Retail 2026: the trends that Swiss SMEs should be keeping an eye on

Retail is changing

Artificial intelligence, social commerce, influencer marketing, retail media and agentic commerce: anyone looking at current developments in retail will constantly encounter new terms. For many SMEs, this raises the question: which trends are truly relevant? The answer is surprisingly clear: it’s not a single technology that is changing retail, but rather the way customers find and purchase products. In the past, the customer journey often followed a linear pattern. Today, it’s more fragmented and dynamic:

Then:

• Search > Shop > Purchase

Now:

• Social Media > Recommendation > Shop > Purchase or
• AI > Product recommendation > Purchase or in the future, it may even be
• AI agent > Purchase

These are precisely the reasons why the industry is currently discussing many trends at the same time. They describe the same development from different perspectives. For SMEs, it therefore matters less which trend they follow – what’s more important is understanding how customer acquisition, purchasing behaviour and competition are changing.

Overview: how the path to purchase is changing

How will what you offer draw the attention of customers in the future?

Just a few years ago, the search for a product usually started with Google. For example, someone looking to buy hiking boots would search for “men’s hiking boots”, compare various offers and then make a purchase decision. Today, this process often looks different: an individual discovers a product on TikTok. An influencer recommends a brand. An AI system answers a question about advice on purchasing. Or a virtual assistant suggests suitable products directly. Active searches are becoming less and less frequent, with products being discovered or recommended more and more often.

For retailers, this changes the meaning of visibility. It’s no longer enough to simply be found in search engines. Products must also be able to be

• Understood by AI systems
• Shared by customers and
• Recommended by communities

This means that three factors are becoming increasingly important: structured and complete product data that can be accurately captured by platforms and AI systems, helpful and trustworthy content that provides guidance and facilitates purchase decisions, and authentic recommendations and reviews that build trust and encourage recommendations.

Why do customers abandon purchases – and how can this be prevented?

Many companies invest heavily  in marketing, advertising or customer acquisition. At the same time, a crucial factor is often overlooked: the purchasing process itself. After all, not everyone who shows an interest actually completes the purchase.

A look at recent studies shows just how relevant this issue is: according to the 2025 IPC Cross-Border E-Commerce Shopper Survey (Switzerland), 36% of consumers in Switzerland have abandoned an online purchase within the past three months. The most common reasons cited include delivery times that were too long (24%), additional costs (22%) and a lack of payment options (19%). Internationally, the picture is similar: a large percentage of purchases are not cancelled until checkout, often as a result of avoidable obstacles in the purchasing process. In summary, typical reasons for cancelled purchases include:

• Complicated checkout processes
• Lack of payment options
• Long loading times
• Confusing forms
• Poor user experience on mobile devices

In online retail in particular, even small obstacles can have a major impact. To give an example: a customer has settled on a product and wants to pay. But their preferred payment method isn’t available, or there are several unnecessary steps at checkout. In situations like this, the purchase is often simply abandoned.

This means it’s all the more important for companies to keep track of their cancellation rate. If you regularly analyse the point at which customers abandon the purchasing process, you can identify specific potential for optimization. Improvements can often be achieved with just minor adjustments to the checkout process or payment methods.

The takeaway: increased revenue is not just a matter of more visitors, but also of fewer cancelled purchases. Optimizing specific aspects of the purchasing process can achieve clear improvements with relatively simple measures. For SMEs, it therefore pays to regularly review the entire customer journey all the way to checkout from the customer’s perspective. The last step in particular decides whether showing an interest actually translates into revenue.

How are SMEs actually using AI in e-commerce?

When it comes to AI, there are many future scenarios. For SMEs, however, one practical question stands out above all:

Where does today’s AI already yield tangible benefits in the customer journey? The answer: primarily in areas where repetitive tasks take a lot of time.

Examples include:

• Preparation of product descriptions
• Support with blog and newsletter content
• Analysis of customer data
• Preparation of campaign variants
• Personalization of marketing activities
• Summary and evaluation of information

Efficiency improvement is of particular interest here. Many companies are not using AI to replace staff. They are using the technology to take care of routine tasks more quickly and free up more time for strategic or customer-focused activities. The key takeaway: AI does not replace retailers. It buys them time. But the fact remains that high-quality data and clearly defined processes are still required.

What new revenue potential is emerging?

When talking about growth, the first thought at many companies is to sell more products. But new developments demonstrate that, in the future, it will be possible to generate revenue in various ways. One example is social commerce. More and more social networks are evolving from communication channels into sales channels. Influencer marketing is also changing. Rather than trying to maximize reach, the focus today is on credibility, communities and specific purchase incentives. In addition, new models for second-hand products, repair services and approaches to resale are emerging. Long considered niche, these areas are increasingly becoming an economically relevant market.

At the same time, retail media is growing in importance. Major retailers are using their platforms and customer data to offer advertising space for brands and tap into additional sources of revenue. Not every one of these developments is suitable for every SME. Nevertheless, the key takeaway is that revenue in the future will come not only from products, but increasingly also from reach, communities and additional services.

What foundations should you lay today?

Amidst all the discussion of new technologies, one thing stands out: the most successful companies rarely focus on individual trends. They invest in the foundations. Because regardless of whether AI, social commerce and agentic commerce continue to evolve, some success factors stay the same.

It’s not every trend that matters, it’s the direction.

No one today can predict with any certainty which technologies or channels will be shaping retail in five years’ time. But the direction is clear: the path between product and purchase decision is changing fundamentally. For SMEs, this doesn’t mean chasing every trend. The key is rather in creating the conditions necessary to successfully take advantage of new developments.

By investing in good data, compelling content, simple purchasing processes and a strong customer experience today, you are laying the foundations for sustainable growth – regardless of which trends make the headlines tomorrow.

90-day plan for Swiss SMEs: concrete measures for increased retail revenue