# How AI Is Changing E-commerce in 2026: A Guide for Retailers

URL: https://ecomchannels.com/insights/how-ai-is-changing-ecommerce-2026/
Category: AI in retail
Updated: 2026-10-30

> AI is reshaping e-commerce in 2026: AI shopping assistants, agentic commerce, service bots and back-office automation, plus what Australian sellers should do.

AI is changing e-commerce in two places at once: how shoppers find products, and how retailers run the work behind each order. In 2026 more product discovery starts in AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI features, while sellers use AI to write listings, answer customers and automate fulfilment and finance. The retailers who benefit most are the ones with clean, structured product data and connected operations, because both shoppers' AI tools and the retailer's own automation depend on that data.

## AI is becoming a front door to your products

For most of the last 20 years, online shoppers found products through marketplace search, Google and social feeds. That is still true, but a new layer has been added. During the 2025 holiday season, Salesforce reported that the share of retail traffic coming from third-party AI search channels such as ChatGPT and Perplexity [doubled compared with the previous year](https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/2025-holiday-shopping-data/), and those shoppers converted nine times more often than shoppers referred from social media. Adobe's US data showed traffic to retail sites from generative AI tools [rose 693.4% year on year](https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season) over the same period, while noting that the base of users is still modest.

Australian shoppers are moving in the same direction. Australia Post's [eCommerce Report 2026](https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/ecommerce-reports/annual-ecommerce-reports/ecommerce-report-2026.pdf) says 6 in 10 Australians now use AI and 28% of Millennials use it every day. The same report tells retailers bluntly to prepare for an agentic future: if AI agents cannot read and compare your products, they will not recommend them.

The practical point: AI assistants summarise what they can read. Product titles, attributes, dimensions, compatibility, stock and delivery information need to be complete and consistent everywhere a product appears. Vague or contradictory listings are less likely to be surfaced, by marketplace algorithms or by AI tools.

## From recommendations to agents that act

The second change is that AI is starting to do things, not just suggest them. Salesforce estimates that AI and agents influenced [20% of global online holiday sales in 2025, or US$262 billion](https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/2025-holiday-shopping-data/), mainly through personalised recommendations and customer engagement. Retailers' own service agents handled 142% more tasks, such as updating delivery addresses and starting returns, than in the two months before the peak.

Agentic commerce, where an AI agent searches, compares and even checks out on a shopper's behalf, is still early. Australia Post's survey shows a clear generational split: 74% of Millennials already use AI and 22% are open to agentic commerce, while 59% of Baby Boomers do not use AI at all and only 7% like the idea of agents shopping for them ([Australia Post, 2026](https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/ecommerce-reports/annual-ecommerce-reports/ecommerce-report-2026.pdf)). For most Australian sellers the right response in 2026 is preparation rather than a big bet: make product data machine-readable and keep prices, stock and delivery promises accurate across every channel.

## The back office is where most value is captured today

Customer-facing AI attracts the headlines, but most measurable gains for small and mid-sized retailers come from removing repetitive work. McKinsey's 2025 global survey found [88% of organisations now use AI regularly](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai-2025) in at least one business function, yet only 39% report any impact on EBIT. The gap between using AI and profiting from it usually comes down to whether the work itself has been redesigned. McKinsey's high performers are the ones most likely to be redesigning workflows rather than adding a chatbot on top of an old process.

For an online retailer, the workflows that repay redesign are familiar:

- **Listings:** writing and updating titles, bullet points and attributes to each marketplace's rules, in bulk.
- **Images:** producing compliant image sets for each channel without a reshoot.
- **Orders and stock:** pulling orders from every channel into one queue and syncing stock so you do not oversell.
- **Shipping:** choosing carriers, printing labels and pushing tracking back to marketplaces.
- **Finance:** matching marketplace settlements to orders and flagging short payments.

Each of these is rules-heavy, repetitive and data-dependent, which is exactly where current AI and automation perform well.

## What has not changed

Shoppers still want value, accurate information and reliable delivery. Australians spent a record [$82.6 billion online in 2025](https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/ecommerce-reports/annual-ecommerce-reports/ecommerce-report-2026.pdf), about 24% of total retail spending, and Australia Post says shoppers are more selective and less loyal, buying from more brands. AI does not remove those fundamentals; it raises the penalty for getting them wrong, because comparison is now faster. Returns are a good example: Salesforce found 14% of 2025 holiday online purchases had already been returned, a reminder that better product information before purchase is worth more than a clever chatbot after it.

Trust matters too. AI-written content still needs a person to check it before it reaches customers, and Australian guidance on responsible AI expects businesses to stay accountable for what their tools publish. We cover that in [AI risks and governance for Australian retailers](https://ecomchannels.com/insights/ai-risks-governance-australian-retailers/).

## A practical 2026 plan

1. **Fix your product data first.** One accurate master record per product, with full attributes, beats any AI tool fed with poor data.
2. **Pick two or three high-volume, low-risk workflows** (listings, images, order routing) and automate them with human approval steps.
3. **Measure before and after:** hours spent, listing errors, conversion rate, oversells, late dispatches.
4. **Make your storefront and listings readable by AI assistants:** structured data, clear specifications, honest delivery times.
5. **Build skills gradually.** See [how to build an AI-ready retail team](https://ecomchannels.com/insights/building-ai-ready-retail-team/).

## Key figures

- AI and agents influenced 20% of global online holiday sales in 2025, about US$262 billion ([Salesforce, 2026](https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/2025-holiday-shopping-data/)).
- Shoppers referred to retail sites from AI search channels converted nine times more often than social media referrals ([Salesforce, 2026](https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/2025-holiday-shopping-data/)).
- Traffic to US retail sites from generative AI tools rose 693.4% year on year in the 2025 holiday season ([Adobe, 2026](https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season)).
- 6 in 10 Australians now use AI ([Australia Post, 2026](https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/ecommerce-reports/annual-ecommerce-reports/ecommerce-report-2026.pdf)).
- 88% of organisations use AI in at least one function, but only 39% report any EBIT impact ([McKinsey, 2025](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai-2025)).

## How eComChannels helps

eComChannels applies AI to the parts of e-commerce where data quality decides visibility and where manual work eats margin. [AI listing optimisation](https://ecomchannels.com/products/ai-listing-optimisation/) is already trained on each marketplace's listing rules, so it drafts titles, bullets and attributes that fit Amazon, eBay, Kogan, BIG W Market and the rest from one master product record; your team approves the drafts and pushes bulk updates. Complete, consistent listings are easier for marketplace search and AI assistants to read, which supports exposure and conversion.

[Order management](https://ecomchannels.com/products/order-management/) brings orders from every channel into one place and keeps stock in sync, so AI-driven demand does not turn into oversells. [Branded storefronts](https://ecomchannels.com/products/storefronts/) give you a fast, SEO- and GEO-ready web store connected to the same data, so AI search tools can read your product information directly. To see how this fits your catalogue, [book a demo or start a 30-day free trial](https://ecomchannels.com/book-a-demo/).

## FAQ

### Do I need to optimise for ChatGPT and other AI assistants now?

Yes, but the work overlaps with good marketplace practice. AI assistants rely on clear, structured, consistent product information. Fixing titles, attributes and delivery details helps marketplace search, Google and AI tools at the same time.

### Will AI agents replace marketplaces?

There is no evidence of that yet. Marketplaces remain a major channel in Australia, with $18.9 billion spent on pure-play marketplaces in 2025 according to [Australia Post](https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/ecommerce-reports/annual-ecommerce-reports/ecommerce-report-2026.pdf). AI assistants are more likely to become another discovery layer that points shoppers to marketplaces and brand stores.

### Where should a small retailer start with AI?

Start with repetitive, rules-based work that already costs you hours each week, such as listings, image resizing, order consolidation and shipping labels. Keep a person approving outputs, and measure time saved and error rates.

## Sources
- Salesforce Reveals 2025 Holiday Shopping Data, Salesforce (2026): https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/2025-holiday-shopping-data/
- Adobe: Holiday Shopping Season Drove a Record $257.8 Billion Online with Consumers Embracing Generative AI Tools, Adobe (2026): https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season
- Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026, Australia Post (2026): https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/ecommerce-reports/annual-ecommerce-reports/ecommerce-report-2026.pdf
- The state of AI in 2025: Agents, innovation, and transformation, McKinsey & Company (2025): https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai-2025