7 e-commerce trends reshaping online retail in 2026

AI shopping completes purchases in chat. TikTok Shop hit $26B. Checkout takes one tap. 7 e-commerce trends reshaping retail in 2026, backed by data.

Here’s the thing about e-commerce trends: most lists are guesses dressed up as forecasts. “AI will revolutionize shopping!” “Social commerce is the future!” Nice predictions. But useless.

This isn’t that. These seven trends aren’t coming—they’re already here. ChatGPT launched Instant Checkout in September 2025. TikTok Shop hit $26 billion in six months. One-tap checkout replaced five-step forms. The data shows adoption rates, revenue figures, and behavior shifts happening right now.

Why does this matter? Because your traffic sources, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs will change whether you prepare or not. The businesses winning in 2026 adapted in 2024 and 2025. The ones struggling will be those treating these shifts as “someday” problems instead of “this quarter” priorities.

AI shopping assistants complete transactions inside chat

In September 2025, OpenAI did something most people missed: they turned ChatGPT into a shopping platform. Not a product discovery tool. A complete transaction environment. Find products, compare options, complete purchase—all without leaving the chat window.

Here’s what makes this different from previous “AI shopping” hype: it actually works. The feature uses the Agentic Commerce Protocol—an open standard developed with Stripe—that securely passes order information between shoppers and merchants. Payment happens through existing merchant systems. ChatGPT acts as intelligent intermediary, not marketplace.

The numbers? ChatGPT has 700 million weekly users. Etsy sellers and Shopify merchants can already accept orders through the platform. And here’s the critical part: 17% of U.S. adults now start product searches on platforms like ChatGPT or TikTok instead of Google according to recent data.

Why this matters more than you think. Traditional search behavior is changing. When someone asks “best wireless headphones under $100,” AI assistants provide curated recommendations with prices and reviews—then complete the sale. No clicking through to Google. No browsing multiple stores. Recommendation to purchase in one conversation.

Your product pages won’t capture these shoppers. They never arrive at your website. The AI assistant presents your product, answers questions about it, and processes the order—all while the customer stays in chat.

How to prepare: Clean up your product data feeds. AI assistants pull from structured metadata—prices, specifications, availability, reviews. Messy or incomplete schema means you don’t appear in results. Tools like Google’s Rich Results Test reveal what data you’re actually providing to crawlers and AI systems.

Focus on detailed product descriptions that answer common questions naturally. If someone asks an AI “will these shoes work for flat feet?” and your product description mentions arch support and foot types, you show up. If your description just lists materials and colors, you don’t.

If you’re on Shopify, you’re already eligible for ChatGPT integration. Other platforms need to monitor when Agentic Commerce Protocol support launches. Don’t wait for perfect solutions—enable integration as soon as it’s available, even in beta.

TikTok Shop reached $26 billion in six months

TikTok Shop generated $26 billion in gross merchandise value during the first half of 2025. That’s a 100% increase year-over-year. The U.S. market alone contributed $5.8 billion, with individual months consistently exceeding $1 billion in sales.

Here’s the breakdown: short videos drive 50% of purchases, the in-app Shop tab contributes 36%, and live streaming accounts for 14%. Beauty and personal care dominates at 22% of total GMV, followed by womenswear at 13%. The platform hosts over 475,000 U.S. stores and 15 million sellers globally.

But here’s what really matters: TikTok Shop converts differently than traditional e-commerce. Impulse purchases account for 55% of sales. Products tagged in videos see 3x higher conversion rates than standard social ads. The average user spent $708 through TikTok Shop in 2024, with transactions averaging $59—lower than Instagram but with far higher frequency.

Why this pattern matters. TikTok isn’t competing with your website for considered purchases. It’s capturing impulse buying that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Someone watches a “get ready with me” video, sees a product, buys it immediately. Total time from discovery to purchase: under 2 minutes. That shopper probably wasn’t about to Google search your product and comparison shop.

The affiliate program amplifies this. Creators promote products for commission—48% of TikTok Shop purchases come from influencer posts. Beauty brands saw 10x year-over-year growth in the health category during 2025. Not because they ran more ads. Because they enabled creators to tag products naturally in content.

How to prepare: Start with product videos, not ads. TikTok’s algorithm actively suppresses polished advertising while promoting authentic content. Brands succeeding on the platform use creators and micro-influencers for lifestyle videos showing products in use.

If you sell visual products—apparel, beauty, home goods—TikTok Shop should be a primary sales channel in 2026, not a test. Set up your shop while competition remains manageable. The creators with 10,000-50,000 followers who will dominate your category in 2027 are looking for products to feature right now.

First-party data becomes mandatory, not optional

Third-party cookie deprecation continues across browsers. Privacy regulations tighten globally. The result: businesses need direct relationships with customers to maintain effective marketing and personalization.

Here’s the problem most stores face: they built entire marketing strategies on third-party tracking. Retargeting ads, lookalike audiences, attribution models—all dependent on cookies and tracking pixels that are disappearing. The alternative? First-party data—information customers provide directly to your business.

The shift is already visible. Brands investing in email lists, loyalty programs, and customer accounts outperform those dependent on third-party tracking. According to recent research, first-party data enables 40-60% better targeting accuracy than third-party alternatives while maintaining privacy compliance.

But there’s a catch. Collecting first-party data requires value exchange. Customers won’t provide email addresses or create accounts without clear benefits. The stores succeeding with first-party data collection offer: exclusive discounts for account creation, early access to sales, personalized recommendations based on purchase history, or loyalty points redeemable for rewards.

Why most stores fail at this. They treat email capture as a tax on purchasing. Pop-up demanding email before you can browse. Account required to checkout. Newsletter signup with no clear benefit. Result: customers provide fake emails, abandon carts, or complete one purchase and never return.

How to prepare: Audit what data you currently collect and how you use it. Most stores capture email addresses but fail to collect preferences, sizes, or interests that enable better personalization.

Implement progressive profiling—gradually collecting additional information over time rather than overwhelming new customers with long forms. First visit: just email. Second purchase: size preferences. Third interaction: product interests. Build the profile across touchpoints instead of forcing everything upfront.

Build a preference center where customers control what data you store and how you use it. Transparency builds trust. Let customers see exactly what you know about them and update it themselves. The European approach to privacy—treat it as customer service, not compliance burden—actually improves retention rates.

If you’re running paid ads, test conversion campaigns optimized for first-party data collection—newsletter signups, account creation—rather than only immediate purchases. A customer who creates an account and doesn’t buy immediately often converts at higher rates on the second or third visit compared to one-time anonymous buyers.

Conversational queries replace keyword searches

Traditional searches are dying. Not slowly—quickly. Instead of typing “women’s running shoes size 8,” shoppers ask “recommend comfortable running shoes for someone with flat feet who runs 20 miles weekly.”

Here’s why this shift matters: AI assistants handle natural language queries better than keyword-based search engines. Social commerce platforms enable conversational discovery through scrolling feeds and asking questions rather than executing searches. Global social commerce sales reached nearly $700 billion in 2024, growing 23% year-over-year. In the U.S., social commerce is expected to hit $141 billion by 2028.

Conversational commerce works because it matches how people actually think about purchases. When someone needs a product, they don’t always know the exact specifications or terminology. They describe their problem or situation. “I need a gift for my mom who loves gardening” or “looking for a desk chair for long coding sessions under $300.”

Traditional keyword optimization fails here. A product optimized for “ergonomic office chair” won’t appear when someone asks “best chair for programming all day.” Different language, same intent. AI assistants understand intent. Keyword engines don’t.

How to prepare: Optimize product content for conversational queries. Include use cases, problem statements, and natural language descriptions alongside technical specifications.

A coffee maker description shouldn’t just list “12-cup capacity, programmable timer.” It should answer “perfect for households that need coffee ready when they wake up, with enough for multiple people throughout the morning.” Same product. Different language. Different discoverability.

Create FAQ sections addressing common problems your products solve. These perform well in AI-generated answers and voice search results. Instead of “Features: stainless steel, 12-cup capacity,” try “Will this make enough coffee for a family of four? Yes, the 12-cup capacity brews enough for 4-6 people throughout the morning.”

Test your products using conversational searches. Ask ChatGPT or Google for recommendations in your category. See which brands appear and why. Study how competitors appear in results. Identify gaps you can fill with better natural language content.

Social platforms complete transactions, not just discovery

Social platforms evolved from product discovery tools to full transaction environments. Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook now handle checkout, payments, and order management internally. Users browse, shop, and buy without leaving the app.

Here’s the adoption data: In 2024, over 100 million Americans made purchases on social media—45.8% of social network users. By 2027, projections show 55.6 million TikTok Shop users alone. Total U.S. social commerce sales are expected to reach $141 billion by 2028, growing 14% annually.

Why this matters more than traffic statistics suggest. When shoppers stay within the platform where they discovered a product, friction drops dramatically. No opening new tabs. No entering shipping information on unfamiliar sites. No creating accounts. Payment information is already saved. One tap completes purchase.

The conversion advantage is measurable. Social commerce converts at significantly higher rates than sending traffic to external websites. But most brands still treat social platforms as marketing channels that drive traffic elsewhere rather than standalone sales environments.

How to prepare: Enable native checkout on platforms where your customers are active. For Instagram and Facebook, set up Shops with full product catalogs. For TikTok, activate TikTok Shop even if you’re simultaneously selling on your website.

Don’t treat social commerce as a marketing channel that drives traffic elsewhere. Treat it as a standalone sales channel. This means different product photography—more lifestyle, less catalog. Different copy—conversational, not formal. Different promotions—impulse-friendly pricing and bundling.

Monitor your analytics separately for each platform. Social commerce customers behave differently than website visitors. Track metrics like average order value, repeat purchase rate, and customer acquisition cost by platform. You’ll likely find TikTok customers have lower AOV but higher frequency compared to Instagram customers who have higher AOV but lower frequency. Optimize each channel for its natural behavior pattern rather than forcing one strategy across all platforms.

One-tap checkout replaces multi-step forms

Multi-step checkout forms are disappearing. Modern checkout happens in one or two taps using stored payment methods—Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, or platform-native options.

Here’s why this matters: Research shows every additional step in checkout reduces conversion by 10-20%. A traditional five-step checkout—cart review, shipping information, billing information, payment selection, confirmation—loses half of potential customers between cart and purchase. One-tap checkout eliminates four of those steps.

Mobile makes this even more critical. Over 70% of e-commerce traffic comes from mobile devices, but mobile checkout traditionally converts worse than desktop due to form-filling difficulty on small screens. Express checkout options designed for mobile—single tap with biometric authentication—close the mobile conversion gap.

The adoption curve is steep. Apple Pay transactions grew 45% year-over-year in 2024. Shop Pay processed over $70 billion in payments. Google Pay usage increased 38%. These aren’t fringe payment methods—they’re becoming the default for mobile shoppers who encounter them once and never want to fill out forms again.

How to prepare: Implement express checkout options on your store. Most modern e-commerce platforms support Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay integration. Enable all available options—different customers prefer different methods.

Display express checkout prominently on product pages and cart pages, not just at final checkout. Enabling “buy now” buttons that skip the cart entirely can improve conversion by 20-30% for impulse purchases. Customer sees product, taps buy now, confirms with fingerprint, purchase complete. Total time: under 10 seconds.

Test checkout on actual mobile devices, not just browser simulators. Many checkout problems only appear on real phones with real network conditions. That form that works perfectly on your laptop might be unusable on an iPhone with slow LTE connection.

If your checkout requires account creation before purchase, reconsider. Guest checkout with optional account creation after purchase converts better while still enabling first-party data collection. Customer completes purchase easily, then receives email: “Create account to track order and save preferences.” Conversion doesn’t suffer, data collection happens post-purchase.

Sustainability data goes public

Consumers increasingly demand transparency about environmental and social impact. According to recent surveys, 73% of shoppers consider sustainability when making purchase decisions. But vague “eco-friendly” claims no longer suffice—customers expect specific data about materials, manufacturing, shipping, and lifecycle impact.

Here’s what changed: regulations caught up to consumer expectations. The European Union implemented digital product passport requirements for certain categories. California passed supply chain transparency laws. More jurisdictions are following. By 2026, many retailers will need to provide verifiable sustainability data to sell in major markets.

But here’s the interesting part: the business case is strong even without regulatory pressure. Products with clear sustainability credentials command price premiums of 10-20% in many categories. Transparent brands build trust that translates to customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

Generation Z and younger millennials—who will dominate consumer spending by 2030—heavily weight sustainability in purchase decisions. Not virtue signaling. Actual purchasing behavior. They’ll pay more for verified sustainable products and actively avoid brands with poor environmental records.

How to prepare: Document your supply chain—materials sources, manufacturing locations, transportation methods, and packaging choices. This takes time, so start now even if you’re not required to disclose it yet. When regulations arrive or competitors start publishing this data, you’ll be ready.

Be honest about limitations. If certain aspects of your business aren’t sustainable, acknowledge it and explain improvement plans. Authenticity matters more than perfection. Consumers trust brands that admit challenges and show progress more than those claiming zero environmental impact.

Create product pages that include sustainability information naturally. Don’t hide it in separate CSR reports—integrate it where purchase decisions happen. For apparel, list materials and their sources. For electronics, explain recycling programs and product lifespan. For food, detail sourcing and transportation.

Consider third-party certifications that provide credibility. B Corp certification, Fair Trade labels, or specific industry standards signal commitment beyond self-reported claims. These badges matter because they’re verifiable by skeptical customers who assume brands exaggerate sustainability credentials.

What actually matters here

These seven trends share a common pattern: friction is disappearing. Customers expect to discover products conversationally, buy with one tap, and receive transparent information about what they’re purchasing.

E-commerce that requires unnecessary steps, provides incomplete product data, or makes customers work to complete purchases will lose to competitors who remove those barriers. Not eventually. Right now.

The businesses thriving in 2026 will be those adapting in 2025, not reacting in 2026. Start with your biggest opportunity. If you sell visual products, prioritize TikTok Shop. If you have strong technical infrastructure, focus on AI shopping integration. If you’re building for long-term growth, invest in first-party data collection.

You don’t need to tackle everything simultaneously. Choose what aligns with your products, customers, and capabilities. But choose something. The data shows these aren’t predictions—they’re measurements of changes already happening.

Track how these trends affect your business by monitoring traffic sources and conversion rates. Peasy delivers daily sales, conversion rate, and order metrics via email every morning—making it easy to see when traffic patterns shift or new channels start driving revenue. Starting at $49/month. Try free for 14 days at peasy.nu