But if you zoom out just slightly, not on the numbers, but on the shape of the trend, we start to see something else. The growth curve is flattening and has been since mid-2023. Not falling. Not failing. Just plateauing quietly and steadily. We can confidently say this isn’t a logistics problem, and that it’s not a tech constraint. It’s certainly not consumer fatigue with digital convenience. What we’re seeing is something more human, deeper and way more strategic. We’ve almost hit the emotional ceiling of online retail. We trust online now, job done but in turn we don’t feel anything about it. The explosion of e-commerce over the past 10 years was fundamentally built on the back of three simple things: convenience, speed and access. It delivered exactly what it promised (most of the time): fast transactions, low friction and a product on your doorstep. That’s amazing, right? Today, the promise has been met. The infrastructure is there. Logistics are predictable, and consumers trust the process. But what’s not being recognised is that trust has quietly shifted into indifference. There’s no magic left in a ‘delivered’ notification. No spark of emotion in the checkout journey. No wonder or assisted discovery in the scroll. In fact, we’re seeing a version of what I’d call the Uber Effect, which is that moment when a once-amazing innovation becomes background noise. Invisible. Assumed and expected. There goes the surprise and delight. And why is this a problem? Because people don’t fall in love with what they trust. They fall in love with what moves them. What excites, surprises or grounds them. Function alone doesn’t build any memories. Emotion does. For some time, we thought personalisation was going to be the answer. But it’s more than that if we think further ahead. What we need is presence. In response to stagnation, many brands have doubled down on personalisation, which is great, and I’m definitely not knocking that approach. We have behavioural tracking, AI-based recommendations and dynamic content served by data. All of it aimed at relevance. But relevance without soul is just noise that fits. Consumers are craving more than just being understood by the algorithm; they want to be acknowledged. To be met. To feel like a brand is genuinely present in their moment and not just watching their clicks. This is going to be the next evolution of digital experience: presence over personalisation. Presence is about emotional timing. It’s the right word at the right moment. The brand that seems to know what mood I’m in and not just what product I’m likely to buy. It’s not the offer that is going to convert, but the energy that connects. And energy is the one thing missing from most digital storefronts. Digital spaces need ‘scent’ and not just speed In physical retail, we design for immersion. Scent, lighting, music, flow and, soon, more calmness. Everything is crafted to create mood and memory. But as we know, with online, we chase load times, heat maps and funnel drops. We optimise for absence and not experience. It’s time to introduce the idea of digital ‘scent’ – the emotional residue left from a digital interaction. The way a brand’s homepage makes you feel, the voice you hear in the copy and the rhythm of the journey. It’s that friction that’s intentional but not annoying, and the space left for you to take a breath while you move along your path to purchase. Recent research in the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that emotional memory has a stronger impact on brand loyalty than product satisfaction. In other words, it’s not what you bought that keeps you coming back, but how the brand made you feel when you bought it. Have I said this before? Right now, most online stores are feeling like the same white box, dressed up in different logos. So let’s be clear here, speed is no longer a differentiator. Emotion is. Some of the most compelling digital brands today – Glossier, Aesop, Monocle – continue to win not because they’re the cheapest, or even the most personalised. They’re winning because they create an atmosphere, even through a screen. They slow you right down in all the right places; they make you feel like you’re inside their world and not just browsing a product page. They know how to shift your state of mind before you even hit “add to cart”.  That’s not UX. That’s theatre. And it’s sorely missing, in my opinion, from most retail websites today. A 2025 Shopify study found that 61 per cent of consumers would pay more for an online experience that “feels human”. But unfortunately, we seem to have misunderstood what “human” means. It doesn’t mean slapping a chatbot on the homepage or calling your EDM a “conversation”. It means designing a digital brand with real emotional texture and one that signals intentionality, care and tone of voice that feels like someone is actually on the other end. The next winners will storyboard emotion, not just AB-test CTAs We’ve entered the next exciting change and era, where brands must stop asking, “What will convert the most people?” and start asking, “What will make them feel something worth remembering?” This is going to mean fewer funnels and more emotional arcs. Less optimisation and more orchestration. Less chasing attention and a whole lot more earning affection. Maybe most importantly, it means brands are going to have to become brave enough again to slow down. Brave enough to be quiet for a moment and to stand for something that doesn’t fit the algorithm but fits the soul of their customer. I feel like we have optimised e-commerce to death, and as a result, we’ve stripped it of feeling. And now we’re wondering why growth has slowed. People don’t just return for functionality; they return for meaning. Here’s my final thought: What happens when the magic’s gone? If your brand is operating online right now, you’re not just competing on price, product or efficiency. You’re competing on emotional voltage and on whether your experience leaves a mark. The next chapter we will see is digital intimacy at scale and a focus on online experiences that stir, not just serve. We are heading into a place where customers think most online stores look and feel the same, and they are only going to return to the ones that feel alive. In a post-convenience world, alive is the new advantage.