9 Trends That Will Dominate the Digital Marketplace in 2026
In the world of business, keeping up with the latest trends is key to staying competitive. Failing to grow and innovate in line with what is expected from society will present opportunities to new businesses and current competitors within your industry. Most businesses operate digitally today, meaning trends come and go even quicker than they do in the physical world. With the new year on the horizon, we thought it would be the perfect time to analyse the hottest upcoming trends that will alter digital marketplaces.
Augmented/Virtual Reality Shopping
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AR and VR have become widely used in a range of industries. In terms of digital, this type of technology has slowly crept into the world of e-commerce, but in 2026, many experts expect to see a boom in virtual shopping. Essentially, it would allow consumers to “try before they buy” in a virtual yet life-like setting. This type of tech would be perfect for industries like clothing, where shoppers want to visualise items before committing to a purchase.
But while the benefits will mostly be felt by consumers, it will also be good news for businesses themselves, as it would in theory, drive down the number of returns, which would subsequently save costs and enhance sustainability efforts.
AI SEO
SEO has long been part of the digital landscape, and that won’t change in 2026. But that’s not to say that it won’t change. Like most things, AI is causing some disruption in the SEO world. AI SEO includes AI summaries, which appear at the top of Google and also chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini.
While it’s important to still be visible in terms of Google’s organic results, it will become equally important to appear in Google’s responses. Users are increasingly likely to turn to AI chatbots for long tail keywords such as “what are the comfiest running trainers for under $100”.
AI Personalisation
Sticking with AI, we’ve seen recently that businesses are tapping into AI algorithms to offer a more tailored experience for users. In terms of digital marketplaces, personalised recommendations aren’t new; features such as customers also bought, you may also like, and so on have been around for a long time. But these recommendations are becoming more accurate.
In ecom industries like fashion, AI has the potential to act like a digitalised personal shopper, which benefits the consumer in terms of their experience and the business in terms of revenue.
Circular Economy
There’s no doubt that consumers are more interested in sustainability, which means that more and more people are considering their purchasing habits. While this is great for the planet, it’s not great for business if consumers are buying less. With more and more shoppers turning to preloved platforms, it’s important that brands offer their own in-house circular marketplaces where customers can buy and sell second-hand items.
While we’ve seen several brands already implement this, particularly in the fashion world, we can expect to see more brands and a wider range of industries jumping on board with the circular economy in 2026.
Frictionless Online Shopping
As time goes on and technology improves, both online and offline marketplaces become more and more frictionless. Advancements such as contactless payments, click & collect and buy now pay later options make for a smoother shopping experience.
Recently, we’ve seen the digital world become even more frictionless than it already was thanks to the reduction in time between seeing a product and purchasing it. TikTok Shop is a great example where users can go from ad to product page with a tap. Similarly, we’re starting to see trials with product pages appearing in AI responses too.
Community-Driven Shopping
Influencer marketing has been a driving force within digital for the past decade, but as time goes on, users and potential consumers have wised up to these tactics, making them less effective and less trustworthy.
It goes without saying that individuals trust their peers over celebrity-endorsed ads. Couple this with the decline of influencer marketing, and we can expect brands to turn to community-driven initiatives to push sales in 2026. Reviews, live social content and user generated content will likely be more popular as brands look to tow the line between ecom and social.
Cleaner Supply Chains
The modern consumer doesn’t just make purchasing decisions based on price and quality factors. The overall behaviour of a brand is also crucial, especially to younger customers who appear to be more ethically driven in their decision making.
This demand will make it beneficial for brands to clean up their supply chains, regardless of whether they operate in the physical world, the digital world or both. Key to this supply chain cleanse will be transparency. The 2026 consumer will be interested in where their product comes from and how it has been sourced, along with proof of authenticity.
Conversational Commerce
Customer service plays a key role in winning and retaining online customers. But for a large part of the 21st century, this has been left in the hands of automated chatbots that are often slow, unhelpful and frustrating. Despite the shortcomings of these robot customer service departments, the idea of smoothing out the customer service process is understandable.
Given the recent advancements of AI, most business experts are bracing themselves for a second stab at this technology. Only this time, it is clear to see that the infrastructure is in place with platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini proving just how quick, accurate and helpful a generative AI system can be.
Instant Delivery
Delivery times appear to be getting quicker and quicker, to the point where next-day delivery is hardly impressive in 2025. With Amazon now offering same day delivery on certain products, we can expect to see a rise in the demand for instant delivery going forward. For brands in highly competitive industries, cutting delivery times should be a key focus.
How quickly brands can make delivery remains to be seen. One thing is for sure though, those brands that are able to deliver digitally bought goods in a matter of hours rather than days will be the ones who stand to benefit the most. Expect logistic departments to explore local and micro warehousing options to make this a possibility.
Final Thoughts
If you are running a business, it’s important to remember that flexibility is one of the most valuable assets in entrepreneurship. While the 9 trends above will likely impact the digital world in 2026, there’s no guarantee that things won’t change in an instant. You also can’t rule out something bigger and better coming along at short notice that will blow these trends out of the water; just look at the speed at which AI has swept through the business world. To best protect yourself and your business against emerging technology and upcoming trends, it may be best to work with an ecommerce digital marketing agency. An agency that specialises in digital commerce will be on top of trends, which will relieve some of the pressure off you and allow you to focus on what you are good at.
For more help staying on top of business trends, check out some of our other articles, which cover everything from SEO to AI.
