Five trends that will transform online sales in 2026 and how to capitalize on them

Trend 1: Asian platforms are setting the standards customers have already adopted

In 2026, Asian platforms are defining the dominant shopping models in global e-commerce. Their strength lies in algorithmic demand generation—driven by content, recommendations, and impulse purchases—rather than responding to explicit user queries. This operating logic is increasingly shaping the behavior of Polish consumers as well.

Growth dynamics clearly indicate that this commerce model is taking over the market:

• TikTok Shop: +59.4% YoY GMV — the fastest growth rate in the global TOP10.
• Douyin: +12.6% — confirming the long-term viability of the “video-first” model as a foundation for commerce.
• Shein: +6.5% and Temu: +13.4% — despite a slowdown, they continue to reorganize global product flows and condition customers to expect a simple, fast purchase journey.

All of these platforms share a common denominator: they reduce the purchasing decision to an absolute minimum.

Why do TikTok Shop algorithms work differently than, for example, Amazon’s?

For over two decades, Amazon has built its sales model around search. The user enters a query, and the algorithm returns a list of results optimized for relevance, price, availability, and historical SKU performance. Asian platforms have reversed this model. Sales do not start with intent, but with algorithmically generated demand—before the user even recognizes a need to buy.

This shifts the focus away from SEO and listing optimization toward three new pillars:

1. Product data quality and structure

Not for a search engine, but for recommendation algorithms that assess not only parameters, but also attribute completeness and variant consistency.

2. Content performance

Video, contextual imagery, and micro-stories determine whether a product is “understood” within seconds.

3. Behavioral signals

CTR, watch time, shares, add-to-cart actions, returns. In an impulse-driven model, these metrics carry more weight than keywords.

Customers expect speed and predictability — because Asia has set the benchmark

Over the past few years, Shein, Temu, and TikTok Shop have not competed on price alone. They have systematically raised market standards in three areas that directly influence purchase decisions:

A frictionless purchase journey

Minimal steps, no unnecessary choices, instant checkout.

Fast and reliable delivery

Customers know not only when a parcel will arrive, but also how reliably.

Automated, intuitive returns

A clear, structured returns process with transparent statuses and real-time updates.

These experiences are becoming the default quality benchmark for consumers—regardless of whether they shop on a global platform or in a local Polish store. Expectations do not decline; they migrate across channels.

What this means for sellers in Poland — the 3 key takeaways

1. Ensure high-quality product data: complete attributes, full specifications, contextual images, and short videos are now the foundation of visibility—not only in social commerce, but across all channels.
2. Prepare for demand spikes: identify fast-moving SKUs (high frequency, short picking times), prioritize them in fulfillment processes, and maintain operational capacity buffers.
3. Shorten and stabilize delivery times: even a 12–24 hour delivery improvement can increase conversion more than advertising campaigns. Diversify carriers and clearly communicate delivery timelines.

Trend 2: Social commerce becomes one of the primary sales channels

Social commerce is currently the fastest-growing segment of e-commerce, characterized by exceptionally high cost efficiency. It enables traffic acquisition without per-click fees, which dominate advertising models on marketplaces and search engines.

Its mechanics are built around a shortened purchase path: users consume short-form video content, receive an immediate product recommendation, make an impulse decision, and expect fulfillment aligned with mobile commerce standards.

Users spend over 20 hours per month on TikTok

Product-focused content—even short, low-budget formats—can generate reach that traditional campaigns cannot achieve at comparable cost. Crucially, stores are no longer competing solely on price or assortment breadth, but on content quality and a product’s ability to “sell itself” within seconds.

This shifts sales performance accountability toward content capabilities and fulfillment speed. Social commerce rewards:

• products with a clear use case,
• short, dynamic presentation formats,
• transparent checkout processes,
• fast fulfillment and delivery predictability.

For Polish sellers, this means social commerce can become the lowest-cost traffic acquisition channel—but only if the offer, content, and logistics are adapted to an immersive product discovery experience.

What this means for sellers in Poland — the 3 key takeaways

1. Create short product videos: 5–15 seconds is sufficient. Show the product in real use, naturally. This is the new “product page.”
2. Select 2–3 SKUs suited for impulse purchases: products with a clear purpose, low purchase barrier, and solid margins perform best in social commerce.
3. Optimize logistics for fast fulfillment: social commerce drives demand spikes. If scaling shipping volumes while protecting margins is a challenge, explore how Alsendo can support your operations.

Trend 3: Marketplaces tighten control over delivery — what does this mean for the last mile?

In 2026, Amazon, Allegro, and global platforms are introducing restricted carrier selection models, expanding proprietary OOH networks, and gradually taking over critical elements of the last mile. As a result, the balance of power is shifting.

Sellers dependent on a single carrier or a single OOH network face increased exposure to rising logistics costs, declining conversion rates, and reduced control over the customer experience at a critical stage of order fulfillment.

Market data indicates that e-commerce logistics is moving toward greater decision centralization on the platform side:

• 87% of global online sales take place on marketplaces, meaning platforms increasingly define operational standards for the entire sector.
• In Poland, more than half of customers choose OOH as their preferred delivery option, strengthening the position of players that control or integrate proprietary pickup networks.
• Platforms are systematically expanding their own logistics infrastructure (including Amazon Logistics and Allegro One), shifting decision-making power over the last mile.

Michał Wójcik, Partnership & Enterprise Director 

“Based on current market data, we can conclude that the absence of a preferred delivery option eliminates an offer before the customer even begins to compare prices. In practice, the average cart abandonment rate is approximately 70%, with slow delivery and unexpected delivery-related costs among the primary drivers. In the last mile, delivery is increasingly acting as an offer filter—determining whether price will even be considered by the customer at all.”

One OOH network is not enough if you want to maintain conversion

Polish consumers expect a genuine choice when it comes to delivery options, as this is a critical element of the purchase decision. European studies show that 81% of customers abandon their carts if a store does not offer their preferred delivery method. This is one of the highest non-price-related cart abandonment rates.

In this context, merchants need logistical independence built on carrier and OOH network diversification. The absence of such a strategy results in:

• a higher risk of delays during peak periods when a single network becomes overloaded,
• lower checkout conversion due to limited delivery choice,
• increased exposure to price increases or policy changes by a single operator.

Adam Zając, Cross-Border Director 

“Consumer data illustrates the scale of this shift: 35% of customers in Europe choose delivery to OOH locations, and 41% redirect parcels there instead of home delivery. In this environment, a strategy built around a single OOH network limits customer choice, reduces checkout effectiveness, and increases operational risk.”

 

What this means for sellers in Poland — the 3 key takeaways

1. Expand the range of available delivery options: at least 2–3 last-mile carriers plus multiple OOH networks. This has a measurable positive impact on checkout conversion.
2. Highlight pickup options that marketplaces hide or restrict: Polish customers want choice. Offering it is a clear way to differentiate from marketplaces.
3. Build your own logistics advantage around speed and convenience: automate packing processes, shorten cut-off times, and communicate predictable delivery windows—these are areas marketplaces do not fully control.

Imprecise delivery discourages 60% of customers. With Alsendo Business Pro, you can gain a competitive edge through advanced shipment tracking and access to a broad carrier network, allowing you to tailor delivery to both your needs and your customers’ expectations.

Trend 4: Returns increase conversion in e-commerce

In 2026, returns are becoming a source of competitive advantage and one of the key signals influencing e-commerce platform algorithms. In an environment where purchasing decisions are increasingly impulse-driven (short video, AI recommendations, social content), returns take on a new role: they reduce customer-side risk while simultaneously providing merchants with data on product quality, description accuracy, presentation effectiveness, and algorithmic recommendation precision.

This shifts returns from being a “reaction to a problem” to a calibration mechanism for the entire sales process—from how product pages are built, through offer matching, to last-mile logistics design.

Returns are a free source of product intelligence

A return is not just a logistics cost—it is a diagnostic signal highlighting product and operational issues.
The most common reasons for returns in Poland include:

• incorrect sizing,
• product images not matching reality,
• missing key information on the product page,
• imprecise attributes,
• excessively long delivery times,
• packaging quality issues.

These data points can immediately improve conversion—if your business learns to analyze them instead of treating returns purely as a cost.

What this means for sellers in Poland — the 4 key takeaways

1. Make returns as frictionless as possible: OOH drop-off, mobile labels, clear rules, and zero hidden costs.
2. Collect and analyze return reasons: build a simple classification—size, description, quality, delivery—and improve products and communication based on hard data.
3. Enhance product pages to reduce returns at the source: better images, video, precise parameters, sizing charts, dimensions, and usage instructions.
4. Simplify returns in line with new EU regulations: implement the mandatory return button in the shopping process, enabling customers to initiate returns online quickly and easily.

Trend 5: AI is changing how customers discover your product

In 2026, AI becomes the primary filter through which e-commerce traffic flows. An increasing number of customers start their purchasing journey with an AI agent conversation or a recommendation generated by a language model—rather than through a traditional search engine or marketplace listing. This means AI decides which products are shown to users at all, based on product data quality—not sales history or advertising budgets.

Customers complete purchases up to 47% faster when algorithms help them discover and compare products.

AI will not surface your product if it has nothing to “read”

In search-based e-commerce, it was possible to operate for years with an average product page. In an AI-first model, this is no longer viable. Language models do not rely on keyword matching—they interpret products by constructing context, use cases, and alignment with user intent. In 2026, this process increasingly resembles data quality assessment rather than copy quality evaluation.

AI agents, marketplaces, and recommendation systems analyze, among other things:

• complete parameters and attributes — all key product features,
• consistent variants — size, color, or model variants described in a way AI can clearly distinguish,
• clear and structured descriptions — understandable language, logical structure, no contradictions,
• up-to-date availability information — real stock levels and delivery timelines usable in recommendations,
• usage context and value propositions — what the product is for, what problems it solves, and how it differs from alternatives.

If data are incomplete, inconsistent, or outdated, the model classifies the product as risky and omits it in favor of offers it can interpret with confidence. This represents a fundamental shift. In traditional search, you competed with other stores for keywords. In an AI-first model, you compete against the model’s requirements—which determine whether your product ever reaches the customer’s cart.

What this means for sellers in Poland — the 3 key takeaways

1. Organize and standardize product data (start with the top 20% of SKUs): complete parameters, attributes, clear descriptions, up-to-date inventory, high-quality images, and video. Without this, AI will not include your products in recommendations.
2. Automate operations where costs and delays are highest: customer service, order status updates, label generation, return analysis, picking—these processes deliver the fastest ROI.
3. Create content “for AI,” not just for SEO: AI reads context, not keywords. FAQs, product use cases, video, and clear descriptions determine whether a model surfaces your product to users.

E-commerce in 2026 — key takeaways

In 2026, online commerce operates under conditions of volume stabilization and rising operational pressure. Competitive advantage is no longer built by stores that sell the most, but by those that sell faster, more predictably, and based on better data.

The most important changes impacting online sales:

• Sales increasingly start with algorithmic recommendations and video content rather than search—raising the importance of product data and content quality.
• Social commerce generates impulse demand, requiring logistics resilient to sudden order spikes.
• Marketplaces are taking control of the last mile, making logistical independence and real delivery choice for customers essential—something Alsendo Business Pro provides to small and mid-sized e-commerce businesses.
• Returns are no longer just a cost—they become a data source that directly influences conversion and offer relevance.
• Lower marketplace commissions intensify competition and visibility costs, increasing the need for sales channel diversification.
• AI becomes the primary traffic filter—products with incomplete or inconsistent data lose visibility altogether.

In practice, this means that successful e-commerce in 2026 is built on:

• structured and complete product data,
• fast and predictable fulfillment,
• flexible last-mile logistics,
• conscious management of sales channels,
• automation of operational processes where the highest costs and delays occur.

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