Today, brands must develop essential strategy for an era where AI agents shop for us, but human connection drives the experience.

In Commerce, the traditional path to purchase is vanishing. Fatigued by rising costs yet hungry for joy, consumers are rewriting the rules of value. Meanwhile, AI is evolving from a search tool into an autonomous shopping agent, forcing brands to earn trust with algorithms as well as humans. In this new landscape, simply meeting customer needs is no longer enough to win. How do you capture attention when the interface itself disappears?

Our "Future 100: 2026" vertical cut on the top 10 trends in Commerce is your guide to winning in this new era. Navigating the dual forces of automation and humanity, these critical trends are reshaping commerce, from marketing to machine agents to creating unforgettable physical experiences. Our Commerce vertical cut helps you build a brand that anticipates intent, operates with radical honesty, and masters the art of selling to the heart in an automated world.

Top trends in Commerce from our Future 100 report include:

Reality interface 01

#16: The reality interface

As commerce moves from screens to voice and gesture, discovery shifts from browsing to asking. Brands must design for intent-led interactions, earning trust in moments where consumer choice is compressed and visibility is limited.

Treatonomics 01

#61: Treatonomics

In a cost-constrained world, consumers are reallocating spend toward small, joy-inducing rewards. This emotional economy pushes brands to compete on delight and affordable moments of indulgence, not just price. 

Acommerce 03

#68: Acommerce

Commerce is shifting from persuasion to eligibility. As AI agents browse, compare and purchase on consumers’ behalf, your product data and value signals must be legible and trusted by machines.

Download our 2026 Future 100 Commerce vertical cut here:

Acommerce, or agentic commerce, is an era where AI agents autonomously browse, negotiate, and purchase on behalf of consumers. It's critical because it shifts marketing focus from persuading humans to ensuring your products are eligible, legible, and trusted by the algorithms making the decisions.

As transactions become invisible, physical retail becomes more visceral and experiential. Next-gen malls and Ephemeral retail concepts are transforming stores into cultural ecosystems focused on wellness, community, and things algorithms cannot replicate.

Loyalty is moving beyond points. "Living loyalty" models reward consumers not just for what they buy, but for how they live – incentivizing wellness choices, sustainable actions and community participation. It's about an always-on value exchange, not just a post-purchase reward.

Watch our Future 100 video

F100 2026 Promo Video 1

Welcome to the 12th edition of “The Future 100” – VML’s unparalleled research report examining key global trends. This report features our latest projections, interviews with top industry experts, exclusive statistics and global consumer insights for 2026 from a proprietary 16-country survey.

At a Glance
70%

Of Gen Z say they like the idea of escaping to a different reality through tech

At a Glance
75%

Believe the line between what is human and what is technology will blur

At a Glance
49%

Report forming a meaningful relationship with AI

About The Future 100 report:

After another year marked by economic upheaval, polarizing political currents and environmental setbacks, 2026 will be a year for building resilience, courageous creativity and redrawing the boundaries of what’s possible. From the personal to the planetary, from human engineering to geoengineering the climate itself, a new class of creators and collaborators is multiplying potential in ways we are just beginning to imagine.

Helping to shape these worlds are AI tools that democratize world building and new economic models for building empires. As both creativity and AI go global, voices from Buenos Aires to Busan are challenging Western dominance and creating tools that reflect their own cultures.

Amidst this “metamorphic” current, the desire for human connection remains unmistakable. In the year ahead, human impulse will shape brand strategies, influencing the top marketing trends in 2026, and draw people back to immersive, high-impact experiences that demonstrate the value of authenticity and unlock infinite possibilities.

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