Ecommerce Trends in 2026: What Brands Need to Know
Ecommerce in 2026 is entering the second half of the year with a fascinating combination of opportunity and caution. Online shopping continues to take a larger share of retail, but consumers are becoming much more deliberate about where and when they spend. Shopify's latest numbers illustrate just how significant the opportunity remains: in the second quarter of 2026, Shopify merchants generated approximately $115.57 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV), up 31.6% year over year, while Shopify's revenue increased 33.7% to $3.58 billion. Even more notable, Shopify's B2B GMV increased 76% year over year, demonstrating that ecommerce growth is no longer limited to traditional direct-to-consumer brands. At the same time, U.S. ecommerce reached $326.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 9.8% from the first quarter of 2025, representing 16.9% of total retail sales. The takeaway for brands is clear: ecommerce is still expanding rapidly, but simply having an online store is no longer enough. The brands positioned to win the back half of 2026 will be the ones that make shopping faster, easier, more personalized and more valuable.
One of the biggest ecommerce trends of 2026 is the transformation of AI from a marketing experiment into a shopping channel. Consumers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to discover products, compare prices, summarize reviews and decide what to purchase. Deloitte found that 33% of consumers planned to use generative AI during their shopping journey, more than double the previous year's figure, while 26% said they trusted generative AI more than they had six months earlier.
Among younger shoppers, the behavior is even stronger: Deloitte reported that 43% of Gen Z respondents were using AI for inspiration and product discovery, while 74% were turning to influencers and social media. Enter: TikTok and Whatnot: live shopping marketplaces that are rapidly growing. Social commerce and creator-led shopping means that eCommerce funnel is no longer linear: consumers can discover a product on TikTok, watch a creator demonstrate it, read comments, click directly to a product page and complete the purchase without ever intentionally visiting Google. TikTok Shop is an especially important example. By July 2026, TikTok Shop had reached approximately 2% of the U.S. retail ecommerce market, up from about 1.2% a year earlier, and its online sales had surpassed several major U.S. retailers.
The brands that are winning in 2026 are also increasingly focused on lifetime customer value rather than one-time transactions. Having the right retention and loyalty tools in place has never been more important. The Scoop Brands team has a massive eCommerce background and can guide you towards purchasing decisions that will lead to repeat revenue, extra cash on hand, and a far better customer experience for loyal shoppers.
Ultimately, 2026 is shaping up to be a year in which ecommerce becomes simultaneously more technological and more human. AI is changing how consumers discover products, social commerce is changing where discovery happens, frictionless payment is changing how quickly people purchase, and economic uncertainty is changing how carefully they evaluate value. The winners will be those that combine the best of technology with the fundamentals of great retail: understand the customer, make the product desirable, make the value obvious, remove friction from checkout, create compelling content and give people a reason to come back. Ecommerce is not slowing down; the standard for winning in ecommerce is simply getting higher.
Want to take your marketing and email strategy to the next level in 2026 and beyond? The Scoop Brands team has a massive eCommerce background and has advised and run marketing campaigns for the biggest brands in the world. So what are you waiting for? Get started with us today!
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