While the retail industry has made steady progress in unified commerce maturity since 2023, only 7% of retailers have achieved true unified commerce leadership while 33% are still stuck in the basic category, as outlined in Manhattan Associates’ 2026 Global Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail, conducted by Incisiv. Meanwhile, leaders are translating connected, data‑driven yet customer-centric experiences into nearly 2 times higher growth rates than their basic peers.
“Retailers are being asked to do something incredibly hard right now: deliver faster, more personalized experiences while also protecting margin,” says Katie Foote, SVP and CMO, Manhattan Associates. “What this benchmark makes clear is that the retailers pulling ahead are not doing it with one standout channel or a single capability. They are doing it by reimagining the entire customer journey and connecting the business end to end, from shopping and checkout to fulfillment and service.”
Key takeaways:
- AI in retail is projected to unlock more than $500 billion in value globally by 2030, shifting the focus from simple task automation to intelligent systems that anticipate demand, personalize in real time and resolve friction before customers encounter it. AI shopping assistants, predictive fulfillment, in‑store personalization and intelligent cross‑channel support with context‑aware escalation are defining the new frontier.
- More than 66% of consumers now use two or more channels before completing a purchase, moving fluidly between marketplaces, social platforms, messaging apps and retailers’ own sites and stores.
- Global logistics and fulfillment costs have risen by over 20% in the last three years, as customers expect faster delivery, flexible fulfillment and seamless service as standard.
- Real‑time visibility and dynamic allocation drive significantly higher inventory turns – 50% in NOAM, 45% in EMEA and 27% in LATAM – helping reduce stockouts and markdowns.
- 38% of the capabilities that differentiated leaders in 2024 have become table stakes by 2026, including basic real‑time inventory visibility, digital wallets and cross‑channel support.
