR) technologies. AR has closed the doubt gap in e-commerce. Even though shoppers like to shop online, they are usually unsure whether the paint colour would look good on the wall, whether the armchair matches the room's furnishings and whether the dining table fits the space available.
VR and AR functions have a great future. Even Facebook is moving in the direction of creating a "metaverse". Metaverse is a virtual world that people can access via different devices. This mainly concerns everyday work, games and fitness.
By integrating AR and VR, companies are improving user experience and transforming operational workflows, customer retention strategies, and training systems. These technologies are often used for employee training, remote collaboration, and product simulations. They enable the visualization and recognition of objects, as well as context awareness. According to Fortune Business Insights, demand for AR and VR will continue to grow.
Composable and API-Centric Architectures
Monolithic e-commerce platforms are gradually being replaced by API-centric architectures. This includes headless and composable commerce, as well as MACH architectures. They enable companies to respond more quickly and flexibly to new market demands. This makes it possible to add new features, integrate innovative technologies such as AI, and deliver consistent shopping experiences across all channels. API-centric architectures are particularly recommended for larger, internationally active, growing companies, as they have complex system landscapes. For smaller companies, they can be too expensive and complicated.
At our E-Commerce Agency, we advise you on choosing the right platform and create high-quality online stores and software with API-centric architecture. Contact us to receive a personalized quote.
FAQ
- How does the use of artificial intelligence help with marketing automation?
When you use AI, many tasks are automated (emailing and social media posting). This saves resources and achieves better, error-free results.
- What role does personalization play in increasing conversion rates?
Individual customer communication and relevant content improve customer loyalty and increase sales.
