1. The rise of agentic commerce
We’re no longer just optimising for humans. With agentic commerce, AI agents act like personal shoppers that research, negotiate, and purchase on behalf of customers.
The shift: These non-human buyers don’t care about your brand story or emotional videos. They look for structured data, API accessibility, and clear price-per-unit specs.
The commercial implication: Forward‑thinking businesses are starting to optimise for AI agents as well as human shoppers. If your product data isn’t machine-readable, your brand might become invisible to the high-volume buyers of the future.
“Smart businesses will be looking at how they can make their sales information visible to AI. We’re talking everything from product descriptions to product variants, shipping policies, return policies, promotions and discounts, product availability, and sustainability. All of that needs to become available for an agent to browse.” – Bernardo Caldas, Director of Data and AI, Mollie
2. AI-driven hyper-personalisation
AI has moved from the back office to the front of the house. We’re now entering the era of the ‘store of one’, where websites can adapt in real time to suit the profile and behaviour of every individual visitor.
The shift: Dynamic storefronts now tailor navigation and search results based on real-time behaviour. Imagine a site that re-ranks its entire catalogue based on a visitor’s probability of buying. Or generates bespoke product descriptions on the fly.
The commercial implication: The payoff is conversion efficiency. However, European consumers are sensitive to the privacy paradox. They want personalisation, but won’t tolerate overt surveillance or misuse of their data. The winners will be brands that use zero-party data (data customers voluntarily share with you) rather than old-school tracking cookies.
3. Unified commerce: a single source of truth
We are moving past the omnichannel buzzword toward the operational reality of unified commerce. For a more thorough explanation, our unified commerce guide explores the subject in more depth.
The shift: Unified commerce means abandoning silos where your physical store’s POS doesn’t talk to your warehouse. Unified commerce creates a single backend where pricing, inventory, and customer history are identical across every channel.
The commercial implication: This should see large gains in capital efficiency. Real-time inventory visibility prevents ghost stock (selling what you don’t have) and allows for aggressive stock rotation, which can reduce fulfilment costs.
“Unified commerce used to be ‘blue sky thinking’ reserved for multinational corporations and their teams of data scientists. But today, through identifiers like PAR, it’s simple for any business to track a customer from a physical terminal to an online basket, turning what was once a complex enterprise project into a standard business tool.” – Diane Albouy, Principal Product Manager, Mollie
4. The blended store as a logistical hub
For years, the industry talked about the retail apocalypse, where physical stores cease to exist. But in 2026, the physical store isn’t going anywhere. In fact, in some cases, it’s become the ultimate high-value logistical asset, where storefronts operate as high-speed nodes in a much larger network.
The shift: We’re seeing the rise of retail spaces that lead a double life. Out front, they are high-touch experiential centres where customers can touch, feel, and try products. Out back (and often in the aisles during off-peak hours), they serve as micro-fulfilment centres for local online orders. This blended model allows you to fulfil ship-from-store, click-and-collect (BOPIS), and local returns from a single location.
The commercial implication: This is a direct attack on last-mile delivery costs, traditionally the most expensive and inefficient part of the supply chain. By using existing real estate to fulfil orders, you can drastically reduce the carbon footprint and shipping fees associated with centralised warehouses.
5. Sustainability as a license to operate
In 2026, sustainability will no longer be unsubstantiated marketing fluff. It’s no longer enough to vaguely claim a product is ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘consciously made’. The European Union is now insisting on mandatory, data-backed transparency, which means you need to work closer than ever with your suppliers to ensure that every step of your supply chain is documented and machine-readable.
The shift: The primary driver here is the Digital Product Passport (DPP). Think of it as a digital birth certificate for every item you sell. Starting from 2026, batteries – and later textiles and electronics – are required to carry a scannable data point that tracks their entire lifecycle, from where the raw materials were mined to how the item can be recycled at the end of its life.
The commercial implication: The stakes are high. Non-compliance is now a legal risk that can result in being locked out of the EU market entirely. However, there is a massive silver lining. This verified data is the fuel for the re-commerce (resale) boom. When a customer can prove the authenticity and material history of a luxury bag or a piece of tech, the resale value stays high. Brands that lean into the DPP are finding new revenue streams by facilitating their own pre-owned marketplaces.
6. Invisible payments via A2A
In 2026, the traditional 16-digit card number is starting to feel like a relic. We’re entering the era of invisible payments, where transactions are stripped of friction and embedded directly into the banking apps and wallets that consumers already use every day.
The shift: The primary catalyst here is the rise of account-to-account (A2A) payments, fueled by the rollout of Wero. This is a European-wide initiative backed by 16 of the continent’s biggest banks to create a native alternative to international card schemes.
The commercial implication: This is a major margin play. By bypassing traditional card networks, Wero and other bank transfer methods may offer a more cost-effective alternative to cards. And with the mandatory adoption of SEPA Instant, the ‘pending’ state of payments is disappearing. Funds are transferred from the customer’s account to yours in seconds, providing a significant boost to liquidity and cash flow.
“We’re moving to a world where a customer doesn’t even think about their physical card – they just authorise a transfer with a thumbprint or a facial scan. But businesses shouldn’t think this is a universal shift. Every country still has its nuances. The key is finding a partner that handles that complexity so you can focus on the growth.” – Iryna Agieieva, Head of Payments, Mollie
7. The checkout battleground heats up
The buy now, pay later (BNPL) market has long enjoyed a frictionless reputation, but 2026 marks the end of its unregulated era. With the full enforcement of the EU’s Consumer Credit Directive II (CCD II), the checkout experience for millions of Europeans is being fundamentally redesigned.
The shift: BNPL is now legally classified as full-fledged consumer credit. This means the old loopholes, such as exempting loans under €200 or short-term interest-free plans, have vanished. Every BNPL transaction now requires a systematic affordability assessment. Whether a customer is buying a €500 sofa or a €30 pair of shoes, providers must now verify their ability to repay using reliable financial data.
The commercial implication: There could be a potential dip in conversion rates as the impulse is removed from impulse credit. The checkout flow will now include mandatory warnings (e.g., “Borrowing money costs money”) and standardised information sheets that explain the total cost of credit.
8. The consumerisation of B2B
This shift in B2B commerce has been a long time coming, and it’s being driven by a digital-native workforce who have no patience for manual invoices, PDF order forms, and call for pricing buttons. They demand the same sort of efficiency they receive in the D2C world.
B2B buyers are moving away from traditional 30-day bank transfers, and now expect instant methods, including B2B-specific BNPL solutions that offer credit terms at the point of sale, without the administrative headache of manual credit checks.
The shift: Business buyers now demand the same one-click convenience they experience on Amazon or Otrium. This means moving toward rich self-service portals where buyers can access contract-specific pricing, view real-time inventory across multiple warehouses, and execute complex bulk reorders in seconds.
The commercial implication: This is a massive driver for operational efficiency. When you digitise the transactional part of B2B, it’s possible to radically slash your cost of sale. Your sales representatives are no longer glorified data-entry clerks chasing signatures or checking stock levels, so they can instead focus on high-value relationship building and complex solution selling.
