Consumer behavior keeps changing, and retailers have to keep adapting. Shoppers move between marketplaces, social platforms, and retailers’ own websites as easily as they move between apps, and they expect every one of those experiences to be convenient.

This guide looks at how retailers are responding, using findings from Linnworks’ State of Commerce Ops 2026 report, a survey of 500 mid-market retailers in the US and UK. It covers where retailers are investing, how they’re controlling fulfillment, and what separates the operations that grow from those that stall.

How consumer behavior is changing

Shopping no longer happens in one place. Consumers research on marketplaces, discover products on social platforms, and buy from whichever channel is most convenient at the moment. Your presence on marketplaces, social media, and your own website is all part of your brand.

Retailers have already followed. In the State of Commerce Ops 2026 report, the average mid-market retailer sold on more than four marketplaces or channels (4.15 in the UK and 4.25 in the US). Selling across channels is now the norm, not an expansion strategy.

What do shoppers expect from those channels? Convenience above all: easy checkout, flexible payment options, and clear, flexible delivery. The rest of this guide covers how retailers respond.

Two challenges: stay connected and stay in control

Meeting shoppers where they are comes down to two jobs that have to work together:

• Stay connected to customers across channels. Map the customer journey from discovery to purchase, delivery, and returns, and find where friction creeps in.
• Stay in control of the operation behind them. Set up the back end, including inventory, orders, listings, and fulfillment, so it can keep up as channels and volume grow.

The second job is where many retailers struggle. In the same report, only about a third of retailers (33.2% in the UK and 37.2% in the US) reported excellent inventory visibility across channels and warehouses, and around a third cited data accuracy and visibility as a challenge. Adding sales channels without a way to see and control stock in one place is how overselling, delays, and unhappy customers start.

Where retailers are investing: automation and AI

Retailers aren’t trying to keep up by adding headcount. In the report, staffing shortages ranked lower as a growth constraint than in previous years, reflecting a growing recognition that growing through headcount alone is neither efficient nor sustainable.

Instead, they’re investing in automation and AI:

• Around 65% of UK retailers and 60% of US retailers described their operations as majority or highly automated.
• Fewer than 5% of retailers in either market reported no AI usage at all, and customer support is the most established use, with 61% of US and 55% of UK retailers using AI-powered chatbots or automated support tools.
• Retailers with higher levels of automation were significantly more likely to report strong growth, while those with limited or no AI use were over-represented among those reporting constrained or fragile growth.

The pattern holds in both markets: growth increasingly depends on how effectively a retailer manages complexity. A centralized platform that gives a single view of the whole business, plus automation of routine processes early on, is how retailers keep the customer experience steady as they grow.

Control the fulfillment journey

A smooth customer journey depends just as much on the journey of the products themselves. Logistics has moved from a back-office function to a strategic capability: in the report, around 40% of retailers cited shipping cost inflation as a top fulfillment challenge, and more than a third struggled to manage delivery times.

No retailer controls the global supply chain, but every retailer can reduce its impact. The report found that high-performing retailers were more likely to:

• Diversify carriers, so one disruption doesn’t stop the business
• Work with 3PL partners to extend fulfillment reach and manage regional complexity
• Automate tax, duty, and shipping calculations for cross-border sales
• Rely on platform integrations to centralize inventory and orders

Two long-standing practices still matter alongside those: holding an inventory buffer, using a method such as the safety stock formula, and telling customers early about stock shortages and delays.

In 2026, resilience, not raw speed, is what separates strong fulfillment operations. For more, see our guides to retail supply chain management, preventing shipping delays, and the most common shipping problems.

Respond to new consumer values

Customer experience also includes what customers care about, and sustainability matters to a growing share of them. In PwC’s 2024 Voice of the Consumer Survey, consumers said they’d pay an average 9.7% premium for sustainably produced or sourced goods.

That makes credibility essential. “Greenwashing” means making sustainability claims that sound meaningful but deliver little, and it’s increasingly a legal risk as well as a reputational one. In the EU, for example, the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive bans generic environmental claims such as “eco-friendly” unless they can be substantiated. Back up what you say with real practices: sustainable sourcing, less packaging, and partners who share your goals.

How ready is your operation?

Use these questions to see where you stand:

• Can you see accurate stock levels across every channel and warehouse at any moment?
• Are your routine processes, such as stock updates, order routing, and shipping labels, automated?
• Do you have more than one carrier and a plan for disruption?
• Do you hold a buffer for your best sellers, and know how it’s calculated?
• Can you tell customers early about delays or shortages?
• Can your systems add a new channel without rebuilding your process?

If the answer to several is no, those are the places to invest first.

Putting it together

The past few years permanently changed what shoppers expect, and the retailers that thrive are the ones that treat operations as part of the customer experience. They add channels with a way to control them, automate early, and build resilience into fulfillment, so they can keep service levels steady as they grow.

Linnworks helps retailers do that: with inventory management and 100+ native channel integrations in one place, and stock sync in under 10 minutes. Request a demo to see how it works.