By 2027, 23% of all retail purchases are expected to move online, with the ecommerce market expected to total over $7.9 trillion around the same time. For retailers, it means that the future of ecommerce is filled with only more competition and even higher customer expectations. Which is why now is a perfect time to future-proof your ecommerce strategies.
From AI and augmented reality to voice search and omnichannel strategies, these trends offer businesses the chance to enhance the customer journey and boost conversions.
In this article, we explore the main technological trends shaping the future of ecommerce and how you can use them to foster growth.
Ecommerce in the future: Industry stats and predictions
The upcoming year will give ecommerce businesses lots of opportunities for growth. Here’s why now is the time to invest and get ahead of the curve:
Global ecommerce sales are projected to grow to a staggering $7.41 trillion by 2026 , demonstrating the increasing digitalization of consumer behavior. This growth is largely fueled by rising internet access, mobile shopping, and international expansion of ecommerce platforms.
Data from the U.S. shows that ecommerce is on a steady upward trajectory, with analysts predicting that the number of digital buyers will rise to 316 million by 2028 .
Composable commerce is becoming the industry standard. According to a survey conducted among U.S. executives, 72% of businesses have already adopted composable commerce, and 21% planned to do so in the upcoming year.
Want to get even more insights into the composable commerce market development? Grab our Composable Commerce Trends Report
Generations that will shape the future of ecommerce
As the most digitally fluent groups, millennials and Gen Z are shaping the future of online shopping.
The growth of digital shoppers is mainly coming from mobile-savvy Gen Z. While the overall number of digital buyers is only expected to grow by less than 2% each year, nearly all new digital shoppers will be from this generation.
Their numbers are set to increase from 45.5 million in 2023 to 61.1 million by 2027. As more Gen-Zers enter the workforce, their spending will increase, which is bound to have a huge impact on the ecommerce landscape.
Gen Z alone is projected to have more spending power than baby boomers by 2029 .
What’s important to understand is that these generations are not just consumers; they are trendsetters who influence their peers and shape market dynamics. Their unique buying habits, rooted in digital fluency, make them the most important target group for ecommerce.
Top ecommerce trends for 2025
As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, we can already define several key areas that will influence how businesses connect with customers and improve their online shopping experiences.
Here are the top ecommerce trends to keep an eye on:
Focus on customer experience
Artificial intelligence
Augmented reality
Voice search
Omnichannel experience
Sustainable ecommerce
Ecommerce pop-up shops
Composable commerce
Get ready to learn about these trends that can take your ecommerce strategy to the next level!
1.Focus on customer experience
In 2024, customer experience (CX) continues to dominate as one of the key drivers of success in ecommerce. Customers are becoming more demanding, pushing brands to deliver rich, convenient shopping experiences that foster customer loyalty in an increasingly crowded online marketplace.
With consumers having more choices than ever, brands must prioritize a smooth, personalized, and responsive customer journey to stay competitive.
CX encompasses every touchpoint – whether it’s browsing, purchasing, or post-purchase support.
A well-designed CX drives better conversion rates and boosts ROI. A McKinsey analysis found that companies that are leaders in customer experience grew their revenue more than twice as fast as companies that are behind in CX.
Since your frontend is where this experience unfolds, it should be a top priority.
Here’s what you should focus on to enhance the CX on your site:
Provide lightning-fast, mobile-first ecommerce experiences to keep customers engaged and reduce friction.
Ensure smooth experiences across channels with a mobile-optimized storefront, whether through a PWA or a native app.
Feature product reviews to build trust and foster strong customer relationships.
Make sure your storefront can adapt to shifting customer needs, so your business stays agile and relevant.
2.Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is set to be a transformative trend in ecommerce. The global AI in retail market is expected to skyrocket, reaching $40.74 billion by 2030 . This rapid adoption in is driven by AI’s ability to increase ROI through enhanced customer interactions and data-driven insights.
Imagine boosting your sales conversions with personalized shopping experiences tailored specifically to your customers' preferences. With AI, you can analyze buying behavior, predict trends, and offer recommendations that feel intuitive, helping to drive higher cart values and create more loyal customers.
One of the most prominent AI success stories, Amazon, leverages AI in everything from its recommendation engine to its logistics. AI-driven personalization accounts for 35% of Amazon's total sales , showcasing how powerful AI can be in delivering tailored customer experiences.
The benefits go beyond personalization. AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants can handle customer queries 24/7, offering immediate responses that keep your audience engaged and happy.
This means fewer abandoned carts and more completed purchases leading to an increase in your bottom line. And when it comes to inventory management, AI is your secret weapon, predicting demand with precision to prevent overstocking or stockouts.
3.Augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is rapidly transforming ecommerce by offering online shoppers immersive, in-person-like shopping experiences.
With AR, your clients can instantly bring products to life in their own space – just by using their phones or other devices. This immersive, 360-degree view allows them to interact with items more meaningfully, helping to make more confident buying decisions.
For businesses, AR elevates your digital presence, turns passive browsing into active engagement, and creates a memorable, immersive experience that drives conversions. With AR’s accessibility across smartphones and wearables, you can effortlessly impress your customers and stand out from the competition.
For example, Shopify already allows customers to visualize products in their environment before purchasing, claiming that 93% of users would like to use AR in their buying process journey.
As AR continues to evolve as an ecommerce trend, its ability to simulate real-world experiences will become a must-have feature for brands looking to stay competitive.
4. Voice search
Voice search is a simple, yet very important trend in modern ecommerce, allowing users to search and shop simply by speaking rather than typing.
The rise of smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home, along with voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant, is driving this shift in customer behavior; voice-assisted purchases are expected to reach a total value of $164 billion by 2025 .
For retailers, the advantages are clear:
Faster shopping experiences: Voice search allows customers to browse and make purchases quickly, enhancing convenience.
User convenience: Customers can search for products and ask for information without needing to type, making it ideal for multitasking.
Integration with existing tech: Brands can leverage popular voice assistants like Google Assistant and Siri without needing to develop their own voice search tools.
5. Omnichannel experience
Channels are the various avenues through which your brand interacts with customers. They include your website (accessible on desktop, tablet, and mobile), physical stores, billboards, product packaging, emails, phone calls, live chat, and video calls.
Adopting an omnichannel approach means integrating these channels to improve CX, allowing customers to interact with your brand effortlessly, regardless of the medium.
Picture this: a shopper sees your product in a social media ad and decides to explore the store’s website on mobile. Later, they switch to their desktop, and everything is still there – no need to start over. They can then pull up the product details on their mobile again, ask questions through live chat, and maybe make the final purchase offline. This smooth omnichannel experience keeps them engaged and boosts conversions from discovery to checkout.
To craft an effective omnichannel strategy for your ecommerce business, consider these key actions:
Implement content-driven sales across all channels to engage customers meaningfully.
Embrace mobile commerce, ensuring your platforms are optimized for on-the-go users.
Use coherent loyalty strategies that reward customers consistently across all interactions, fostering a sense of brand loyalty.
6. Sustainable ecommerce
Consumers are more conscious about the environment than ever before, and this awareness is driving their buying choices.
Brands around the world are stepping up to create sustainable shopping experiences, from choosing the right partners and using eco-friendly packaging to optimizing product distribution and delivery. Plus, they're exploring ways to give products a second life, making a positive impact on the planet.
If you want to attract today's eco-conscious consumers, now is the time to embrace sustainability in your ecommerce strategy. Just look at Ikea – the Scandinavian furniture giant known for its commitment to sustainability boasted reducing its climate footprint by 24% while increasing revenue by over 30% .
Don't miss out on the chance to connect with customers who care about the planet and are ready to support businesses that reflect their values!
7. Ecommerce pop-up shops
Having an online-only presence can be limiting, especially since many consumers still want in-person shopping experiences. Enter pop-up shops – an exciting trend that allows online retailers to connect with customers face-to-face for a limited time.
Pop-up stores are flexible, short-term retail locations that offer ecommerce businesses the chance to establish a physical presence without the long-term commitments of traditional leases.
This approach minimizes financial risks while providing an engaging shopping experience.
Here are a few options on how to introduce a pop-up shop to your ecommerce business:
Event pop-ups. You can use pop-up stores to generate buzz around marketing events and get real-time feedback on the product.
Virtual pop-ups. In a virtual pop-up shop, customers will be able to go through virtual rooms with the guidance of shopping assistance avatars.
Store within a store. This type of pop-up store occurs when online retailers allocate some space for partner brands to open a store.
8. Composable commerce
Traditional ecommerce platforms, also known as monolith platforms, were at one point the only choice for building an online store. These platforms operate as all-in-one systems – which means that introducing any change on the frontend required significant changes to the backend, resulting in longer time-to-market, higher costs, and could negatively affect customer experience. Imagine trying to add a new payment option for your customers and finding out you have to re-write a huge chunk of your website just for that.
Monolith platforms are restrictingbecause they prevent businesses from quickly introducing changes to the web store, causing them to fall behind their customer's user expectations and lose conversions and revenue. This is where the composable commerce approach comes to the rescue.
Composable commerce is emerging as a crucial ecommerce trend because it’s giving businesses the flexibility to customize their technology stack according to what they need.
With composable commerce, you can select the best tools and services for each operation, from customer engagement to inventory management, ensuring a more tailored and efficient shopping experience.
How does this approach benefit merchants?
By adopting composable commerce, ecommerce brands can respond quicker to market changes and consumer demands, making it easier to innovate, scale, and enhance customer experiences as a result.
This adaptability helps businesses keep up with competitors and meet consumers' growing expectations for personalized interactions. This is why so many brands have already adopted composable commerce.
Composable approach is also in line with broader trends such as the microservices architecture that has been a lifeline for Netflix and Amazon. Last but not least, it helps companies stay future-proofas they can plug and unplug third-party solutions (integrations) as their business demands.
Going composable is the easiest way to implement any or all of the other ecommerce trends discussed in this article and it brings numerous benefits that drive customer satisfaction by:
Enabling easier scaling and improved web performance;
Supporting mobile-first architecture;
Making upgrades quicker and safer;
Providing advanced personalization;
Delivering ultimate flexibility for third-party vendors.
Final thoughts on the future of the ecommerce industry
As new tools and trends emerge, businesses must adapt quickly to avoid falling behind competitors. By prioritizing tech developments, companies can foster growth and better meet the expectations of an increasingly digital-savvy consumer base.
Now that you know what changes will be shaping the industry, use this knowledge to enhance your ecommerce approach and position your business for success!
