The biggest shift is that retailers are moving beyond “connecting channels” toward unified, intelligent commerce: one view of the customer, inventory, orders, pricing and fulfilment, with AI helping coordinate the experience.
| What’s Hot | What it Means Operationally |
|---|---|
| 1. Unified Commerce | POS, ecommerce, inventory, customer data, promotions and order management operate as one system—not separate channels connected by patches.
Only 7% of retailers reached the “leading” level in Manhattan Associates’ 2026 benchmark, while higher-maturity retailers reported twice the growth rate of basic-stage retailers. |
| 2. Agentic Commerce | AI is moving from answering product questions to comparing products, assembling baskets, checking availability and eventually completing purchases.
Salesforce found 39% of consumers were already using AI for product discovery in 2025, while DHL reports that nearly one-third would consider allowing AI to make buying decisions within five years. |
| 3. AI-ready Product Information | Retailers are improving product titles, attributes, images, compatibility data, availability and pricing so AI shopping assistants can understand and recommend their products.
The new challenge is becoming visible on the “invisible AI shelf,” not merely ranking in traditional search. |
| 4. Real-time Inventory Certainty | Customers increasingly expect the website to tell them whether an item is genuinely available nearby.
The emphasis is shifting from merely showing inventory to intelligently deciding which location should fulfil each order based on stock, delivery promise, labour and profitability. This capability sits at the centre of current unified-commerce benchmarks. |
| 5. Stores as Multifunctional Hubs | Stores are becoming selling spaces, pickup points, return centers, local fulfilment nodes, service locations and clienteling centers.
BOPIS itself is no longer innovative; accurate promises, fast handoff and profitable execution are now the differentiators. |
| 6. Omnichannel Retail Media | Retailers are connecting website advertising, apps, email, loyalty data, digital screens, smart shelves and in-store promotions.
The hottest issue is no longer simply launching a retail media network—it is proving incremental sales, coordinating online and store exposure, and avoiding measurement inflation. |
| 7. Social Discovery and “Shopping at the Edge” | Discovery increasingly happens on social platforms, messaging apps, video and creator content before shoppers reach the retailer’s website.
Salesforce reports that 53% of shoppers discover products through social platforms, rising to 76% among Gen Z. |
| 8. Marketplaces and Endless Assortment | Retailers are expanding selection through third-party marketplaces and dropship models without owning all the inventory.
Marketplace data is also being used to identify emerging products and assortment opportunities. |
| 9. Loyalty-Based Personalization | Loyalty programs are evolving from points and discounts into the identity layer connecting store, app, ecommerce, service and media activity.
Personalization is becoming more contextual: the next useful action, offer or service rather than simply another product recommendation. |
| 10. Profitable Convenience | Retailers are measuring omnichannel decisions by contribution margin and cost-to-serve—not sales alone.
Deloitte found that 67% of surveyed retail executives expected to increase free-shipping thresholds in 2026 as retailers balance convenience with rising fulfilment costs. |
Ranking of the Hottest Opportunities
1. Unified commerce and inventory accuracy
This is the foundation. AI, personalization, pickup and ship-from-store cannot work reliably when customer, product, inventory and order data disagree.
2. AI-assisted and agentic shopping
This is receiving the most attention, but much of the market is still at the discovery and assistance stage. Retailers should prepare now without pretending that fully autonomous purchasing is already mainstream.
3. Omnichannel retail media
Potentially attractive because of its margins, but retailers now need credible incrementality measurement and a differentiated audience—not just more advertising inventory.
4. Store-enabled fulfilment and service
The competitive question is no longer, “Do you offer pickup?” It is, “Can you make an accurate promise, execute it quickly and still make money?”
5. Product-data readiness
This is an underappreciated opportunity. Retailers with complete, structured and trustworthy product information are more likely to appear in AI-generated recommendations.
What is Cooling Off
These ideas are becoming basic expectations rather than true differentiators:
- Launching another standalone mobile app
- Generic “personalized for you” product carousels
- BOPIS without inventory accuracy
- Adding more channels while leaving systems fragmented
- Measuring omnichannel success by ecommerce sales alone
- Calling basic chatbots “agentic AI”
The strongest current message for retailers is:
Omnichannel is no longer about being present everywhere. It is about making inventory, customer data, decisions and execution work together everywhere.
