Ecommerce Trends: 3 important ways online retailers are using AI in 2026

Among the biggest trends shaping ecommerce in 2026, artificial intelligence (AI) plays prominent roles in many of them — and the ways in which online retailers use AI are changing as technology and strategies mature.

From the shifts in approach to agentic commerce at OpenAI, Shopify, Walmart and elsewhere, to the collective realizations among retailers that data strategy needs to evolve for AI systems to work, tech vendors, along with merchants both large and small, are calibrating their investments and use of resources.

In some cases, smaller retailers in certain merchandise categories are even finding growth channels to outperform their peers, as seen in the newly launched AI Commerce Rankings from Digital Commerce 360 and ReFiBuy.

Regardless of size, common AI goals and use cases can be seen at online retailers throughout Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 Database, which ranks merchants in North America by annual web sales. The AI Commerce Rankings are based on data that is tracked there.

In 2026, reporting, interviews and executive commentary have spotlighted three key ways online retailers are using AI. And each of these priorities is guiding investment and technology adoption in a busy year for the industry. 1.

AI platforms as discovery channels for online retailers In May 2026, web traffic to online retailers’ ecommerce sites from AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, more than doubled year over year, growing by 138%, according to a report published by Adobe Analytics.

As the role of traditional search platforms continues to stagnate, merchants are looking for ways to show up in AI-platform recommendations, whether retailers face a Google Zero day at some point in the future or not.

At the heart of this preparation have been efforts to optimize catalog data for AI systems, figuring out how to get products to appear in responses to longtail queries and prompts, thanks to clean data and context-heavy information. 2.

AI to improve conversion As AI platforms mature, Adobe analysts have also observed conversion rates improving when those large language models (LLMs) recommend products for purchase. In fact, Adobe data from March 2026 showed AI-driven traffic to retailers’ websites converting 42% more often than non-AI traffic.

That marked a reversal from the relationship between those two sets of traffic sources a year earlier. Meanwhile, online retailers are putting AI to use themselves.

As the family apparel site PatPat told Digital Commerce 360 in 2025, AI tools are helping marketers to target potential buyers in more effective ways, leveraging known shopper behavior and first-party data to make better decisions. 3.

AI to facilitate purchases In addition to targeting and convincing shoppers to buy, merchants, payments companies and AI platforms are also giving AI more attention when it comes to using it for transactions. For example, American Express, Mastercard and Visa have all picked AI solutions for facilitating payments made through AI experiences.

With the help of Stripe, Google and other partners, these companies are actively figuring out which protocols to back, as well as how to ensure shoppers remain confident and security needs are met. Fraud alone is likely to be an ongoing battle as parties leverage AI on both sides of the fight.

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