What the experts are saying

We asked ecommerce agencies and platforms where they think the future of conversational commerce is going, and how brands should prioritize in 2026.

Here’s what they had to say:

The rise of the dual-audience storefront

For years, we’ve built storefronts for one audience: humans. Marketers (rightfully) obsessed over aesthetics, SEO copy, and layouts. But in 2026, the storefront will see a growing second user: the AI agent.

Humans still shop for value and vibes: they want a fun, engaging, emotionally resonant experience. But AI agents shop differently. They look for high-context, machine-readable signals that help them make confident recommendations.

This shift redefines what “optimized” means. Product pages won’t just be visually compelling; they’ll need to be structured, richly contextual, and built for machine interpretation. Reviews, in particular, evolve from social proof into training data. When a shopper asks an AI assistant for a “breathable jacket that won’t overheat on a hike,” the agent mines real-world reviews for evidence. In that world, ten deeply detailed reviews about fabric, comfort, and performance matter more than a beautifully curated PDP.

As conversational commerce expands into AI assistants and copilots, brands won’t just compete to be searchable; they’ll compete to be selected. The goal isn’t ranking first. It’s becoming the recommendation when the machine makes the choice.

Agentic commerce will make AI agents even more autonomous

In 2026, the defining trend in conversational commerce is the shift from passive chatbots to agentic commerce. Google and Shopify launching UCP is a strong push in this direction. Unlike previous iterations that merely answered questions, these sophisticated AI agents will possess the autonomy to execute complex tasks, moving beyond conversation into 'doing'.

Modern AI agents in 2026 are deeply integrated with global payment protocols and logistics APIs. This allows them to manage the entire lifecycle of a purchase, from price negotiation and feature comparison across multiple platforms to completing the final checkout.

Zero-Click Transactions: we expect that AI agents will start monitoring supplies or fashion trends and autonomously placing orders within pre-set user constraints, making shopping a 'background process'.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation): Brands are shifting their SEO strategies toward AEO, ensuring their product data is machine-readable so these autonomous agents can easily discover and select their items.

Emotional Intelligence: Powered by multimodal models, these agents detect frustration or excitement in a user’s voice or text, adjusting their negotiation tactics or support tone in real time. This evolution marks the transition from traditional search-and-click funnel, to a natural language operating layer where the "interface" is simply a continuous, proactive dialogue.

Delivery intelligence will become the backbone of conversational commerce

In 2026 and beyond, the best conversational commerce will be powered by real-time delivery insights, not just faster replies.

Most brands still treat support as a back-and-forth channel: customers ask, teams reply. But the next generation of leaders will design customer experience around order delivery moments, not tickets. The real differentiator won’t be how human your AI sounds, it will be whether your systems know what’s happening to the shipment, what might go wrong next, and what action prevents customer frustration.

That’s why shipping intelligence will become a core layer of conversational commerce. It turns raw parcel tracking data into reliable milestones and exception triggers. With smart events like delayed, at pick-up point, or return to sender, brands can proactively guide customers, reduce uncertainty, and stop WISMO questions in the first place. Many brands already see up to 50% fewer WISMO tickets when proactive delivery updates are part of the post-purchase experience, powered by automated delivery exception handling through Shipping Intelligence and support integrations.

This shift doesn’t stop at communication. Automation will move into resolution: carrier claims opened automatically with up to 8× faster resolution and invoice discrepancies flagged early, recovering 2–4% in shipping costs that often go unnoticed. The future of conversational commerce is fewer problems—and better customer experiences at the moments that matter.

Conversational AI will solve problems before customers realize they exist

In 2025, conversational commerce got faster and smarter. Brands answered questions instantly with AI-powered support that's always on and always helpful. But in 2026, we predict a bigger shift: from answering questions to preventing them.

Here's what that looks like: ‍

• Your order hits a shipping delay. 
• Before you check tracking or reach out to support, AI catches it through platform integrations, reroutes the package, and upgrades shipping. 
• You receive a proactive message, "Small delay, but we fixed it. Still arriving Tuesday."

Conversational prevention. Agentic commerce will solve problems before the customer even knows they exist—before the "Where's my order?" ticket is sent.

Brands will be able to cut support ticket volume not only by deflecting inquiries, but by eliminating the need for them entirely. Better experiences. Stronger loyalty. Conversational commerce will become operational intelligence, monitoring every order in real-time and intervening the moment something goes wrong.

The future of conversational commerce feels effortless. Problems solved silently. Orders that just work. Support so good it feels invisible.