E-commerce trends 2025 – 7 tips for successful online stores

In e-commerce, speed, efficiency and automation are not optional, but mandatory. Cloud-based platforms and API-driven architectures will redefine e-commerce by enabling unprecedented flexibility and scalability. At the same time, accessibility will also become an important issue.

These are the top 7 e-commerce trends for 2025:

1. Lean Commerce: Reducing costs through optimized processes
2. AI: Data protection-compliant solutions for individual requirements
3. SAP Fiori: More efficiency through satisfied users
4. Orchestration Engine: Improved buying experiences for more sales
5. Composable Commerce: Modular systems for agile solutions
6. Headless Commerce: More flexibility through decoupled systems
7. Accesibility on the web: Unrestricted access for all users

Artificial intelligence:
Data protection-compliant solutions for individual requirements

AI image search, master data preparation, data deduplication – the list of possibilities offered by artificial intelligence in e-commerce is almost endless. They all contribute to the same goal: maximizing efficiency and precision in all areas of e-commerce.

AI enables deeper personalization through data-driven analysis and automated processes. It helps companies not only to optimize operations, but also to make the customer experience an individual experience for everyone. From intelligent product previews to predicting market trends, AI will be the key enabler that makes the difference between standard e-commerce and superior competitiveness in 2025.

In which areas will AI be used in e-commerce in 2025?

Your own AI:

Having your own AI has the advantage that it can be fed with confidential data without running the risk of information falling into the wrong hands. In addition, an in-house AI can be trained according to individual needs and thus answer questions on company-relevant topics and products. If the AI is hosted on the company’s own servers in Germany, the data is secure and the AI solution meets the requirements of the GDPR.

Data management with AI:

The enormous amount of data in e-commerce makes maintaining this data an ever greater challenge. AI applications take on this task: they automate repetitive activities, correct inconsistent data and clean up duplicate entries across systems. As a result, data quality is continuously improved.

AI for personalization:

Automated product recommendations, dynamic pricing and personalized email campaigns are crucial factors for playing at the top of the rankings in a modern e-commerce landscape. There are AI applications for all of these factors that can help you save time and resources and retain customers.

With extensive SAP expertise, the FIS Group develops individual and data protection-compliant AI solutions for you that will raise your e-commerce to a new standard.

SAP Fiori:
More efficiency through satisfied users

How efficiently can employees work if they have to click through 20 pages of their SAP application to reach their destination? 2025 will be the year of in-house optimization – and the user experience of your own SAP application must also be put to the test. The more complicated the path to the goal is, the more frustrated your employees will be. In addition, an inefficient system not only slows down the work process, but also makes it more difficult to train new employees. If “That’s the way it’s always been” is the current solution for your user interface, then it’s about time to transform your enterprise UX.

How does SAP Fiori support the optimization of an enterprise UX?

SAP Fiori offers an intuitive and role-based user interface, providing our UX experts with immense opportunities. By making applications clearer and more user-friendly, they achieve simplified workflows, satisfied employees and greater efficiency – because your teams no longer have to click through endless menus, but receive exactly the information they need to work efficiently. By focusing on mobile devices and simple navigation, we increase productivity and significantly reduce the training time for new users with the use of professional enterprise UX based on SAP Fiori.

With our expertise in UX and SAP, we support you in the UX transformation with SAP Fiori and thus ensure satisfied teams and optimized, cost-saving work processes.

Orchestration of processes:
Improved buying experiences for more sales

With new platforms and architectures, orchestration of all processes is becoming increasingly important. Orchestration engines for e-commerce applications act as the backbone of a dynamic and scalable infrastructure that connects and automates all of a company’s systems – from warehouse management to payment systems. The advantage? Lightning-fast responsiveness to market changes, reduced manual intervention and a seamless customer journey. If your e-commerce is set to grow and you want to make fewer manual adjustments, an orchestration engine will help you to make processes more efficient and automated.

Which orchestration engine will emerge as the pioneer in 2025?

The orchestration engine (OE) from our technology partner Emporix is an efficient tool with a low-code/no-code approach. It allows users with no prior technical knowledge to create and modify processes. This allows you to react quickly and adapt flexibly to changing market conditions.

As an Emporix implementation partner, we integrate the orchestration engine into your system and give you a clear advantage over the competition thanks to short response times, great scalability and flexibility.

Composable Commerce:
Modular systems for agile solutions

Composable commerce will become an almost indispensable element of e-commerce in 2025. It is already difficult to adapt to new requirements such as AI integration, omnichannel strategies or automated processes with a monolithic architecture.

How does composable commerce support adaptability in e-commerce?

With composable commerce, companies can increase the flexibility, agility and scalability of their e-commerce platform. The term “composable” refers to a commerce architecture that is put together individually based on the respective requirements. With composable commerce, functions such as search, headless, CMS or PIM from external providers are connected to the selected e-commerce platform – such as SAP Commerce, Emporix or FIS/eSales – as separate add-ons via APIs.

The selected “ components” can be combined with each other to create a customized and cost-effective e-commerce solution that meets the specific requirements of a company and enables it to react quickly to current trends.

Whether SAP Commerce or Emporix – we support you in setting up an API-supported composable commerce architecture that makes your online store significantly more performant.

Headless Commerce:
More flexibility through decoupled systems

In the world of e-commerce systems, the front end and back end used to be closely linked in order to ensure simpler and more direct communication between the two parts. In today’s world, where customers access offers via a variety of channels such as mobile apps, social media or voice assistants, B2C and B2B companies need a flexible, scalable solution.

How does headless commerce help?

The headless approach separates the front end and back end of an online store or customer portal. By decoupling the systems, companies can adapt the front end to the specific needs and expectations of the individual channels without having to touch the back end every time. This separation not only enables faster customization and innovation, but also improves the omnichannel experience – a key requirement to remain competitive in an increasingly complex digital world.

What is the difference to composable commerce?

Compared to the headless approach, composable commerce goes one step further and allows different components (e.g. payment processing, product search, CMS) to be individually selected and combined within a front or back end. A “best-of-breed” approach is used, in which companies can combine different microservices.

With our expertise in headless development, we make your online store or customer portal fit for the future and ensure maximum flexibility and performance.

Accessibility according to BFSG:
Unrestricted access for all users

A better experience for everyone: By June 28, 2025, online stores, appointment booking systems and contact forms must be barrier-free in compliance with all requirements of the German Accessibility Improvement Act (BFSG). In addition, all companies must publish a “Declaration of Accessibility” on their website. Pure B2B portals and small companies with fewer than 10 employees or an annual turnover of no more than 2 million euros are exempt.

What needs to be done now?

Specifically, the perception, usability, comprehensibility and robustness must be designed to be barrier-free. For example, high-contrast texts, full keyboard operation of the website and subtitles for multimedia content such as videos must be made possible. And these are just a few examples that will be on the to-do list by June 2025. In addition to the mandatory “declaration on accessibility”, an accessible contact form must also be provided for feedback.

How does an online store become accessible?

Online stores face particularly big challenges when it comes to accessibility. Product descriptions, images and prices must be compatible with all screen readers, and the entire checkout process must also be operable via keyboard and offer visual assistance or error messages. Filters and search functions must also be clearly operable and accessible – even at 200% magnification and on all end devices such as laptops, tablets or smartphones.

How is accessibility supported by a headless architecture?

A headless architecture not only creates the optimal development environment for a responsive design on all end devices, but the API-first approach also allows any number of interfaces to be created in the front end. This means that online stores in particular can quickly adapt to conditions created at short notice or changes in legislation.

Are you facing the challenge of “accessibility”? In our accessibility audits, we check the most important requirements, create an individual checklist and implement the requirements for you.