What brands need to donow to stay ahead
Global eCommerce isn’t slowing down but it is changing. By 2026, customer expectations will be growing faster than order volumes. Convenience is no longer a differentiator; it’s the baseline. Choice, transparency, and speed are now assumed.
As brands expand into new markets, one truth is becoming unavoidable: the winners will be those who invest in delivery and returns infrastructure that feels effortless, predictable, and local, even at global scale.
Here’s what’s shaping the year ahead, and how forward-thinking brands are responding.
Borderless UX: WhenCross-Border Feels Local
Cross-bordereCommerce has moved far beyond “international shipping.” What was once acompetitive advantage is now an expectation. The new battle ground is localisation.
In2026, best-in-class checkout experiences remove friction entirely by offering:
- Upfront clarity on duties, taxes, and customs charges
- Local currency, payment methods, and familiar UX patterns
- Platforms that absorb cross-border complexity behind the scenes
When international shopping feels domestic, trust increases, cart abandonment drops,and conversion improves. Borderless UX isn’t about shipping faster it’s about removing uncertainty.
The Rise of the All-in-One Delivery & Returns Ecosystem
Customers don’t think in channels. They don’t separate home delivery from lockers, or shipping from returns. They just want flexible options that work together.
This is driving a major shift toward unified, platform-led delivery and returns ecosystems.
Instead of juggling multiple carriers, contracts, and workflows, leading brands are moving to integrated networks that connect the entire journey:
Delivery options that flex by customer need:
- Home delivery: standard, next-day, evening
- Out-of-home (OOH): lockers, pickup points, click & collect with real-time capacity
Returns that remove friction:
- Return anywhere networks across lockers and PUDOs
- Label-free and box-free returns
- Smart routing to consolidation hubs to reduce cost and speed up restocking
All of the complexity including duties, VAT, IOSS/OSS, pre-clearance, and lane optimisation happens quietly in the background.
This is the new competitive edge: a unified, hyper-local delivery and returns experience, operating seamlessly at global scale.
Distributed Warehousing Goes Mainstream
Long international delivery times remain one of the biggest pain points incross-border commerce. The solution gaining traction is distributed fulfilment, placing inventory closer to demand.
When executed correctly, multi-location warehousing delivers:
- Up to 30% faster delivery times
- Reduced customs friction
- Lower shipping costs and environmental impact
However, it’s not a universal fix. Distributed models introduce operational complexity and work best for brands with fast-moving, repeatable SKUs, not circular, bespoke, or one-off inventory.
The key is strategic deployment, not expansion for expansion’s sake.
Automation, Visibility & Intelligence Become Standard
By 2026, logistics are expected to no longer be reactive. But data-led.
Leading operators are investing heavily in:
- Real-time, cross-border tracking to reduce “where is my order?” anxiety
- Automated product classification, documentation, and customs clearance
- Deeper integration between logistics, inventory, returns, and customer experience systems
Cross-border is no longer a bolt-on function. It’s becoming a native, intelligent layer of the global supply chain.
What Brands Should Be Doing Now
Trends alone don’t create advantage. Execution does. Brands preparing for 2026 are already taking action in five key areas.
First, run a tax and duty reclaim audit.
Many brands overpay duties or miss reclaim opportunities, particularly on returns and undeliverables. A structured audit can uncover reclaimable VAT and duties, incorrect HS codes, routing inefficiencies, and hidden carrier overcharges. Any recovered funds go straight back to margin.
Second, offer out-of-home delivery options.
OOH is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a cost-saving, experience-enhancing necessity. Lockers, pickup points, and PUDOs reduce failed deliveries, lower last-mile costs, and increase first-time delivery success rates.
Third ,build seamless, customer-friendly returns.
Easy returns drive conversion. When customers trust the return experience, they buy more often and with higher confidence. Local return hubs, digital return flows, and automated refunds also reduce waste, speed up restocking, and limit unnecessary duty payments.
Fourth, include landed costs upfront.
Unexpected duties remain the number one cause of cross-border cart abandonment. ADDP-first strategy, displaying full landed costs at checkout, eliminate surprises, reduces refusals and return-to-sender rates, and builds long-term trust.
Finally, stress-test your carrier network.
Markets shift. Regulations change. Capacity tightens. Annual stress-testing helps brands understand what happens if a carrier exits a lane, transit timea spike, or new taxes are introduced mid-year. Resilience is built before disruption hits.
The Bigger Picture
The delivery and logistics landscape is undergoing a fundamental reset. The question for brands isn’t whether they should adapt, it’s how quickly they can.
Those that invest in flexibility, transparency, and locally relevant globale xperiences will define the next era of ecommerce.
If you’d like support benchmarking delivery costs, reclaiming duties, oroptimising your cross-border logistics network, the MHI team is always happy to talk. Get in touch at enquiries@mhi.co or find out more about MHI360 deliverysolutions here.
