The trade is coming into a brand new period, and so is Commerce. Confronted with a quickly evolving market and after present process important adjustments, the model is able to ship ‘what’s subsequent’ and show it with a brand new flagship occasion: Commerce Stay EMEA.
With this new format, shorter and with 200 attendees from totally different EMEA nations, together with retailers and companions, the corporate didn’t placed on a present. The main focus was on delivering worth, now and for the long run.
And there was loads to be enthusiastic about at Wembley Stadium on April sixteenth; from the 2026 product roadmap, to an AI-focused buyer panel, a keynote by futurist Ant Morse, and an upbeat award ceremony to shut all of it.
Right here’s a spotlight of what we realized there.
Commerce Stay is about bringing the Commerce ecosystem collectively
Following a rebrand that introduced BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift collectively, Commerce turned all its efforts towards constructing a product-led engine designed to scale and ship worth.
Alongside this journey, one factor remained unchanged: Commerce’s true ardour lies in its ecosystem, the purchasers and companions that belief its merchandise, to whom the Commerce crew is devoted. Every session led by the Commerce crew that day proved this; the crew has been listening to its clients and companions, and the brand new product capabilities and roadmap are a direct response to the calls for they hear about each day and from occasions similar to this one.
“Commerce Stay provides us a singular alternative to spend time with many purchasers and companions unexpectedly and listen to a various mixture of concepts and enter in a brief time period. Alongside the thrill round what’s on the roadmap, what we’ve just lately launched, and the place we’re heading, getting this suggestions in actual time is extremely fulfilling.”
— Travis Hess, CEO, Commerce
And it prolonged past the convention and Wembley Stadium, with the internet hosting of a Buyer Advisory Board and a Companion Advisory Board this similar week, throughout which the crew continued to gather helpful suggestions.
Commerce unveils a 2026 roadmap targeted on fashionable commerce
In his introduction, Travis Hess defined the place the model stands and the place it’s heading: Commerce has spent the final 18 months fixing its foundations, and the model is now investing 20% of its income in analysis and growth, with one clear focus in thoughts, as defined by Travis: “Every thing we do is now to create worth for you.”
And the product crew is doing loads, if its 2026 roadmap presentation was proof of something. The hour-long presentation outlined an bold imaginative and prescient for the way forward for digital commerce, centred on serving to retailers develop income, simplify operations and put together for the fast shift towards AI-driven buying experiences.
The session launched a number of main enhancements throughout the Commerce tech stack, together with:
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Smarter catalogue and stock administration
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New promotions and conversion instruments
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Sooner checkout efficiency
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Fashionable person permissions and multilingual storefronts
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Makeswift visible storefront builder growth for Stencil
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Catalyst internet hosting and developer instruments
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Important B2B automation and pricing innovation
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Embedded funds growth
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Feedonomics multi-channel progress instruments
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New AI/Agentic Commerce capabilities for discovery, search, checkout and operations
The general message was clear: commerce is shifting from web sites to brokers, conversational discovery, and automatic operations, and Commerce, as an organization, needs its retailers to be seen, empowered and have no matter they do amplified by its platform.
AI and agentic commerce are on the centre of the stage
Up to now 12 months, Commerce has been adamant that each are on the forefront of its technique, so it was no shock they had been a typical thread all through the day. At Commerce Stay, nonetheless, the main focus shifted from technique to what the corporate can concretely ship.
Certainly, probably the most forward-looking product bulletins centered on agentic commerce. As product discovery more and more shifts from serps to AI assistants and reply engines, Commerce is constructing instruments to assist manufacturers stay seen and transactable in these environments. Improvements embrace AI-powered catalogue enrichment, conversational storefront search, agent-enabled checkout experiences, and Commerce Companion, an AI assistant embedded within the admin expertise to assist retailers analyse information and full duties sooner.
However Commerce Stay additionally targeted on what retailers are concretely doing as we speak with such applied sciences. Nicole Olbe, Managing Director of Adyen UK, which sponsored the convention, delivered a presentation on agentic commerce infrastructure challenges from a fee supplier perspective.
It was adopted by a panel dialogue with retailers and present Commerce clients, which provided a grounded perspective on the place AI is genuinely delivering worth and the place the hype nonetheless outpaces actuality. Ben Greener, Senior Expertise Supervisor at Andertons Music Co., Sam Biddlecombe, Senior Supply Supervisor at Mountain Warehouse, and Jon Cleaver, CTO at Sportsshoes.com, took on the stage, and the consensus was clear: whereas its fast-evolving, agentic commerce stays a comparatively rising person behaviour.
Sam from Mountain Warehouse famous that simply 0.3% of their income has been generated by agentic commerce over the previous 9 years, whereas Sportsshoes.com’s John defined that they don’t seem to be but investing in that house, describing it as, “not fairly secure.” For top-consideration purchases, such because the £3,000 guitars bought by Anderton’s Music, a human contact stays important and clients anticipate it.
The place AI is paying off now’s in additional targeted, operational functions. Mountain Warehouse has deployed, as an example, an AI-powered chatbot that handles the most typical buyer queries immediately, with a transparent handoff to a human agent when questions fall exterior its scope. SportsShoes has taken a extra experimental method, utilizing AI-driven gait evaluation in its Shoreditch retailer to suggest trainers inside 15 seconds, a device they plan to scale on-line. Anderton’s Music, in the meantime, has used AI to automate the inhabitants of over 500 product attributes, liberating up their content material crew to deal with higher-value work.
The panellists’ collective recommendation for these beginning this journey: do not chase the shiny object. Begin with the client ache level, check relentlessly, and do not be afraid to construct scrappy proofs of idea: one inner AI device at Anderton’s was constructed for a complete LLM spend of round £10.
As Sharon Gee, Commerce’s SVP of Product, AI & Feedonomics, stated earlier that day, “the information is the gas.” The convention’s core message echoed that concept: the actual funding proper now ought to be in constructing a powerful information basis, not simply specializing in the agentic endpoint.
Commerce Awards 2026 celebrates the manufacturers and companions that form the way forward for ecommerce
Within the night, Commerce Stay gave strategy to the Commerce Awards 2026, the place the crew recognised clients and companions driving innovation, progress and excellence throughout the ecommerce ecosystem.
On this fast-paced surroundings, the place retailers and businesses face an more and more advanced job, Andrew Norman, GM EMEA and APAC at Commerce, emphasised how important these awards are for the Commerce crew as a result of, as he instructed us, “it is actually necessary that we decelerate, take time to have fun and recognise the wonderful issues that persons are doing.”
Buyer Award Winners
Development Champion Award – Studio Anneloes
Recognising distinctive year-on-year business progress, this award went to Studio Anneloes after rising income from €9 million to €20.5 million in simply two years. Their strategic method to optimisation, worldwide growth and omnichannel progress made them a transparent winner.
“This award means loads to us. It represents sustainable progress: our folks, our income, our viability as a enterprise. These are the issues we’re actually pleased with.”
— Andre Kortekaas, Head of Digital Initiatives at Studio Anneloes
Learn the Studio Anneloes case research
Linked Commerce Award – IAG Loyalty Retail
Awarded for creating seamless, built-in buyer experiences, IAG Loyalty Retail received for launching the Avios Store in beneath 4 months. By combining a number of commerce applied sciences into one scalable platform, they redefined how loyalty rewards can be utilized in retail.
Rising Innovator Award – Regal Fish
This award honours fast-rising companies making an early influence. Regal Fish impressed by reworking a conventional seafood supply mannequin into a contemporary digital-first enterprise, unlocking new audiences, new geographies and important on-line progress.
Innovation in Digital Expertise Award – Pearson
Pearson was recognised for an bold international ecommerce transformation, migrating a number of worldwide markets onto one unified platform. The model’s means to enhance its buyer expertise with out disrupting their means to purchase is a standout achievement.
“Now we have accomplished a large rollout of Pearson to over 100 nations globally, together with China, the place we noticed an uplift in our revenues because of the introduction of recent fee strategies, which was potential as a result of we migrated to BigCommerce.
Seeing Commerce spend money on the product and roadmap provides us the arrogance that we have chosen the fitting resolution. As we glance into different tasks and rolling out to different areas of Pearson, it is good to see that the form of roadmap gadgets that we’re searching for are being labored on and launched by Commerce.”
— Alex Clark, Senior Director Of Engineering – Commerce & Internet Advertising, Pearson
B2B Excellence Award – MKM Constructing Provides
Celebrating leaders in B2B ecommerce, MKM received for modernising the builders’ service provider expertise with a completely shoppable cellular app and upgraded fee programs. Their funding in digital instruments has made buying sooner and simpler for commerce clients.
Companion Award Winners
Commerce Champion Award – Glass Atlas
This award recognises advocacy and thought management throughout the ecosystem. Glass Atlas stood out for championing fashionable commerce by strategic storytelling, trade collaboration and serving to retailers higher perceive what is feasible.
Confirmed Supply Award – Apply Digital
Apply Digital earned this award for constantly delivering advanced tasks on time and with measurable influence. Their work modernising a monetary companies shopper’s legacy commerce platform created a sooner, extra scalable, future-ready operation.
Development Champion Award – Adyen
Awarded to the associate driving the best market influence, Adyen was recognised for distinctive year-on-year progress, sturdy service provider outcomes and a strategic partnership method that delivered measurable success throughout the ecosystem.
Innovation in Digital Expertise Award – DNZ
DNZ received for pioneering composable commerce and AI-led supply fashions. Their early adoption of rising frameworks and talent to ship superior enterprise options helped them lead the market slightly than comply with it.
Rising Innovator Award – Nagarro
This class celebrates fast-growing new companions, and Nagarro made a giant impression with its ecosystem engagement, strategic collaboration and robust early momentum that indicators main future potential.
B2B Excellence Award – Company 51
Company 51 was recognised for fixing advanced B2B challenges by good platform integration and fast supply. Their work constructing a brand new buyer store in beneath 4 months showcased each technical ability and business influence.
Companion of the 12 months – DNZ
The night’s prime associate honour went to DNZ for constant excellence throughout resolution supply, market growth, buyer expertise and co-marketing success. Their long-term influence made them a standout winner.
“Successful this award is essential for DNZ. It exhibits we will speed up and develop additional, even throughout Europe.
However what makes as we speak actually particular is being right here with our clients. We’re discussing the roadmap collectively, exploring how new options will help them develop their companies. That is what we do it for, and celebrating this award alongside their facet makes it all of the extra significant.”
— Jeroen Strijdveen, Techlead (Lid MT), De Nieuwe Zaak (DNZ)
Subsequent cease: Commerce Stay AMER in Chicago
Studying and celebrating do not cease right here: Commerce Stay AMER will happen on 28–30 April 2026 in Chicago.
Bringing collectively companions, clients, and trade specialists, the three-day occasion may even characteristic a product roadmap overview, tailor-made workshops and breakout periods, and devoted days for companions, builders, manufacturers, and retailers.
Whether or not you are seeking to go deeper on agentic commerce, join with friends, or hear straight from the Commerce crew about what’s subsequent, register right here for Commerce Stay AMER.
