Key Takeaways:
- Nearly one in three shoppers say they’d let artificial intelligence make buying decisions within five years, led by Gen Z and millennials, according to DHL’s 2026 E-Commerce Trends Report.
- More than half of consumers have sold an item on an online marketplace, and 45% now buy secondhand or refurbished goods for sustainability reasons.
- Sixty-two percent of shoppers abandon a cart when their preferred payment method isn’t offered, but only 45% of businesses identify payment choice as a major cause of lost sales.
Online retail in 2026 looks different than it did even two years ago. Shoppers are letting algorithms narrow their choices, selling their own secondhand goods alongside professional retailers and walking away from checkouts that don’t offer the payment option they expect. DHL’s 2026 E-Commerce Trends Report, based on surveys of 29,000 shoppers and 5,800 businesses across 29 countries, documents three shifts that are forcing sellers to rethink how they compete: the rise of AI-assisted buying, the mainstreaming of consumer-to-consumer resale and a widening gap between what shoppers expect at checkout and what businesses actually deliver.
Is AI Starting To Make Buying Decisions For Shoppers?
Generative AI is moving from a customer service add-on to a factor in the purchase decision itself. According to the DHL report, 29% of shoppers globally say they would be willing to let AI make shopping decisions or purchases for them within the next five years, rising to 33% among Gen Z and 36% among millennials. Adoption is already underway: 31% of shoppers report using AI-powered chat tools every time they shop or often, and that share rises to 43% among Gen Z shoppers.
Businesses are moving in the same direction, though not always at the same pace. Seventy-three percent of companies surveyed expect to use generative AI more heavily over the next five years, and 67% already use some form of AI across their e-commerce platforms, rising to 91% in the United Arab Emirates and 88% in Malaysia. Yet trust is still a sticking point. Nearly half of shoppers (48%) cite privacy and trust concerns tied to AI, and the report finds that 58% of both shoppers and businesses rank privacy, trust, and security as their top concern about the technology.
Is Secondhand Shopping Becoming A Core Part Of E-Commerce?
The line between buyer and seller is narrowing. DHL’s report found that 52% of consumers have sold an item on an online marketplace, rising to 62% among millennials and 58% among Gen Z, while Baby Boomers trail at 35%. Europe leads globally in consumer-to-consumer selling, with 57% of shoppers there reporting marketplace sales.
Sustainability is a primary driver. Forty-five percent of shoppers say they buy secondhand or refurbished items specifically for sustainability reasons, and another 15% say they would consider doing so in the future. DHL eCommerce and Applied Futurist Tom Cheesewright projected that three-quarters of adults will recycle furniture, fashion, and tech through marketplaces within the next decade. For sellers, that trend creates a new kind of competitor: the consumer, who increasingly functions as both customer and rival.
Sustainability expectations go beyond resale. Forty-two percent of shoppers expect sustainable logistics to be the standard within five years, up from today’s baseline, where the practice is still often treated as a differentiator rather than a requirement.
Why Is Checkout Still Where Sales Die?
Even when a shopper is ready to buy, delivery and payment friction can end the transaction. Twenty percent of shoppers say faster delivery would encourage them to complete a purchase, while 30% now prefer out-of-home delivery locations such as lockers or pickup points that fit busier schedules. DHL’s broader report data shows that 72% of shoppers still receive deliveries at home, but nearly three in ten now redirect parcels to out-of-home locations, a share that approaches one in two among European shoppers.
Payment choice carries even more weight at the final step. Sixty-two percent of shoppers say they will abandon a purchase immediately if their preferred payment method isn’t available, yet only 45% of businesses recognize this as a leading cause of cart abandonment, according to the report. That 17-point gap mirrors a wider theme DHL’s researchers identified across categories: businesses tend to underestimate how much operational friction, not price, drives shoppers away at the final step.
What Should Sellers Take From These Trends?
DHL’s report frames 2026 as a year when the advantage goes to businesses that close the gap between what shoppers expect and what they actually experience. That means testing AI tools where shoppers already trust them, such as personalization and customer service, rather than assuming adoption will happen on its own. It means treating resale and refurbished offerings as a growth channel, not a side effort.
It also means auditing checkout flows for the payment and delivery options that specific markets and demographics expect, since DHL’s data shows those expectations vary by generation and region. Sellers who track these shifts, rather than reacting to them months later, are positioned to keep pace with where DHL’s research indicates shoppers are already headed.