New research finds 51% of consumers now use AI for shopping, while only 7% of organizations have achieved operational maturity, exposing readiness challenges as the zero-click buying era approaches.

ATLANTA, February 11, 2026 – Stord, The Consumer Experience Company powering seamless pre-purchase, checkout, delivery, and returns for today's leading brands, today released its 2026 State of AI in E-Commerce Report. The research examined consumer adoption patterns, enterprise deployment challenges, and operational implications across the e-commerce ecosystem, revealing a disconnect between consumer expectations for AI-powered experiences and brands' ability to deliver them at scale.

The traditional e-commerce model is being displaced by AI-mediated experiences in which intelligent agents handle discovery, evaluation, and increasingly, transactions themselves. Stord’s research reveals that 51% of consumers have already used AI for online shopping, up from 38% in 2024, while 17% now use AI regularly. This consumer adoption is outpacing enterprise readiness by a significant margin: while 88% of organizations report using AI in at least one core function and 92% plan to increase investment, only 7% have reached fully scaled deployment, and 99% still lack the framework necessary for full integration. The operational bottleneck is most acute in fulfillment and logistics, where 74% of supply chain leaders identify AI as their primary 2026 driver but only 29% have the infrastructure to execute. 

"Most brands have invested heavily in their product and their marketing, but operational foundations have not kept pace," said Craig Stewart, SVP of Product at Stord. "Our research shows that a scalable consumer delivery experience is now the biggest barrier to growth in e-commerce. AI is changing how consumers shop, but brands can't win with better algorithms alone; they need an integrated fulfillment infrastructure that turns digital recommendations into repeatable and differentiated performance on every order at scale."

The report follows Stord's launch of multiple AI-powered solutions in February 2026. New capabilities include an AI-Powered Estimated Delivery Date that uses millions of historical shipments to improve in-cart conversion; Intelligent Order and Inventory Analysis that gives operators instant SKU-level summaries and next-step recommendations; Workflow Automations that help brands diagnose and manage complex fulfillment rules through natural language; and Instant Product Compliance Recommendations that streamline hazmat, harmonizing, and shipping code validation. These tools, many offered free to Stord fulfillment customers, lay the groundwork for the company's broader agentic commerce roadmap, including demand planning, CX chatbots, and autonomous opportunity identification for brands.

Stord helps brands close the gap between digital intent and physical execution through integrated commerce-enablement that combines fulfillment services with AI-powered technology. By unifying visibility across order management, inventory, and logistics, brands can ensure that AI recommendations translate into reliable outcomes.

The full 2026 State of AI Report is available for download at https://www.stord.com/reports/state-of-ai-2026.