A study by agentic AI commerce platform Salsify noted 21% of retail sales globally will come from e-commerce in the 2026, and consumers will shop more carefully due concerns about macroeconomic developments, including global trade.
In a poll of consumers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, 39% of respondents said they are comparison shopping more before purchasing due to big-picture concerns. Salsify reported 38% of respondents said they’re reducing overall spending in certain product categories, 37% said they were seeking lower-priced alternatives regardless of origin, 33% said they were prioritizing domestically made products more than before, 27% said they were delaying non-essential purchasing and 20% said they were doing more second hand shopping.
Tariffs and macroeconomic factors are pushing down shopping frequency online, Salsify pointed out. Daily online shopping has slipped 12 points year over year, with only 9% of consumers doing so. However, on average, 10% to 12% of GenZers, Millennials and GenXers shop daily versus 2% of Baby Boomers. The proportion of consumers shopping once a week slipped slightly, just one point year over year to 21%, yet the proportion reporting shopping once per month gained eight points to 21%, according to Salsify.
