Commerce Live EMEA: AI, Agentic Commerce & Product Roadmap Highlights

The industry is entering a new era, and so is Commerce. Faced with a rapidly evolving market and after undergoing significant changes, the brand is ready to deliver ‘what’s next’ and prove it with a new flagship event: Commerce Live EMEA.

With this new format, shorter and with 200 attendees from different EMEA countries, including retailers and partners, the company did not put on a show. The focus was on delivering value, now and for the future.

And there was a lot to be excited about at Wembley Stadium on April 16th; from the 2026 product roadmap, to an AI-focused customer panel, a keynote by futurist Ant Morse, and an upbeat award ceremony to close it all.

Here’s a highlight of what we learnt there.

Commerce Live is about bringing the Commerce ecosystem together

Following a rebrand that brought BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift together, Commerce turned all its efforts toward building a product-led engine designed to scale and deliver value.

Along this journey, one thing remained unchanged: Commerce’s true passion lies in its ecosystem, the customers and partners that trust its products, to whom the Commerce team is dedicated. Each session led by the Commerce team that day proved this; the team has been listening to its customers and partners, and the new product capabilities and roadmap are a direct response to the demands they hear about daily and from events such as this one.

'Commerce Live gives us a unique opportunity to spend time with many customers and partners all at once and hear a diverse mix of ideas and input in a short period of time. Alongside the excitement around what’s on the roadmap, what we’ve recently launched, and where we’re heading, getting this feedback in real time is incredibly fulfilling.'

— Travis Hess, CEO, Commerce

And it extended beyond the conference and Wembley Stadium, with the hosting of a Customer Advisory Board and a Partner Advisory Board this same week, during which the team continued to collect valuable feedback.

Commerce unveils a 2026 roadmap focused on modern commerce 

In his introduction, Travis Hess explained where the brand stands and where it’s heading: Commerce has spent the last 18 months fixing its foundations, and the brand is now investing 20% of its revenue in research and development, with one clear focus in mind, as explained by Travis: 'Everything we do is now to create value for you.'

And the product team is doing a lot, if its 2026 roadmap presentation was proof of anything. The hour-long presentation outlined an ambitious vision for the future of digital commerce, centred on helping merchants grow revenue, simplify operations and prepare for the rapid shift toward AI-driven shopping experiences. 

The session introduced multiple major enhancements across the Commerce tech stack, including:

• Smarter catalogue and inventory management

• New promotions and conversion tools

• Faster checkout performance

• Modern user permissions and multilingual storefronts

• Makeswift visual storefront builder expansion for Stencil

• Catalyst hosting and developer tools

• Significant B2B automation and pricing innovation

• Embedded payments expansion

• Feedonomics multi-channel growth tools

• New AI/Agentic Commerce capabilities for discovery, search, checkout and operations

The overall message was clear: commerce is shifting from websites to agents, conversational discovery, and automated operations, and Commerce, as a company, wants its retailers to be visible, empowered and have whatever they do amplified by its platform.

AI and agentic commerce are at the centre of the stage

In the past year, Commerce has been adamant that both are at the forefront of its strategy, so it was no surprise they were a common thread throughout the day. At Commerce Live, however, the focus shifted from strategy to what the company can concretely deliver.

Indeed, the most forward-looking product announcements centred on agentic commerce. As product discovery increasingly shifts from search engines to AI assistants and answer engines, Commerce is building tools to help brands remain visible and transactable in those environments. Innovations include AI-powered catalogue enrichment, conversational storefront search, agent-enabled checkout experiences, and Commerce Companion, an AI assistant embedded in the admin experience to help merchants analyse data and complete tasks faster.

But Commerce Live also focused on what retailers are concretely doing today with such technologies. Nicole Olbe, Managing Director of Adyen UK, which sponsored the conference, delivered a presentation on agentic commerce infrastructure challenges from a payment provider perspective.

It was followed by a panel discussion with retailers and current Commerce customers, which offered a grounded perspective on where AI is genuinely delivering value and where the hype still outpaces reality. Ben Greener, Senior Technology Manager at Andertons Music Co., Sam Biddlecombe, Senior Delivery Manager at Mountain Warehouse, and Jon Cleaver, CTO at Sportsshoes.com, took on the stage, and the consensus was clear: while its fast-evolving, agentic commerce remains a relatively emerging user behaviour.

Sam from Mountain Warehouse noted that just 0.3% of their revenue has been generated through agentic commerce over the past 9 years, while Sportsshoes.com's John explained that they are not yet investing in that space, describing it as, 'not quite stable.' For high-consideration purchases, such as the £3,000 guitars sold by Anderton's Music, a human touch remains essential and customers expect it.

Where AI is paying off now is in more focused, operational applications. Mountain Warehouse has deployed, for instance, an AI-powered chatbot that handles the most common customer queries instantly, with a clear handoff to a human agent when questions fall outside its scope. SportsShoes has taken a more experimental approach, using AI-driven gait analysis in its Shoreditch store to recommend running shoes within 15 seconds, a tool they plan to scale online. Anderton's Music, meanwhile, has used AI to automate the population of over 500 product attributes, freeing up their content team to focus on higher-value work.

The panellists' collective advice for those starting this journey: don't chase the shiny object. Start with the customer pain point, test relentlessly, and don't be afraid to build scrappy proofs of concept: one internal AI tool at Anderton's was built for a total LLM spend of around £10. 

As Sharon Gee, Commerce’s SVP of Product, AI & Feedonomics, said earlier that day, 'the data is the fuel.' The conference’s core message echoed that idea: the real investment right now should be in building a strong data foundation, not just focusing on the agentic endpoint.

Commerce Awards 2026 celebrates the brands and partners that shape the future of ecommerce

In the evening, Commerce Live gave way to the Commerce Awards 2026, where the team recognised customers and partners driving innovation, growth and excellence across the ecommerce ecosystem.

In this fast-paced environment, where retailers and agencies face an increasingly complex job, Andrew Norman, GM EMEA and APAC at Commerce, emphasised how essential these awards are for the Commerce team because, as he told us, 'it's really important that we slow down, take time to celebrate and recognise the amazing things that people are doing.'

Customer Award Winners

Growth Champion Award – Studio Anneloes

Recognising exceptional year-on-year commercial growth, this award went to Studio Anneloes after growing revenue from €9 million to €20.5 million in just two years. Their strategic approach to optimisation, international expansion and omnichannel growth made them a clear winner. 

'This award means a lot to us. It represents sustainable growth: our people, our revenue, our viability as a business. These are the things we're really proud of.'

— Andre Kortekaas, Head of Digital Projects at Studio Anneloes

Read the Studio Anneloes case study

Connected Commerce Award – IAG Loyalty Retail

Awarded for creating seamless, integrated customer experiences, IAG Loyalty Retail won for launching the Avios Shop in under four months. By combining multiple commerce technologies into one scalable platform, they redefined how loyalty rewards can be used in retail. 

Emerging Innovator Award – Regal Fish

This award honours fast-rising businesses making an early impact. Regal Fish impressed by transforming a traditional seafood delivery model into a modern digital-first business, unlocking new audiences, new geographies and significant online growth. 

Innovation in Digital Experience Award – Pearson

Pearson was recognised for an ambitious global ecommerce transformation, migrating multiple international markets onto one unified platform. The brand’s ability to improve its customer experience without disrupting their ability to buy is a standout achievement. 

'We have done a massive rollout of Pearson to over a hundred countries globally, including China, where we saw an uplift in our revenues thanks to the introduction of new payment methods, which was possible because we migrated to BigCommerce.

Seeing Commerce invest in the product and roadmap gives us the confidence that we've chosen the right solution. As we look into other projects and rolling out to other areas of Pearson, it's good to see that the kind of roadmap items that we're looking for are being worked on and released by Commerce.'

— Alex Clark, Senior Director Of Engineering - Commerce & Web Marketing, Pearson

B2B Excellence Award – MKM Building Supplies

Celebrating leaders in B2B ecommerce, MKM won for modernising the builders’ merchant experience with a fully shoppable mobile app and upgraded payment systems. Their investment in digital tools has made purchasing faster and easier for trade customers. 

Partner Award Winners

Commerce Champion Award – Glass Atlas

This award recognises advocacy and thought leadership within the ecosystem. Glass Atlas stood out for championing modern commerce through strategic storytelling, industry collaboration and helping merchants better understand what is possible. 

Proven Delivery Award – Apply Digital

Apply Digital earned this award for consistently delivering complex projects on time and with measurable impact. Their work modernising a financial services client’s legacy commerce platform created a faster, more scalable, future-ready operation. 

Growth Champion Award – Adyen

Awarded to the partner driving the greatest market impact, Adyen was recognised for exceptional year-on-year growth, strong merchant outcomes and a strategic partnership approach that delivered measurable success across the ecosystem. 

Innovation in Digital Experience Award – DNZ

DNZ won for pioneering composable commerce and AI-led delivery models. Their early adoption of emerging frameworks and ability to deliver advanced enterprise solutions helped them lead the market rather than follow it. 

Emerging Innovator Award – Nagarro

This category celebrates fast-growing new partners, and Nagarro made a big impression with its ecosystem engagement, strategic collaboration and strong early momentum that signals major future potential. 

B2B Excellence Award – Agency 51

Agency 51 was recognised for solving complex B2B challenges through smart platform integration and rapid delivery. Their work building a new customer shop in under four months showcased both technical skill and commercial impact. 

Partner of the Year – DNZ

The evening’s top partner honour went to DNZ for consistent excellence across solution delivery, market expansion, customer experience and co-marketing success. Their long-term impact made them a standout winner. 

'Winning this award is very important for DNZ. It shows we can accelerate and grow further, even across Europe.

But what makes today really special is being here with our customers. We're discussing the roadmap together, exploring how new features can help them grow their businesses. That's what we do it for, and celebrating this award along their side makes it all the more meaningful.'

— Jeroen Strijdveen, Techlead (Lid MT), De Nieuwe Zaak (DNZ)

Next stop: Commerce Live AMER in Chicago

Learning and celebrating don't stop here: Commerce Live AMER will take place on 28–30 April 2026 in Chicago.

Bringing together partners, customers, and industry experts, the three-day event will also feature a product roadmap overview, tailored workshops and breakout sessions, and dedicated days for partners, developers, brands, and retailers.

Whether you're looking to go deeper on agentic commerce, connect with peers, or hear directly from the Commerce team about what's next, register here for Commerce Live AMER.