E-commerce is changing fast, here's what actually matters in 2026

What's happening with e-commerce?

If you work in e-commerce, or rely on it for your business, you'll have noticed that things feel a little different lately. The fundamentals are still there, but the way people find products, buy them, and return them has quietly shifted. Some of it is driven by AI, some by changing consumer behaviour, and some by regulation. Here's a clear-eyed look at what's actually going on, and what it means for e-commerce businesses.

So, how is AI changing the way people find your products?

The short answer: significantly. Platforms like Amazon, Google Shopping, and Shopify have all moved well beyond basic keyword matching. Their recommendation and search tools now use behavioural signals, browsing history, past purchases, how long someone lingers on a page, to decide what to surface and in what order.

What that means in practice is that two people searching for the exact same thing can see completely different results. The catalogue is no longer static; it rebuilds itself around the individual every time they visit.

If your product data is messy, incomplete, or structured in a way that doesn't give the algorithm clear signals, you're going to lose ground to competitors who've got their house in order. Clean, well-structured product listings matter more than ever. 

Social commerce isn't the future; it's already here

If you've been treating social media as a top-of-funnel awareness tool and nothing more, it's worth revisiting that assumption. TikTok Shop launched in the United States in 2023 and has been growing its in-app purchasing infrastructure steadily since. The transaction increasingly completes right where the discovery happens.

Live-stream commerce, where a host demonstrates products in real time and viewers purchase during the broadcast, is particularly well established in Southeast Asian markets, through platforms like Shopee and TikTok. Western adoption has been slower, but TikTok is actively pushing the format.

If your product isn’t set up to sell where your audience is already spending their time, you’re leaving revenue on the table.

Free returns are quietly disappearing, and that's not necessarily a bad thing

For years, free unlimited returns were practically a given in online retail. With a greater focus on sustainability, that’s changing. ASOS introduced a £3.95 return fee for some UK customers who frequently return parcels. H&M began charging for returns in several markets in 2023. Zara introduced online return fees in a number of countries in 2022. The reasons cited? The real operational and environmental costs of processing enormous volumes of returned goods.

But here’s the more interesting shift — the retailers doing this well aren’t just adding a fee and hoping customers don’t notice. They’re tackling the problem upstream, pairing policy changes with better sizing guides, virtual try-on tools, and improved product photography. The goal is to give customers enough confidence to buy the right thing in the first place, rather than treating returns as an inevitable part of the process.

AI agents are starting to do the shopping for us

This one might sound like science fiction, but it's very much already happening. AI systems that can browse the web, compare products, and complete purchases on a user's behalf, known as agentic AI, have moved from concept to early commercial reality.

Perplexity launched a "Buy with Pro" shopping feature in 2024, allowing users to purchase products surfaced in its search results. OpenAI's Operator product and ChatGPT's browsing capabilities are pushing in a similar direction. Google has integrated Gemini across Search and Shopping to comparable effect.

If an AI agent is making or influencing purchasing decisions on behalf of a user, its ability to read and interpret your product listings, prices, and availability becomes a form of discoverability in its own right. Structured, machine-readable product data is no longer just an SEO consideration; it's becoming a baseline requirement for being found at all.

Sustainability has moved from the "About Us" page to the checkout

Brands have been talking about sustainability for years. What's changed is where those conversations are happening, and what's being done to back them up.

Patagonia's Worn Wear programme lets customers buy and sell used Patagonia gear directly through the brand. IKEA's Buy Back & Resell scheme, active across multiple markets, allows customers to return used furniture for store credit. Selfridges launched its Resellfridges resale platform in 2021.

These aren't initiatives buried in annual reports; they're active commerce channels, surfaced at the point of purchase.

What does all of this mean for your business?

None of these trends require an overnight overhaul; e-commerce is a long game. The businesses that keep asking the right questions, rather than waiting for things to become urgent, are the ones that tend to come out ahead.

Get In Touch

At ina4, we help businesses make sense of changes like these and build strategies that hold up over time. If you’d like to talk through what any of this means for your brand, get in touch with our team, we’d love to help.