The Future of Ecommerce 2026: Reflecting, Recalibrating, and Reimagining Retail

Power Retail has released our most comprehensive outlook yet, The Future of Ecommerce 2026: Reflecting, Recalibrating, and Reimagining Retail,  revealing a retail sector undergoing profound transformation as AI, global competition and shifting consumer behaviour reshape the fundamentals of how Australians shop.

Produced in partnership with DoorDash, this year’s edition marks a shift in approach, rather than simply forecasting the year ahead, the report also analyses how 2025’s predictions played out and what those results mean for retailers navigating the next wave of disruption.

In 2025, domestic marketplaces collapsed as Catch wound down its standalone operations, OzSale shut its doors, and Woolworths integrated MyDeal into its broader ecosystem. Meanwhile, global players surged. Temu grew unique visitors by 72 percent year-on-year, and Amazon introduced its mobile discount destination, Amazon Haul, doubling down on the ultra-low-price economy.

At the same time, digital-first brands leaned into physical retail, with Adore Beauty expanding to seven stores and planning more than 25 locations by 2027 proving the rising importance of omnichannel presence in an increasingly competitive ecosystem.

This year’s contributors,  spanning AI, marketplaces, loyalty, logistics, data science and workforce strategy, point to a retail environment heading into its most transformative phase since the pandemic.

Multiple experts, including Klaviyo’s Marcus Rossato and Commerce’s Sharon Gee, predict a major shift from generative AI to agentic AI, where digital assistants negotiate, browse and transact on behalf of consumers.

Advisor Greg Merrill warns that retailers are in danger of building “AI Frankenstacks.” After a year of experimenting with disconnected AI tools, retailers will be forced to consolidate and establish integrated infrastructure capable of powering scalable, cross-channel automation.

Media buying, loyalty, forecasting and merchandising will shift toward profit-first optimisation, powered by predictive AI. As AI replaces search engines, “enrichment will be king.” Clean product attributes, rich descriptions and consistently structured feeds will determine which brands surface in AI-driven discovery journeys.

Power Retail’s Head of Data & AI, David Fear, issued one of the report’s starkest warnings: Australia is already in a “hidden retail recession,” masked by inflation and population growth.
While revenue looks stable, per-capita sales volumes are falling sharply  and global players are capturing the majority of growth.

2026 will be defined by alignment. Retailers must unify data, infrastructure, AI, logistics and human creativity to compete in a market where expectations evolve faster than capability.

2026 belongs to the reimagined retailer, those who connect the dots operationally, technologically and emotionally will set the pace for the next decade of Australian ecommerce.

In The Future of Ecommerce 2026: Reflecting, Recalibrating, and Reimagining Retail, hear from:

• Greg Merrill | CEO Advisor & Board Member
• Carla Penn-Kahn | Co-Founder & CEO | Profit Peak
• Mark Gray | Managing Director | CrescoData
• Nicole Cooke | Executive Consultant | Six Degrees Executive
• Marcus Rossato | Head of Marketing, APJ | Klaviyo
• Sharon Gee | SVP Product & AI | Commerce
• David Fear | Head of Data & AI | Power Retail

Find out what these global experts and ecommerce leaders are predicting for the year ahead, download The Future of Ecommerce 2026 Report here.