Nine in ten retailers globally are planning to raise their spending on artificial intelligence (AI) to optimise their e-commerce operations over the next 12 to 24 months, with online delivery execution a key area of focus.
That’s a key statistic from research released on 4 February 2026, which suggests retailers view AI as a key lever to drive growth and succeed in a competitive market. A total of 38% of European retailers identify speed, tracking and proactive communication around the delivery process as areas where AI can deliver the greatest impact.
The report by Retail Economics, on behalf of delivery platform Metapack, which was launched to coincide with the tech company’s annual The Delivery Conference (TDC) in London, shows retailers with a turnover of £500m or more are more likely to point to skills gaps and the complexity of integrating AI with legacy systems (54%) as a challenge to AI adoption.
Smaller retailers, with a turnover of under £100m, cite high development costs (35%) and data security or compliance concerns as a notable barrier to using AI.
Alongside the 400-strong retailer study, the Ecommerce delivery benchmark report 2026 also surveyed 8,000 consumers about their use of AI.
It found that globally, 78% of shoppers used AI tools such as ChatGPT in the past year, rising to 93% among those under the age of 35. Some 30% of adults are open to AI acting as a personal shopping agent, recommending products, checking delivery and returns options, and even making certain purchases on their behalf once preferences are set.
By 2030, 48% of shoppers expect AI to act as a helpful assistant across the shopping journey, while a further quarter of shoppers anticipate it evolving into a trusted co-shopper that automates some decisions. Retailers such as JD Sports and Etsy, in the US, have developed tech integrations and started allowing shoppers to transact directly through AI platforms, in recognition of the rising traffic volumes on these channels.
Indeed, the delivery benchmark report argued that AI-based platforms are emerging as a major retail channel, generating 50.2 million monthly shopping-intent visits in the UK, which ranks it alongside the biggest e-commerce sites.
Which AI shopper persona are you?
Retailers and brands are always keen to improve the digital customer experience (CX), and senior leaders in the industry regularly talk up the importance of placing the shopper at the heart of strategy.
For example, New Look CEO Helen Connolly said of the appointment of retail director Mark Matthews in December 2025 that he brings “a customer-first mindset”. US department store chain Bloomingdale’s hired Kirsten Miller as chief technology officer in January, and the new recruit notice posted online said she was joining a team with a “customer first, always” mentality.
If retailers adopting this approach are true to their word, they’re going to need to get to grips with what an AI-enabled customer means for their business.
The Ecommerce delivery benchmarkreport identifies four distinct AI-driven shopper personas, reflecting the various ways consumers are adopting AI when shopping.
It said there are “AI delegators” (17% of shoppers), who are affluent, time-poor shoppers, more often than not millennials, who are comfortable letting AI take the lead for product discovery, comparison and purchasing, to save time and effort.
On the flip side, there are “AI sceptics” (23%), who are cost-focused shoppers who make limited use of this new technology, prioritise low delivery prices over speed or innovation, and stick with what is familiar to them in the shopping process.
The most common types of new-age shoppers, though, are either “AI collaborators” or “AI selectors”. Each representing 30% of today’s shoppers, the former is a young, digitally savvy consumer who uses AI frequently as a trusted co-shopper while retaining final control themselves, while the latter is typically older and uses AI occasionally for information or reassurance.
The report notes that retailers looking to AI to identify speed, tracking and proactive communication around the delivery process will likely have the most success in appealing to the delegator persona.
What is the retail community saying about AI?
Retailers and companies operating in the online delivery ecosystem took to the stage on 3 February 2026 for this year’s TDC, where AI was a hot topic. They shared how it is being deployed in multiple ways to support their efforts in improving service levels and efficiency.
The Cheeky Panda’s co-founder, Chris Forbes, told a tale of Covid times when big orders for his business’s core loo roll product came in and initial excitement at the “big deals” was tempered because the company inadvertently ended up taking stock away from existing customers. He spoke about the importance of retailers ensuring “continuous delivery”, especially for organisations in the early stages of their growth journeys.
“In delivery and fulfilment, you have to ringfence your stockholding so you don’t get too excited when you get big deals – it’s all about continuous delivery.
“Nowadays, we use AI in our stock management systems to ringfence it, so we don’t actually need to over-manage it and over-analyse it on a regular basis. We’ve got controls and limits set up, so it makes it a lot easier.”
Kristian Tottermar, logistics network strategic lead at H&M, didn’t talk about AI specifically, but underlined the importance of holistic supply chain investment to ensure successful delivery.
“We don’t talk about investing purely for delivery,” he commented. “If you optimise your supply chain – [for example, by making it] more transparent or optimising the end-to-end flow – that will enable you to have better availability and delivery.”
Tobias Buxhoidt, founder and CEO of parcelLab, said: “When I think about what AI will do – yes, it will make all of our lives easier – the first thing that will happen is it will dramatically change how customer acquisition works.”
I don’t see a world where AI isn’t taking over a large share of the traditional [customer] acquisition channels we know today Tobias Buxhoidt, parcelLab
Reflecting on the growing number of people using AI to search for products or gain information about brands, as referenced in the benchmark research, he remarked: “This becomes crazily convenient for the customers. It’s not the same for all brands and markets, but this will become a major customer acquisition channel, and it’ll be undifferentiated for brands as they cannot control the acquisition anymore.”
Buxhoidt added that the focus for retailers needs to be on retention and putting services and tactics in place that keep customers coming back, “because the acquisition is going to get so damn hard”.
“I don’t see a world where AI isn’t taking over a large share of the traditional acquisition channels we know today,” he warned.
Buxhoidt argued that when it comes to retail returns management online, AI could help interactions between business and customer become more conversational. Early-stage chatbots have not delivered what consumers need, but the tech entrepreneur said AI-powered online conversational commerce has the potential to help tailor conversations to the moment rather than simply follow a pre-designated path.
Aura Hita Losa, lead on conversational AI at Swiss trainer brand On, said that if AI is used in this area, it needs to solve problems, not simply present further information and content to the customer.
“Imagine you put your founder on the phone to deliver [the customer exchange]. He or she would always have the right thing to say or to do,” she noted. “When customers reach out, they don’t want information – they want a solution, and they want you to act.”
Losa suggested retailers and brands need to use the latest technology, analytics and insights software to become better at remembering customers’ previous problems, so that when they present themselves at customer service – with a complaint or a query, for example – they can be better served.
One could argue that real-life humans can provide the necessary services to deal with these exchanges, but retailers and brands are increasingly looking to technology and AI to take on much of this workload.
Indeed, the conference had earlier kicked off with a debate about AI, human value and retail, between TV celebrity and retail creative Mary Portas and Google DeepMind product management developer Arka Dhar, hosted by Al Ko, CEO of tech company Auctane.
Portas argued that AI needs to be used to make people “more human”, suggesting this as an area where it can have a powerful impact.
Dhar said AI will likely have a strong role to play in helping frontline staff gather comprehensive product information, with AI agents providing some of the prompt questions that will help store staff become more adept at problem-solving for their customers.
He suggested there are still major hurdles to overcome in getting AI to think and act like a particular brand and in getting data management to a level, internally, that will optimise use of the technology.
Richard Lim, CEO of Retail Economics, says: “AI is reshaping retail strategy, not just the CX. Retailers clearly see the potential across conversion, delivery and CX, and consumers are increasingly comfortable with AI playing a role in how they shop. In 2026, the focus shifts from experimentation to execution, where success will be shaped by how effectively retailers can embed AI into their data, systems and everyday operations.”
