“Must-attend. Move everything else.” That’s how one attendee described the Digital Shelf Summit (DSS) Europe — and after our biggest European summit yet, we can see why.
DSS Europe 2026 brought together over 300+ digital leaders in London. The auditorium was packed, conversations were buzzing, and the digital shelf community showed up ready to connect, share ideas, and explore what’s next for digital commerce.
But the numbers only tell part of the story.
What really made this year’s summit special was the openness of the conversations and the collective desire to understand how AI is reshaping the digital shelf.
From the rise of agentic commerce to the challenge of scaling ecommerce profitably, this year’s sessions offered plenty to think about.
Here are three key takeaways from DSS Europe 2026 — and what they mean for your digital commerce strategy.
(Want to relive the day? Watch the DSS Europe 2026 highlight video to experience the energy that made this year's event so special!)
AI is changing how consumers discover products, evaluate brands, and make purchasing decisions. At DSS Europe, one message was clear: Brands can no longer think about digital shelf optimization in isolation from the emerging world of agentic commerce.
In her opening keynote, Lauren Livak Gilbert, executive director of the Digital Shelf Institute (DSI), challenged attendees to cut through the noise surrounding AI and focus on what matters most: the shopper, the signals that inform purchasing decisions, and the ability to adapt as commerce evolves.
Livak Gilbert’s framework highlighted three distinct environments brands must now consider:
Each environment presents different challenges. Traditional search engine optimization (SEO) focuses on keywords, while answer engine optimization (AEO) emphasizes context and relevance.
AI agents introduce another layer: They need trustworthy, structured information to understand products and determine which ones best meet a shopper's needs.
As Arthur Sylvestre, VP of media and digital at Danone, put it: “The goal is to be trusted by machines and desired by humans.”
For AI visibility, focus on product detail pages and brand websites. They provide important context that AI systems can use to understand product features, benefits, and suitability.
Incomplete, inconsistent, or unstructured product data can make it harder for AI tools to accurately represent a brand.
Continue investing in the fundamentals of product content quality while preparing for new discovery experiences. Audit your product data for completeness and accuracy, make key attributes easy to interpret, and ensure your content answers the questions consumers actually ask. AI may change how shoppers find products, but trusted product information remains essential.
The conversation at DSS Europe extended beyond AI discovery to another critical challenge: How can brands grow ecommerce while protecting profitability?
In a session on scaling ecommerce profitably, Martin Heubel of Consulterce explored findings from this 2026 industry study analyzing today’s top-performing organizations. This research highlighted a disconnect between leadership's expectations for online growth and the organizational capabilities required to deliver it.
Many ecommerce teams face ambitious growth targets without the corresponding resources, processes, or cross-functional support. Leadership may expect online sales to double, for example, without fully accounting for the investments in people, technology, assortment, and operations needed to achieve that goal.
The result is a familiar challenge for ecommerce professionals: Teams are expected to deliver more while spending valuable time educating stakeholders, navigating internal friction, and securing the resources they need to execute.
However, ecommerce can’t operate in isolation. Leaders need to understand the realities of selling online and support strategies that account for channel-specific economics, customer expectations, and operational requirements.
Organizations must consider how technology can improve entire workflows, strengthen collaboration, and help teams focus on higher-value work.
Treat ecommerce as a business-wide priority rather than a standalone channel. Align stakeholders around shared goals, understand the inputs required to achieve them, and connect digital shelf performance to broader business outcomes.
Sustainable growth depends on having the right strategy, people, processes, and technology working together.
From evolving retailer requirements to new AI capabilities, digital commerce rarely stands still. One of the summit's most important themes was that brands need to prepare for continuous change rather than repeatedly react to it.
AI is only the beginning. The more significant opportunity lies in rethinking how work gets done.
Consider a traditional product content workflow. A brand manager creates a brief, assigns it to a creative team, coordinates reviews across brand and legal stakeholders, and manages the approvals required before content can be published. Depending on the organization and the complexity of the process, this can involve multiple handoffs and lengthy delays.
AI-enabled workflows offer an opportunity to rethink that process. Specialized agents can help generate content, create images, or support research, while human teams retain responsibility for brand standards, accuracy, compliance, and final approval.
The objective isn't to remove people from the process. It's to reduce repetitive work, streamline handoffs, and help teams spend more time on the decisions that require their expertise.
Brands also need to recognize that change extends beyond AI. Retailer content requirements evolve, new regulations introduce additional data needs, and consumer expectations continue to shift. A process that works today may require significant adjustments tomorrow.
Rather than building isolated solutions for every new challenge, organizations can focus on creating flexible systems that accommodate changing requirements. To successfully build for change, establish adaptable workflows and processes that allow your organization to respond as the market evolves.
The key for brands? Distinguishing between technology that creates meaningful business value and technology that adds complexity without addressing a real need.
Look beyond individual AI use cases and assess the workflows that support your digital shelf strategy. Identify repetitive tasks, unnecessary handoffs, and gaps in collaboration. Then consider how automation and AI can improve those processes while maintaining the governance and human oversight needed to protect your brand.
Thank you to everyone who joined us in London — our speakers, attendees, partners, and the teams who made this year's summit possible. Your participation and openness helped make DSS Europe 2026 our biggest and most engaging edition yet.
📽️ Want to relive the day?
Watch the DSS Europe 2026 highlight video to experience the energy, conversations, and community that made this year's event so special.
🎟️ Join us for DSS 2027!
Save the date for upcoming Digital Shelf Summit events:
We look forward to continuing the conversation and exploring what's next for the digital shelf together. Learn more about what’s in store — registration for DSS Orlando is now open.