Looking Back​

2025 was largely characterized by experimentation as organizations dabbled with AI but fell short of true, production-grade deployments with measurable business impact. A 2025 MIT report on AI project success rates reflects this reality. It revealed 95% of generative AI pilots are failing and falling short. ​

While the market saw an abundance of proofs of concept, pilots and exploratory initiatives, meaningful scale was the exception, not the rule. The question must now become: If 2025 was the year of exploration, is 2026 the year of execution?​

The Current Landscape​

When thinking about new enterprise technology, there are two questions I always ask myself: How are customer behaviors changing? And what is driving these shifts in behavior? ​

To address these questions, it’s important to first understand how the digital landscape is impacting customer expectations. Three fundamental shifts are occurring. First, it’s not just what people buy, but why and how they make decisions. Second, AI is evolving into a front-line customer-facing experience, impacting everything from personalization to service and loyalty. Third, there’s a strong demand for immediacy, and customer service is evolving into a proactive, continuous experience that defines the brand. ​

With those shifts in mind, let’s look at five key trends that should make every business leader totally rethink their customer acquisition and retention strategies.​

1. Cost of acquisition has increased across most e-commerce sectors. As traditional digital channels become more saturated, brands are paying more than ever to capture consumer attention—and it’s barely working. ​

2. Conversion has flatlined, despite a huge spike in online traffic. The average conversion rate of e-commerce sites sits at 1.8%, a figure that reflects the compounding pressures of rising acquisition costs, fragmented consumer attention across devices and channels, and ongoing economic uncertainty.​

3. The “trade-down” effect is apparent as customers seek value in an uncertain economy. This is something I've seen firsthand in my role and across the industry. This shift is eroding long-standing brand loyalty, with consumers across markets purchasing different brands and changing preferences.​

4. Touchpoints are now highly variable, as customer journeys are more fragmented than ever. Marketers are engaging customers across multiple channels, yet this proliferation has created disjointed technology ecosystems that make it nearly impossible to unify touchpoints, automate journey mapping and update experiences in real time.​

5. Travel has been an exception to cutbacks, as many customers are prioritizing experiences. Customers are increasingly choosing to invest in memories, signaling a fundamental shift in how value is defined in a post-pandemic economy that brands outside of hospitality and travel should take note of.​

Spending Psychology​

With these trends top-of-mind, consumer spending behavior is inherently affected. With inflationary pressures, tariff-driven price increases, geopolitical uncertainty and rising fuel costs weighing on household budgets, customers are becoming more deliberate and value-conscious in their purchasing decisions.​

At the same time, AI is proving it can meaningfully support the service experience without compromising customer satisfaction and give organizations greater confidence to deploy intelligent, agentic solutions at scale. This is a critical inflection point for both customer service and agentic commerce.​

Most significantly, consumers are increasingly turning to large language models (LLMs) to inform and guide their purchase decisions. Unlike a traditional browser, an LLM has the ability to continuously learn about the individual consumer—their preferences, behaviors and needs—creating a more personalized and contextually relevant experience over time. ​

As that trust builds, the incentive to complete purchases directly within the LLM environment grows, and I believe customers will find increasing value in how easy it is to shop that way.​

The Time Is Now​

As preparation for the second half of the year gets underway, it’s equally important to consider the trajectory your organization needs to be on for long-term success. Short-term execution will matter, but the foundations you build now—your data maturity, AI readiness, operational agility and talent strategy—will determine whether you can compete in 2027, 2028 and beyond.​

Ask yourself: What capabilities, systems and partnerships must be in place for your organization to thrive three years from now? The companies that answer that question early and prepare now may be better positioned for any potential disruptions in the future.​​

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