4 E-commerce Trends in 2026
What will the biggest e-commerce trends be in 2026? Artificial Intelligence will clearly play a big role. We explore those trends with 4 predictions.
Every year, the e-commerce industry experiences changes in consumer expectations, available technologies, and the way brands connect with their audiences.
Looking ahead to 2026, e-commerce is shaping up to be a more technological ecosystem, but also a more human one, focused on experience.
The winning brands will be those that:
✅ Use artificial intelligence to serve, not to manipulate;
✅ Offer personalised, entertaining, and sustainable shopping experiences;
✅ Focus on closeness, transparency, and trust.
To help you with this, below I’ve analysed the most relevant e-commerce trends in 2026. I will explain what they entail and what your online store can do to take advantage of them.
- ChatGPT & Co. as the first point of contact
- Trust is the key to success
- AI-powered personalisation
- Sustainability and new European regulations
1. ChatGPT & Co. as the first point of contact
Users are expected to lean even more towards AI-powered searches as the technology becomes more familiar and accessible, thereby reducing users' reliance on traditional search engines like Google.
Source: Semrush
While it is true that more and more users are accessing ChatGPT & Co. to perform research, they still prefer conventional search engines to search for specific products or brands.
However, one of the great advantages of AI-powered searches over traditional organic searches is that visitors from ChatGPT & Co. tend to be better qualified, as most clicks come from in-depth conversations.
Challenge: Brands must learn to create content that generative artificial intelligence models can identify, evaluate, and position in their responses.
The good news is that AI search optimisation (also known as "Generative Engine Optimisation" or GEO) aligns with most traditional SEO best practices, which focus on:
- making the website accessible and crawlable by search engines.
- producing unique and authentic content that meets users' needs
- obtaining brand mentions or backlinks from other sites
- gathering opinions/reviews from real customers
We’ll conclude this section with an inspiring quote from Angel Travieso, CEO of Cajadecarton.es, which is related to the following trend.
2. Trust is the key to success
Just as AI brings many advantages, it also has a dark side. Ever since its introduction to the market, the creation of fraudulent and fake content has not stopped growing.
Recommended reading:
Your Online Shop Looks Like a Fake Website
According to research by Visa:
- Consumers who mistake AI-generated content for real content are almost 9x more likely to be tricked by scammers than those who don’t (70% vs 8%).
- 44% of respondents have believed AI-generated content was real.
- 35% of people targeted by scams now avoid shopping with smaller or unfamiliar brands.
Challenge: Online shops must demonstrate their authenticity and good reputation to gain the trust of buyers from the very beginning.
To that end, more and more businesses across Europe are choosing to join the growing Community of Trust created by Trusted Shops: a space (#trstd) that has been connecting more than 32,000 authentic online stores with more than 45 million consumer memberships for over 25 years.
How does Trusted Shops prove the authenticity of stores?
On the one hand, shops using the Trusted Shops platform are collecting verified customer reviews. On the other hand, shops can earn the Trusted Shops Trustmark to demonstrate their trustworthiness by collecting positive reviews and meeting a series of quality standards.
Shops that display the Trusted Shops Trustmark offer their shoppers a free Buyer Protection, which insures orders up to a value of €2,500 (or £2,500), thus guaranteeing a safe shopping experience and increasing the average order value.
Recommended reading:
The Trusted Shops Trustmark: How the Certification Process Works
Check out all the Trusted Shops success stories.
During the Nxt25 livestream, Trusted Shops presented its latest innovation: #trstd login
This is the new, next-generation, AI-powered login system that proves the authenticity of online stores through strong, verified trust signals, and grants brands visibility on ChatGPT & Co.
Want more details? Contact our experts today for a free consultation:
Besides customer reviews and certificates, there are other ways to build trust in your online store. From an "About Us" page to clearly visible contact details and a wide variety of payment methods.
3. AI-powered personalisation
In 2026, we'll see online stores using AI to personalise the shopping experience. This will allow them to improve conversion rates, build customer loyalty, and reduce returns.
Challenge: Doing so without invading user privacy. Brands will need to combine personalisation with transparency and ethical data use, and ensure that the "human factor" is always present in the shopping experience.
There are several ways to personalise the shopping experience with AI:
- Invest in recommendation engines and display dynamic products or content based on user interests, using hyper-segmented strategies.
- Integrate AI-powered voice and photo search systems.
- Incorporate conversational chatbots and automate customer service management.
Amazon has launched Lens Live, an AI-powered feature that allows users to discover, compare, and purchase products in real-time by pointing their smartphone camera at objects in the physical world.
Source: Amazon News
💡 Imagine being able to personalise responses to your reviews with just one click! Trusted Shops' Smart Review Assistant is exactly what you need. This AI tool generates personalised responses to your reviews for you, saving you time and money.
4. Sustainability and new European regulations
In 2026, new regulations on packaging, product traceability, the circular economy, and other areas will be introduced.
Shutterstock/Mer_Studio
Among these is the implementation of “Digital Product Passports”, which will allow consumers to understand the complete life cycle of products, from their origin to the materials used, their environmental footprint, and end-of-life options. This information will be accessible via a QR code or electronic label.
Objective: To make products on the EU market more durable, repairable, reusable and recyclable, and to help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions by knowing a product's history and properties.
According to the DHL report, for 55% of buyers, the sustainable measures taken by companies will be more important in the coming years, and will influence their purchasing decisions.
Challenges for businesses:
- It may require investment in traceability, impact reporting, and certifications.
- Clearly communicate the brand's sustainability values and the benefits for the customer.
- Integrate resale or "up-cycle" models in appropriate sectors.
More and more brands are joining the sustainable movement and promoting transparency in their products through different strategies. Incorporating sustainability and transparency is no longer just a "nice-to-have," but a differentiating factor.
In summary
In 2026, e-commerce will be defined by the intelligent integration of technology, trust, and sustainability. AI, with ChatGPT and similar tools as the first point of contact, will change how users discover and purchase products, but its true value will lie in offering helpful, personalised, and transparent experiences.
In this context, trust becomes the key differentiator, driven by responsible data management, authentic user-generated content, and compliance with increasingly stringent European regulations.
Sustainability, far from being optional, will be a key requirement for brands selling in Europe. Brands that can connect these trends into a coherent strategy will be best positioned to build lasting relationships in the e-commerce industry of the future.
This article was translated and adapted from our Spanish-language blog: 5 tendencias clave en ecommerce en 2026
08/01/26
