State of Commerce Report Takeaways For Startups and SMBs

The art of shopping has changed. It now starts with a question typed into an AI chat, and the businesses that show up in that answer are the ones selling out. The latest State of Commerce Report makes one thing clear: The first order problem for growing businesses isn’t just “how do I get found” — it’s “how do I get found by AI.”

That’s a real shift for lean teams without a dedicated commerce department. The good news: You don’t need enterprise headcount to compete for this new kind of visibility, you need the right data and the right small and medium business (SMB) tools working together. Below are three State of commerce report takeaways for startups and growing businesses, with the stats and quotes to back them up.

What is the State of Commerce Report?

The State of Commerce Report is Salesforce’s research study on shopping trends, based on surveys of thousands of commerce professionals and consumers, plus behavioral data from over a billion global consumers. This report is valuable for small businesses because it provides actionable AI and commerce trends, helping them stay competitive without needing enterprise-level resources. It gives growing teams the data-driven insights necessary to understand shifting customer expectations and refine their own sales strategies.

1. Agentic search is the new front door for shoppers

Use of agentic search — meaning a shopper’s first step is a question to an AI assistant rather than a search bar — grew 200% year over year, according to the report. Traffic referred from AI chats rose between 150% and 428% year over year in every quarter since 2024.

For your business, this means your product catalog needs to be readable by AI, not just by people. A clean, structured customer relationship management (CRM) system connected to your commerce data is what lets an AI assistant actually surface accurate details about you.

2. Customer expectations are rising faster than most teams can keep up

Commerce leaders are feeling the squeeze from both sides: 86% say AI is raising customer expectations, and 61% say meeting them is harder than ever. Only 28% of commerce organizations currently use agentic AI, though 44% plan to adopt it within six months.

A few numbers worth sitting with:

• 86% say AI is raising the bar: Customers now expect the same fast, personalized experience everywhere they shop, not just on your site.
• 28% are already using agentic AI: Most teams, including plenty of startups, are still early — this is a chance to catch up quickly rather than fall further behind.
• 44% plan to adopt within six months: The gap between leaders and laggards is about to widen fast.

This is the same pain point named in Salesforce’s Small and Medium Business Trends Report: Customers expect enterprise-level speed and care no matter your size. Closing that gap starts with artificial intelligence (AI) that’s actually trained on your business, not a generic chatbot bolted onto your storefront.

3. Fragmented data is the biggest thing holding SMBs back

Among businesses with fragmented data, 40% report slow or ineffective responses to customer issues, 39% struggle to measure the impact of their commerce investments, and another 39% say they pay a high cost just to maintain disconnected systems. Just 2% of multichannel organizations report zero significant failure points in how their systems talk to each other.

This tracks with what we see across small businesses generally — 76% of SMB customers say their teams operate off the same CRM view perform better, because everyone from sales to service to commerce is working from one source of truth. Take Yoga Democracy: What started as a small apparel brand selling leggings at tradeshows grew into an international manufacturing operation by connecting its commerce and customer data as it scaled, rather than bolting on new tools one at a time. That’s the pattern winning teams follow — unify first, then automate.

Businesses that have unified their data report better alignment between sales, marketing, and commerce teams, stronger AI and automation outcomes, and improved customer retention. None of that requires a huge team. It requires a system where your data isn’t scattered across five different tools.

Turn commerce insights into action

The commerce report points to one conclusion: Your customers already trust AI to help them shop. The businesses that win are the ones whose data is ready for that moment, not the ones with the biggest budget. Turn these insights into action with the right tools and a trusted AI partner. 

Get a copy of the report today for free and see what’s possible for your business. 

AI supported the writers and editors who created this article.