New year, new ecommerce trends — but what’s on the docket for 2027? And what does it mean for brands looking to boost customer connection and drive more conversions?
We’ve got you covered with a look at 10 of the top trends coming your way.
Here’s the hit list:
Now, let’s dive a little deeper.
It’s hardly a surprise that AI takes the top spot. Look at any list from the past few years, and artificial intelligence leads the charge in ecommerce trends.
So what’s different this year? Shoppers now have the option to let agents do the heavy lifting. Research firm Deloitte puts it simply: “We are living in the age of agentic ecommerce.”
Agentic shopping tools go beyond discovery and comparison — they enable “zero-click” commerce that’s completed entirely through conversation. Amazon offers an easy example: Customers can set up their Alexa devices to purchase items with a simple command.
As noted by Stripe, getting your site ready for non-human shoppers requires some technical know-how. For example, you can check your site’s robot.txt file against agents such as GPTbot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended. It’s also a good idea to use server-side rendering (SSR) for product and pricing data, since agents may struggle to process client-side content.
AI summaries are becoming commonplace — 48% of searches now include AEO-based summaries, per Semrush data. As noted by Digiday, however, these AI rundowns come with a drawback: Fewer users are clicking through on links, leading to an organic traffic hit of 15–25%.
Speaking to Medium, Jeremy Goldman, vice president of editorial and insights at Rethink Retail, puts this as one of his top trends for 2027, arguing that the battle for product discovery will shift beyond traditional search.
“Consumers are increasingly encountering products through creators, social platforms, conversational AI, and recommendation systems that don’t resemble traditional search results,” he says. “This has enormous implications for how brands think about visibility.”
AI summaries lower click-through rates but boost brand visibility. This makes AI engine optimization critical for brand content. Think accurate data, clear language, and timely updates.
Evolving technologies enable the rapid production of AI-generated content. The caveat? Humans prefer content written by other humans. This creates the conditions for AI-driven search engines to prioritize people-first pieces over content built by AI.
Google has defined a set of features that indicate quality content: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or EEAT. Trust leads the way, while the other three factors may not always be present.
Content that demonstrates EEAT is more likely to get picked up and summarized by AI engines. This means building informational and social content that highlights brand reputation, expertise, and category authority.
For example, a blog post about a new product could include quotes from an internal SME who was on the design team, while product pages can include real customer reviews that speak to lived experiences.
We’ve said it before, and here we are, saying it again: Social selling works.
According to data from Salsify, 73% of Generation Z buyers in the U.S. say social media is their main source for learning about new products. Social sites now represent a $20 billion ecommerce market, with growth on the horizon as more brands create social buying pathways and work with influencers, says EMARKETER.
Another note on product discovery: Salsify’s upcoming “2027 Consumer Research” report finds that most shoppers (37%) are most open to discovering new products and brands during early evening hours, such as after dinner.
Great website content isn’t enough. Brands need to create and curate social pages and, where possible, work with influencers.
The caveat? Influence doesn’t automatically drive value. Companies should look for social creators whose channels and audience align with their own to maximize impact. (Timing is of the essence, too.)
Consumers often talk about sustainability, but don’t always buy with this preference in mind. Consider data from Bain, which found that 85% of customers are now concerned about sustainability, notably up from 79% last year.
And yet, 68% of shoppers say they struggle to identify more eco-friendly options. The solution? AI. Intelligent tools are well-suited for the task of capturing and comparing product information and then presenting a summary for users, giving them the ability to take sustainability seriously.
Product pages need to contain all relevant product component details, while informational webpages can speak to material sourcing and production processes. Brands that fail to provide this information may see their content passed over by AI searches, in turn taking them off the radar of sustainable shoppers.
The “metaverse” is a shared digital space that continually evolves, even when users are offline. Enabled by virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, the metaverse has shifted from social interactions and online gaming to ecommerce.
As noted by S&S Insider, metaverse ecommerce was valued at $18 billion in 2025 and is on track to reach $343 billion by 2033.
The metaverse exists as a third shopping space that sits between physical retail stores and online purchasing. Customers exist in this space as “avatars” and expect the ability to virtually interact with and try on prospective purchases.
2027 will likely see an expansion of metaverse value, but in this case brands are better-served by awareness than adoption. The meta market may change significantly over the next year, so while it pays to be prepared, it's not worth spending big money just yet.
Personalization went from buzzword to basic ecommerce component in the space of just a few years. Not surprisingly, however, there is a rebalancing act underway as customers reassert their privacy priorities.
Consider a report from Qualtrics, which found that while 64% of consumers show a “genuine appetite for tailored experiences,” just 41% say the benefits of these experiences balance out the privacy costs.
Make it personal — just not too personal. Most shoppers won’t have a problem if you use local weather data to influence what they see on product pages; if there’s a snowstorm coming, displaying winter coats on landing pages is a good way to get customers in the virtual door.
Buyers will have an issue, however, if you attempt to watch or listen to their device without permission, or do a deep dive into the social media pages. This breaks already-fragile consumer trust and sends them elsewhere.
Zero-party data is provided to brands by customers and offers insight into their preferences. This data is typically gathered through surveys, chatbots, quizzes, and other interactive digital experiences.
It’s also head-and-shoulders above its first- and second-party relatives when it comes to engagement. According to Cheetah Digital, marketing emails that use zero-party data have “27% higher click-through rates.”
Consumers provide zero-party data in return for value. This could mean a more personalized experience, but it often takes the form of a one-time discount, bundle deal, or loyalty program that delivers tangible benefits.
Put simply, before you ask customers for zero-party data, make sure your questions are worth answering.
Accessible ecommerce websites drive business. And in the EU, they’re now required by law. Under the European Accessibility Act (EAA), ecommerce retailers must provide websites that are operable, understandable, perceivable, and robust. Failure to do so could lead to legal challenges and/or sanctions.
While the EAA only applies to customers in the EU, many ecommerce brands now operate global storefronts, meaning their customers could come from anywhere in the world.
To avoid potential pitfalls and expand the accessibility of websites, brands should design product pages and portals with multiple user types in mind, and provide options to meet the needs of each.
This might include the ability to easily increase text size, connect with a chatbot on-demand, or provide text-to-speech options for descriptions or videos.
As noted by the National Retail Federation (NRF), 82% of consumers prioritize free returns. And these returns aren’t just for show — in 2025, approximately 19% of all online sales were returned.
For brands, this is the cost of doing business. Opting out of free returns is a good way to convince customers they should go somewhere else, but if return levels spiral out of control, companies can end up on the wrong side of revenue generation.
Solving return problems at the source is the best way to limit shipping and processing costs. There are two common causes for rising return rates: inaccurate product display page (PDP) data and issues with sizing and measurements.
Solve the first problem by regularly reviewing and updating PDP content for timeliness and accuracy. Solve the second with improved sizing guides, more accurate measurement tables, and enhanced product photos that show items on multiple body types.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, ecommerce spending in Q2 2026 reached $340 billion, up 3.8% from Q1 2026 and 12.2% from Q2 2025.
In other words, consumers are spending more on ecommerce websites quarter over quarter and year over year.
To get your share of the ecommerce pie, your brand needs to take stock of 2027 trends and prepare for the how, what, and why of consumer spending next year.
Sure, AI tops the list, but it’s not the only thing that matters. Consider the growing role of EEAT in search results, explore the impact of social selling, make room for the growing metaverse, and make sure to zero in on zero-party data.