Marketplace shoppers in 2026: New expectations, new behavior

In this webinar, host Matt Tomaszewski from ChannelEngine was joined by Alexander Brauer from Versuni, Alex Timlin from SAP, and Jorrit Steinz, CEO of ChannelEngine, to unpack how marketplace shopping behavior is changing in 2026 and what brands need to do to keep up.

Drawing on insights from ChannelEngine’s 2026 Shopping Behavior Report, the discussion explored how shoppers discover products, compare options across channels, build trust, and increasingly use AI in the buying journey.

Quick takeaway

The discussion revealed a clear shift in shopper behavior. Marketplaces remain the leading place to start product discovery, but the path to purchase is becoming more fragmented across search, social commerce, retail media, and AI-powered tools. For brands, winning in 2026 means building a strong operational foundation, maintaining consistent product and pricing data, and staying agile enough to test and scale across emerging channels.

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Top 5 takeaways from the webinar

1. Marketplaces still lead discovery, but shopper journeys are fragmenting

Marketplace discovery is still dominant. According to the ChannelEngine Shopping Behavior Report, 37% of shoppers still begin their product search on marketplaces, ahead of brand websites and traditional search.

However, the path to purchase is no longer straightforward. Today’s shoppers move across multiple platforms before making a decision.

As Alex Brauer, Global Platform Lead at Versuni, explained during the webinar:

“A few years ago, in many geographies the shopper journey was almost split between Google and Amazon. Now you have social commerce in the upper funnel, and you have AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity entering the journey. That fundamentally changed how people discover products.”

Alex Brauer,
Global Platform Lead at Versuni

This shift means brands can no longer rely on a single discovery channel. To stay competitive, ecommerce teams must ensure their products are visible and consistent across marketplaces, search platforms, social commerce environments, and emerging AI-driven discovery tools.

In practice, that means maintaining accurate product data, consistent listings, and synchronized inventory across multiple platforms, so shoppers encounter the same reliable experience wherever they research your products.

2. Shoppers compare more than ever, so consistency matters

One of the strongest findings from the report is that shoppers are comparing the same product across three or more marketplaces before buying. They are checking price, shipping speed, stock availability, return options, and product detail quality. That creates a new standard for ecommerce teams.

“The biggest challenge is not wanting to be where customers are. The challenge is making sure your product data is in the right format, your listings are correct, and your pricing is right.”

Alex Timlin,
Chief CRM and Customer Experience Expert at SAP

That does not mean every marketplace has to be identical in every detail, but the fundamentals must stay aligned:

• Product titles and descriptions
• Key attributes and specifications
• Pricing guardrails
• Inventory availability
• Delivery promises
• Returns information
  
  

When shoppers compare across channels, inconsistency becomes visible fast. And when it does, competitors benefit.

3. Social commerce is growing, but it plays by different rules

Social commerce, especially TikTok Shop, is becoming an important part of the channel mix. But the panel made it clear that it should not be treated as a copy-and-paste extension of traditional marketplace strategy.

Success in social commerce is far more content-driven. Strong product listings alone are not enough. Brands need creative, native content that fits the platform and resonates with the audience.

For some categories, such as beauty, fashion, and wellness, that model is already driving strong momentum. For more complex or less visually driven categories like electronics or home appliances, social commerce may play a more hybrid role, blending commerce, awareness, and audience development.

“We see TikTok as a marketing commerce hybrid. The sale might not always happen there, but it helps us engage with an audience that is difficult to reach on traditional channels.”

Alex Brauer,
Global Platform Lead at Versuni

The practical takeaway is simple: do not assume your team already has the skills needed to win on social commerce. Many brands still keep social, ecommerce, and marketplace functions separate. The webinar panel highlighted this as a major barrier to growth. Integrated teams tend to move faster and perform better.

4. AI is changing product discovery before it changes checkout

AI shopping is generating a lot of attention, and for good reason. More shoppers are using tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to research and compare products. But the panel made an important distinction: AI is currently more of a discovery layer than a fully mature commerce channel.

“A lot of consumers are already using tools like ChatGPT or Gemini for product research. The checkout part is still early, but discovery is already happening.”

Jorrit Steinz,
CEO & Founder of ChannelEngine

In the near term, brands should focus less on AI checkout hype and more on AI discoverability readiness. That means:

• Creating richer product content
• Answering common shopper questions clearly
• Expanding structured product attributes
• Building review volume and review quality
• Ensuring content is available across brand sites and marketplaces
  
  

If a shopper asks an AI assistant whether a product is dishwasher safe, compatible with a certain use case, or better than a competitor, the brands that surface best will usually be the brands with the clearest, richest, most widely available product information.

The panel also noted that many AI commerce experiences are still early. Integrations are limited, checkout flows are still being tested, and merchant access is not yet widespread. But the direction is clear. Brands that improve product content now will be in a stronger position as AI commerce matures.

5. Operational excellence is what makes channel growth sustainable

A recurring theme throughout the webinar was that expansion only works when the operational foundation is solid.

It is easy to get excited about new marketplaces, social commerce, or agentic shopping. It is much harder to manage:

• Different marketplace content requirements
• Regional pricing strategies
• Inventory sync across channels
• Marketplace service-level agreements
• Returns and fulfillment expectations
• Buy box competitiveness
• Brand consistency at scale
  
  

“Testing new channels should not be a bottleneck. You should be able to try a new marketplace, see if it matches your audience, and remove it again without a big investment.”

Jorrit Steinz,
CEO & Founder of ChannelEngine

Brands do not need to launch on 30 marketplaces at once. They need a repeatable framework for product data, pricing, fulfillment, and experimentation. Once that foundation is in place, testing new channels becomes much less risky.

Best practices and key learnings

1. Choose channels based on fit, not hype

Not every new channel deserves immediate investment. The right decision depends on category fit, audience match, operational maturity, and the brand experience the platform can support.

Several panelists emphasized that brands should evaluate channels based on questions like:

• Does this channel reach the right customer demographic?
• Can we present our brand properly here?
• Can we meet the platform’s operational requirements?
• Does this channel offer incremental growth, or just channel shift?
  
  

2. Treat pricing as a trust lever, not just a sales lever

Price remains one of the strongest factors influencing purchase decisions, but lower is not always better. Marketplace pricing affects not only conversion but also perceived trust, profitability, and partner relationships. The webinar highlighted the importance of balancing:

• Consistency across channels
• Regional pricing realities
• Promotional flexibility
• Marketplace ranking dynamics
• Margin protection
  
  

A thoughtful pricing strategy can improve both shopper trust and long-term performance.

3. Build for agility across marketplaces, social, and AI

The brands best prepared for 2026 are not necessarily the ones on the most channels. They are the ones with the best framework for entering and exiting channels efficiently.

That requires strong product experience management, clear ownership across teams, and systems that support rapid changes without introducing errors. Agility is no longer optional. It is becoming a core competitive advantage.

4. Break down silos between teams

One of the most practical lessons from the conversation was organizational. Social commerce often sits with marketing, marketplaces sit with ecommerce, and customer experience sits somewhere else entirely.

But shoppers do not experience brands in silos. They experience one brand across many touchpoints.

That means ecommerce, marketplace, marketing, and operations teams need shared goals, shared visibility, and shared accountability. Without that alignment, even strong channel strategies struggle to deliver.

5. Focus on the full value package

Shoppers do not judge products on price alone. They are evaluating the full value package:

• Price
• Shipping speed
• Product availability
• Product variety
• Ratings and reviews
• Return experience
• Trust in the seller
  
  

Winning brands are the ones that optimize the whole package, not just one variable.

Final thoughts

The ecommerce landscape in 2026 is defined by increasing complexity. Shoppers are discovering products across more touchpoints, comparing options across multiple marketplaces, and relying on new tools like AI to guide their decisions.

Success no longer depends on dominating a single channel. Instead, brands must build the systems and processes that allow them to manage product data, customer interactions, and sales across many platforms simultaneously.

“Where the sale comes from becomes less important when you have the right framework for managing product data, customer data, and sales across channels.”

Alex Timlin,
Chief CRM and Customer Experience Expert at SAP

For B2B ecommerce leaders and marketplace managers, the priority is clear. Build a scalable foundation, maintain consistent product information across channels, and stay agile enough to adapt as new discovery and commerce platforms emerge.

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