Back to Basics: The Core Drivers for E-Commerce Success

Akshay Gupta:

Today I am going to talk about one of the trends that is going to come back again in 2026. I call that trend as Back to the basics. Over the last 3-4 years, e-commerce growth across the globe has seen a steady growth between 5-6% globally. However, the profitability or the bottom line impact on the e-commerce sales because of multiple reasons has seen an or has taken an increased beating over the last few years. Does that mean ecommerce as a channel is no longer attractive, I feel quite the opposite. In fact, with the change parities and focus, ecommerce as a channel is going to stay more and more attractive to the brands. However, that will require a little bit of a focus shift. I believe those are the points that I want to mention here in the back to the basics. What are those points? Number one, I feel the contextual search, more contextual or AI led search is going to create more value for the consumers on your ecommerce channel. So search to convert ratio with more contextual algorithms is going to see an increase between 15 to 20% on an average if you are able to find your algorithms properly. Number two, the site or the channel performance. If your channel performance is up to the mark, every one second reduction in your site performance is going to give you a 12% stickability increase on your channel itself. So focus on that. Third, is very, very important, A-B testing. Nobody can predict what your consumers want on your channel. So to make sure your experiences are fine-tuned to your consumer needs, make sure you have a good backlog of A-B testing and good capabilities that can test those capabilities throughout the year. Last but not the least is the lower funnel. Make sure you have appropriate contextual payment options available to your consumers on the last stage of your e-commerce journey.

Once you are able to address all these 4 points, I am sure you are going to see a highly profitable ecommerce in 2026. Happy ecommerce shopping in 2026. I wish you all the best.