Future of Retail 2026: E-commerce Trends & AI Adoption in Italy

What will retail look like in the next few years? Roberta Vadruccio, researcher at the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano, reads the signals already visible today to map the future of retail and e-commerce.

With fresh data on the Italian market, she covers omnichannel shoppers, Italy's €66.6 billion e-commerce market, delivery becoming a commodity, retail media, new EU rules like the AI Act and the €3 customs duty on low-value parcels, and the surge of shoppers arriving from ChatGPT. Then she groups the signals into retail megatrends and shows how far Italian retailers have really gone with AI, with case studies from OVS and Brunello Cucinelli.

Key data from the talk
• 41% of consumers see physical and online channels as equivalent
• E-commerce is 13.5% of Italian purchases in 2026: €66.6B, growing 6%
• 2 in 3 Italian consumers would switch retailer for better delivery terms
• Traffic from ChatGPT to leading Italian retailers grew almost 800% in 2025
• 84% of Italian retailers have launched AI projects, but 2 in 3 have no overall strategy

Chapters
00:00 Reading the signals of the future of retail
01:20 Signal: omnichannel consumers
01:45 Italian e-commerce in numbers
04:10 E-commerce maturity by category
06:13 Signal: circular economy
06:51 Signal: falling purchasing power
07:42 Signal: delivery becomes a commodity
08:24 Employee well-being in retail
09:09 Data, retail media and new revenue streams
09:51 EU regulation: DMA, EmpCo, customs reform, AI Act
11:38 Conversational commerce and AI shopping advisors
13:04 From signals to megatrends
13:42 Megatrends: value, trust, platforms, automation
16:16 Data, consumption styles and talent
17:23 Are Italian retailers travelers or observers?
19:17 What holds AI projects back, and what drives them
21:38 Case studies: OVS and Brunello Cucinelli
23:18 AI adoption by retail sector
24:19 Takeaway: the future is already visible

Speaker
Roberta Vadruccio, Researcher, Retail & B2C E-commerce, School of Management, Politecnico di Milano

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