Ecommerce Insights 2025: Exploring Trends in Technology And The Future of Online Retail

Introduction

As we move towards 2025, e-commerce is evolving rapidly, influenced by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), a heightened focus on sustainability, and the increasing demand for seamless, personalised customer experiences. This blog delves into the top technology trends reshaping the e-commerce industry, providing a comprehensive roadmap for brands aiming to remain competitive in a transformative landscape.

1. Generative AI in Product Personalisation and Marketing

Generative AI is revolutionising how e-commerce brands personalise their offerings and engage with consumers. Through large language models and data-driven algorithms, generative AI tailors product recommendations, dynamic web content, and even marketing copy in real time, making interactions more relevant for each individual. Tools like OpenAI’s GPT-4 allow companies to auto-generate product descriptions, social media content, and targeted advertisements, minimising human intervention while enhancing relevance.

As AI technologies advance, the ability to create hyper-personalised content without manual effort will become a fundamental expectation. Research shows that 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that offer personalised experiences​. In 2025, generative AI is not just a tool for personalisation but a strategic asset for optimising every stage of the customer journey - from browsing to checkout.

2. AR and VR Shopping Experiences

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies have bridged the gap between physical and digital shopping experiences, allowing customers to visualise products in real-time and interact with virtual storefronts. This immersive experience reduces purchasing hesitation by giving consumers a tangible sense of product fit and style before buying.

Companies like IKEA and Sephora have set high standards with AR-based apps, allowing customers to visualise furniture or try on makeup virtually. In 2025, expect even more brands to incorporate AR and VR into their shopping experience, using these tools to enhance product discovery and boost customer engagement. Virtual reality’s potential for creating interactive “storefronts” could be particularly revolutionary for industries like fashion and home decor​.

3. Omnichannel Strategies: The Blurring of Physical and Digital Boundaries

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Consumers today move fluidly between in-store and online shopping, expecting a unified experience across both channels. In response, e-commerce brands are adopting omnichannel strategies to ensure consistent, cohesive interactions at every touchpoint. Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store (BOPIS) and Reserve Online, Try In-Store (ROTIS) are key examples of this trend, giving customers the flexibility to combine online research with physical shopping.

A robust omnichannel approach also requires integrated systems that enable real-time inventory updates, mobile checkout, and personalised recommendations. By uniting the digital and physical, brands not only meet customer expectations but also drive increased sales and engagement by creating convenience at every step. 

"Every initiative that is being brought to the table, be it digital or be it physical, the question being asked is, how do we join that together? how do we move those customers across? Because the opportunity is absolutely huge."
Nick Stragnell (All Saints & Raging Bull)

4. Sustainability in E-Commerce: Beyond Green Packaging

Sustainability has become increasingly important in e-commerce, with discerning consumers favouring eco-friendly practices from the brands they support. In 2025, sustainability initiatives extend beyond recyclable packaging to include carbon-neutral shipping, ethical sourcing, and energy-efficient supply chains. Brands like Patagonia and Everlane, known for transparency and eco-consciousness, have set an example that other businesses are eager to follow.

Environmental responsibility is no longer just a corporate talking point but a competitive differentiator. Companies are now using digital platforms to showcase sustainable practices, allowing consumers to make informed, eco-friendly choices. As more brands adopt these practices, we’re likely to see a shift towards greater sustainability accountability in e-commerce​.

5. Composable Commerce and API-Driven Ecosystems

Composable commerce is a term first coined by Garter in 2020, it’s an architectural approach that allows businesses to customise and scale their technology stack by combining the best commerce components.  

The key points to composable are the frontend is separate to backend systems, and the backend systems for Commerce, CMS, Booking Engines, Customer Experience, Quizzes, Merchandising etc can all be powered by different system.

The idea is a good one, however early adopters struggled with the time the projects took to build and maintain, composable projects are complex and often require both frontend development work to support each 3rd party and different approaches to hosting - combined these can be very time consuming.

Thankfully we now have solutions like Shopify’s Hydrogen that reduce the complexity and provide a strong base for building composable solutions by doing a lot of the heavy lifting for development teams.   For those brands wanting to deliver a seamless experience with no limits to what can be achieved a headless or composable project is the way to go.

Brands wanting a lower cost of ownership, and as little custom development as possible would be best served by a theme based solution.

6. AI-Powered Customer Service and Chatbots for Round-the-Clock Support

AI-driven customer service, powered by chatbots and virtual agents, has become a must-have for brands that need to scale support without overextending resources. These AI tools, equipped with natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, can handle complex customer inquiries, provide tailored recommendations, and even assist with order placements.

In 2025, AI chatbots will likely improve in personalization and context-awareness, making them even more effective at enhancing customer satisfaction. By offering 24/7 assistance, AI-driven support tools reduce wait times, improve resolution rates, and create a positive, reliable support experience. More on this topic in our blog: Unlocking the Power of AI-Driven Live Chat: Transforming Customer Service in eCommerce.

7. Voice Commerce for Seamless, Hands-Free Shopping

Voice commerce is on the rise, driven by the increasing popularity of smart speakers and voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. Consumers are using these devices for tasks ranging from basic product search to order placement, making voice commerce an area of growth.

To capitalise on this trend, brands need to optimise their content for natural language processing, ensuring that product descriptions and site interfaces can respond to voice queries. As more consumers rely on voice technology for shopping, brands that streamline their offerings for voice commerce will be well-positioned in an increasingly voice-driven market​.

8. Evolving Loyalty Programs Focused on Experience and Profitability

Loyalty programs have evolved from simple discount-based schemes to experience-rich, profit-driven initiatives. In 2025, brands are offering exclusive rewards, product previews, and experiential perks that go beyond mere discounts. By focusing on high-value relationships and rewarding loyalty with unique experiences, brands can cultivate a deeper connection with their customers.

Brands are also using loyalty data to drive personalised marketing campaigns, incentivizing sustainable purchases or community engagement. As loyalty programs shift to focus on profitability, the emphasis will be on creating meaningful, memorable experiences for customers​.

9. AI Influencers

Influencers have been a key part of many brands marketing strategies for many years, the next evolution of this is the rise of the ai influencer, these first starting to appear as far back as 2017. They have proved popular in 2024 and this is set to increase in 2025 with the most popular commanding 5 figure brand deals.  I’m not sure how much I like this one, personally I favour the move towards authenticity and story telling, I’m sure we’ll see some great examples of this in action (as well as some flops). Examples include‍

• Aitana - a fitness and gamer influencer
• Shudu - a fashion influencer
• Imma - a Japanese influencer and model
• Lil Miquela - a musician and influencer
• Noonoouri - Fashionista and pop star

Companies are now able to create or hire AI influencers to help promote their products and services. This is a fascinating area that is sure to grow in popularity and usage in 2025.

10. Live Social Shopping

QVC comes to social media, TikTok live launched back in 2020 and 2023 saw the launch of TikTok Shop kick starting the social media platform’s move into ecommerce. This triggered live shopping events which have gained traction on 2024 and the trend is set to continue into 2025 with major players launching similar services:

• Amazon Live
• Facebook Live
• Ebay Live

Live shopping can be a very effective way to engage with customers and showcase your products, with some retailers reporting conversion rates of up to 40%.

11. B2B Commerce growth continues at pace

B2B Commerce is finally starting to catch up with B2C. There has been significant growth in the market during 2024 and this is expected to continue with an  annual growth rate predicted to be  around 18-20% reaching $36 Trillion by 2031.  

The range of features available to B2B customers has continued to grow and mature.  Customers now expect to be able to self-serve on digital platforms when purchasing for businesses along side  those businesses that offer a personalised and easy-to-use ecommerce experience will outperform their peers.

Some of the key requirements we are seeing are:

• Ability to run B2C and B2B from a single platform, but with separation so each can develop at their own pace
• Robust and flexible integrations with ERP and WMS, standard plugins and apps rarely work due to the wide range of business requirements
• Full Content Management and Product Management capabilities with AI helpers built in for product descriptions and language translations
• Range of pricing requirements from price lists (both group specific and banded) to tiered pricing and complex discounting rules
• Self-service accounts with companies able to create users and manage permissions for each user
• Range of purchase controls from individual order approval to budget controls per user or department
• Full range of payment options including credit card, local, credit accounts and financing options.
• Customer specific catalogues that restrict all search and merchandising on the site to a specific set of products for each customer
• Linked companies for large enterprises with users that span across all companies in a group

Contact us about a b2b project

12. Shopify will continue to dominate the market

If you look at google trends for ecommerce platforms over the last 20 years that graph shows you how the market has moved over this period.  Shopify has grown steadily over this time and that is certainly reflected in what I see in the market.   

No other platform has been able to keep pace with Shopify’s innovation coupled with a very robust foundation and you have a proposition that is very hard to beat.

Shopify is set to continue its dominance in 2025 and we look forward to seeing the features released in the upcoming Editions.

Conclusion

2025 promises to be another year of progress and innovation in the world of ecommerce, I expect we’ll see brands pushing the boundaries of what's possible in all the areas we’ve covered and more.  

AI will continue to elevate what's possible for merchants of all sizes and we’ll see brands utilising the latest technology to provide experiences to delight their customers.

When looking at what innovations will allow you to do more its easy to neglect the basics and we’ll be looking to combine innovative solutions alongside a focus on getting the foundations right and providing a strong base for commerce operations.

I look forward to seeing technology used in new and innovative ways over the next year, the pace of change will continue to accelerate and with it the opportunity to build incredible business will be accessible to more and more people.

References

1. Insider Intelligence (2024). Emerging AI Innovations in E-Commerce and Their Market Potential in 2025. Insight on AI’s role in transforming personalization and marketing in e-commerce. Retrieved from Insider Intelligence.
2. Adobe Blog (2024). What’s Next for Generative AI in Commerce? Enriching Digital Experiences and Product Offerings. Covers generative AI’s impact on personalised content and real-time recommendations. Available at Adobe Blog.
3. Business of Apps (2024). The Rise of Hyper-Personalization in Mobile Commerce. Discusses mobile-first design and the benefits of personalising mobile experiences. Available at Business of Apps.
4. Decipher Zone (2024). Top 8 eCommerce Trends in 2025: An Extensive Guide. Discusses AR, AI, and sustainability trends in e-commerce. Retrieved from Decipher Zone
   
5. Rendr.io (2024). The Future of E-commerce Marketplaces: Trends for 2025. Overview of sustainability, composable commerce, and evolving customer expectations. Available at Rendr.io.
6. The Future of Commerce (2023). E-commerce Trends 2024. Covers trends in personalization, customer experience, and sustainability for eCommerce. Retrieved from The Future of Commerce.
7. Elastic Path Blog (2024). eCommerce Trends. Offers insights into composable commerce and customer-centric innovations shaping the eCommerce space. Available at Elastic Path.
8. Forbes.com 17 Expert Insights Into The Rise of AI Influencers. Insights into the use of AI Influencers.  Available at Forbes.com
9. Emplifi Emplifu resources, Available at https://emplifi.io/
10. Stratis Research B2B E-commerce Market Size, Available at statisresearch.com