10 Ecommerce Trends That Will Shape Online Retail in 2025

Ecommerce shopping is primarily shaped by two factors: changing customer preferences and technological innovations. With constant changes being name of the game, businesses need to stay on top of eCommerce trends in order to stay competitive and keep customers happy.

From smarter tools that make shopping easier to an ever-increasing focus on sustainability, there’s a lot to look forward to. Think of these eCommerce trends as opportunities for your business to attract even more customers and retain the existing ones.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the eCommerce trends that will shape online retail and shopping in 2025 and see how businesses can keep up with them.

Artificial intelligence – Chatbots

Back in 2023 AI chatbots are estimated to have brought in 51 out of 298 billion dollars in sales during Cyber Week only.

In 2024 and 2025 this number is guaranteed to increase. Have in mind that the rate of adoption of AI chatbots by eCommerce companies has increased to up to 92%!

The main benefit of AI chatbots in eCommerce is that they reduce the number of man-hours required to deal with customers’ requests. This is especially true for the most common requests. Think of questions such as: “What’s the status of my order?”, “Can I return this item?” – these are all questions that have straightforward answers.

You may think that you already have an FAQ page dedicated to those types of questions. That may be true. However, navigating to it means abandoning the purchase path. This is frustrating for both your customers and you. 

Seamless AI chatbot integration allows your customers to essentially have an always-ready assistant for (almost) any of their questions. This is similar to an in-store sales person. What’s good about AI chatbots is that they learn much quicker than your staff.

Besides reducing costs and answering some common and less common questions, AI chatbots can come in the form of a virtual shopping assistant. These online assistants simulate in-person shopping experience helping you increase your conversion rates and increase customer satisfaction. 

Key takeaway: Implementing AI chatbots leads to an increase in customer satisfaction and reduces your operational costs. The rate of adoption by businesses is already high. If you haven’t already it’s high time to start considering implementing AI chatbots in your eCommerce store.

Artificial intelligence – Personalization

Let’s pick up where we left off. AI can also be used for advanced personalization. What do we mean by that?

Before we get to it, let’s first quickly cover how AI works when used for personalization. It’s essentially a three-step process.

First, it gathers your data such as browsing history, demographic data, purchase history, and more. Then, it processes that data through different machine learning algorithms. In the final step it serves you personalized content in the form of product recommendations, targeted ads, custom landing pages, and more.

This is especially powerful when AI is combined with a dynamic pricing tool in order to personalize prices, together with product selection. It adjusts prices in such a way that even the most price-sensitive shoppers are likely to make a purchase.

Alternatively the AI and dynamic pricing combo can be used for smarter product bundling. You can bundle products based on customer behavior (e.g. purchase & browsing history) and inventory levels and dynamically adjust their prices to maximize your revenue and margins.

Key takeaway: Incorporating AI models for the purpose of personalization can be a great tool for your eCommerce store. It can be expensive and difficult to start with, but once set in motion it is almost guaranteed to help you achieve your goals more easily.

Mobile devices will overshadow other device types

No surprises here. In 2023, 72% of e-commerce purchases were done through a mobile device. 

It’s convenient, accessible, in a large number of cases faster, and—perhaps most importantly—easier to use than other devices.

All of these characteristics make it one of the primary drivers of impulsive purchases. Impulsive purchases are done without pre-planning. The decision to purchase is usually made on the spot.

Mobile devices enable this because it usually takes fewer steps to perform a desired action and there are less distractions for customers along the way.

When it comes to building eCommerce stores optimized for mobile experience, responsive design remains the guiding principle for improving your conversion rates. 

There are also other tips you can utilize when optimizing your store for mobile experience, such as:

• Improving loading speed of your pages – it affects both your search engine rankings and customer satisfaction. Compress images, use efficient coding, and reduce unnecessary elements on your pages.
• Streamlining checkout processes – Simple checkout processes reduce friction in your customer’s purchasing journey. Reduce the number of overall steps, allow for auto-fill on forms, and offer guest checkout possibility.
• One-click payments – With Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal, you can offer quick and easy payment options.

Key takeaway: Consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to make online purchases. To stay on top of your customers’ minds, you will need to have a store optimized for mobile experience. Time spent on mobile devices and convenience it gives to customers are pillars you should design your store on.

Social commerce becomes a growth opportunity

Think of social commerce as a blend of eCommerce and social media. 

Social media platforms are becoming more similar to marketplaces every day. An increasing number of platforms are offering the option for a completion of the check-out process without visiting another website.

You could be asking yourself – will this not reduce the number of visitors to your own website?

That’s a good question. The answer is likely positive, but it’s not all so grim. Among those people who make purchases on social media platforms, there is a significant percentage of them who wouldn’t have visited your website if there was no option to make a purchase on a social media platform. 

This way, you are capturing even more demand. If set up correctly, social commerce works complementary with your website. It does so by helping you reach more customers who wouldn’t have found your website otherwise. At the end of the day, it only makes sense to be where your customers are spending most of their time.

Shoppable content (i.e. the piece of content on a social media platform that can be interacted with in order to make a purchase) is expected to increase its share of driven purchases in 2025. In the UK alone, depending on the generation, between 56% and 73% consumers have made a purchase by interacting with shoppable content. The key is capturing attention with the content you create. 

Of course, we don’t advise “putting all of your eggs in the social commerce basket”. You need to use it primarily to strengthen your brand. 

Key takeaway: Consumers are spending an increasing amount of time on social media. It is true that what specific platform is the most popular at what time with what generation is somewhat difficult to keep track of. However, knowing your customers and where they spend their time is something you have to invest in. It is the foundation of any successful marketing plan and this won’t change in 2025.

Pricing strategies will become more nuanced

Pricing strategies define your approach to setting prices in eCommerce. The foundation of every profitable pricing strategy is understanding the value your products provide to your customers.

What makes pricing so important is that despite the fact that online retailers do not want to compete on prices, customers say otherwise. Prices are one of if not the most important purchase-driving factors. Delivery times, quality of support, return policies, and other factors are becoming increasingly overshadowed by prices. This is especially true in economically challenging times. 

For online retailers, this unfortunately often means thinner margins. In order to keep those margins positive, a revision of pricing strategies will be required. 

What does this mean in practice?

It means that for succeeding in eCommerce in 2025, online retailers will have to abandon most of their static pricing models.

In turn, they will have to adopt dynamic pricing models that will at least need to:

• adjust prices in real time based on demand;
• personalize prices for different customer groups; and
• take into account competitor pricing.

Key takeaway: By 2025, online retailers’ pricing strategies will need to become more flexible, using data and personalization to adjust prices dynamically. Whether based on individual customer profiles, competitor activity, or market demand, the prices are going to change constantly to ensure competitiveness and maximize sales.

Omnichannel approach

In 2025, online retailers will need to meet customers where they are. This includes browsing online, shopping through an app, or even visiting a physical store.

The option to “buy online, pick up in-store” will increase in popularity. So will the option to return an item purchased online in any physical store.

Many shoppers browse online, but aren’t certain about their purchase decision until they’ve seen (or touched) the product in-person. Having physical stores or showrooms where they can do this, while still offering the convenience of online ordering, is a competitive advantage that will distinguish online retailers.

Successful retailers will also use data collected across different channels to personalize the shopping experience. If a customer browses certain items online, they might receive recommendations or discounts based on that behavior when they visit a store or open an app. This makes shopping feel more tailored to individual preferences and encourages more sales.

Key takeaway: Omnichannel experience provides customers with flexibility and convenience, allowing them to shop seamlessly across different platforms. By integrating online and offline touchpoints, retailers can create a more personalized, accessible shopping journey. This leads to higher customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, increased sales.

Environmentally sustainable eCommerce practices

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a person who says sustainability doesn’t matter to them.

However, when we look at data according to age groups, we get a clearer picture of who it is really important to. And more importantly – who is willing to pay more in order to support sustainable practices.

Gen Z (people born after 1997) is, generationally speaking, the most interested generation in supporting sustainable practices. Furthermore, they influence their parents (the “Gen X-ers”), so that they are more environmentally aware, too. To some extent this effect is applicable for Gen X and their parents.

Besides the consumer sentiment, there’s another important factor to consider – the laws and regulations. Across the world there’s an increasing pressure on businesses (not just eCommerce in this case) to operate according to new standards of sustainability.

While reading this section, you could be wondering what does sustainability mean in practice? For eCommerce businesses it means:

• Using eco-friendly packaging
• Shipping methods with low carbon emissions
• Sustainable supply chain practices
• Becoming a part of circular economy
• Earning sustainability certifications and labels
• Selling sustainable products

Key takeaway: Consumers are increasingly willing to spend more money with an eCommerce business that has implemented sustainable practices in their operations. It is something that can help you differentiate your business from the competition. Furthermore, depending on where you are doing business, some regulations may require you to implement some of these practices.

Subscriptions in eCommerce

In eCommerce there are three popular subscription models:

• Replenishment subscription model;
• Access subscription model; and
• Curation subscription model.

Let’s take a quick look at each of them and see what they entail.

Replenishment subscription model

One way subscription in eCommerce works is by sending a collection of products at regular intervals to your customers for a recurring fee. 

For example, take men’s grooming products. There are numerous brands that send their customers monthly packages of goods that will replenish their stock. We are talking about disposable razors, shaving creams, after-shave gels, and similar products.

This is an example of a replenishment subscription model in eCommerce.

Access subscription model

Another way of implementing subscriptions in eCommerce is by having an elevated tier of accounts with certain benefits. The benefits usually included in such an eCommerce subscription model are:

• Shorter delivery times
• Discounts
• Exclusive offers
• Members-only content
• Early access to products

This is an example of an access subscription model in eCommerce.

Curation subscription model

A third approach to subscription in eCommerce is to bundle and personalize (going back to our first two points) a set of products, usually at a discount.

To make it more clear, let’s look at an example. A cosmetics brand might offer a subscription where customers receive their favorite skincare products, such as moisturizer or cleanser, every month or every two months, based on their usage patterns.

The model benefits both customers and retailers. Customers don’t have to worry about running out of products, and they often receive discounts or exclusive offers for subscribing. For the retailer, it provides steady, predictable revenue and an opportunity to build long-term customer loyalty by ensuring customers continually use their products.

This is an example of a curation subscription model in eCommerce.

Advantages of subscription models

With margins becoming increasingly thinner, online retailers will have to find other ways of driving revenue and nurturing customer relationships.

One of the ways to do this is through subscriptions. Loyal customers become a source of a stable long-term resource of recurring revenue. These models help increase customer lifetime value (CLV) significantly compared to the regular eCommerce pricing models.

Key takeaway: Focus on personalization and convenience. Customers expect tailored experiences. offering flexible subscription options based on their needs, preferences, and purchasing behavior will be crucial. Use subscriptions to nurture long-term relationships with your customers.

Increasing influence of user-generated content (UGC)

User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content created by your customers. 

UGC has many different forms from text and image to video and audio. However, beyond technicality, it’s perhaps more important what kind of content it actually is. 

What you want are positive reviews, images and videos of people using your products, or even audio testimonials from happy customers.

Why?

Let’s take a look at reviews. Reviews are the most common form of UGC. It’s a trusted source of information for consumers, as the information is left by their peers. Beyond written reviews, customers may leave video or audio reviews of a certain product.

With an abrupt emergence of AI technologies, genuine human opinion is becoming increasingly valuable. Getting positive reviews from your customers is where your customer service will play a vital role. The thing is, customers are more likely to leave a review when they have a negative experience with a product. Positive experiences are somewhat expected, as that’s what they give their money to you in the first place.

This is why exceeding expectations will become a norm for growth in 2025.

Also, UGC is especially powerful when combined with social commerce, which we talked about above. Combining these two methods allows you to reach more potential customers and differentiate your brand among the competitors.

Key takeaway: User opinions are a much more trusted source of information when it comes to purchasing decisions than your brand’s messaging. Experiment with ways to exceed your customers’ expectations. Satisfied customers who are evangelists of your brand are the most powerful method of marketing.

Augmented reality (AR) removes the friction from the purchasing process

From makeup to buying new paint for your apartment – Augmented Reality (AR) is slowly infiltrating into every purchase we make. Or at least the ones where aesthetics matter. 

What would a vase you have been interested in for some time look like on your table? Direct your phone at the table and find out! 

This trend goes hand-in-hand with the further cementing of the mobile dominance in eCommerce. 

Additionally, as we have already seen, personalization is going to play an important role in 2025 when it comes to driving purchases. AR can be utilized in such a way to help create a personalized shopping experience that is difficult to match.

For example, let’s say you sell sneakers. With AR you could potentially let your customers design their own shoes and see how they would fit. From changing colors and textures on a sneaker to matching it with different outfits—with AR your customers will be able to do it all.

This is why, when it comes to bridging the gap between physical and digital shopping AR will play a crucial role.

The only primary downside of AR is that it’s costly to implement. And if not implemented properly, it may be for the better of everyone that it’s not implemented at all. 

Key takeaway: In 2025 and the years to come AR will stop being a niche feature in eCommerce. It will redefine customer engagement and the way purchasing decisions are made.

Conclusion

We have seen that many of these eCommerce trends for 2025 interact with each other. It is difficult to separate social commerce from user-generated content. Same goes for personalization, AI, and dynamic pricing.

This is how you should think of them, too—in an integrated way.

Combine different technologies and techniques in order to meet your customers where they spend most of their time on and exceed their expectations.

To us, it seems that convenience and prices will be the driving decision making factors when it comes to purchasing in 2025.