{"id":95843,"date":"2026-07-09T10:21:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/?p=95843"},"modified":"2026-07-09T10:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:21:02","slug":"ecommerce-shipping-trends-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/blog\/ecommerce-shipping-trends-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spiciest Shipping Insights of 2026: What Innovation Delivered\u2019s Salsa Showdown Tells You About Ecommerce Shipping Trends\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rick Watson, founder of Watson Weekly, and Nate Skiver, founder of LPF Spend Management, sat down at Innovation Delivered 2026<\/a> for a salsa showdown\u2014four rounds of escalating heat and questions most industry panels won\u2019t ask.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the first question landed, Skiver\u2019s eyes were already watering. He\u2019d come prepared with milk in hand. The format was simple: pass the salsa, ask the question, get an answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed was some of the hottest commentary on ecommerce shipping trends we heard all day. Here\u2019s what they said, and what it means. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free shipping is the mild round. Your customers want more.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Watson didn\u2019t ease into this take. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In 2026, the idea that you need free shipping only as a conversion lever is a little bit dated advice.”<\/p>Rick Watson, Founder, Watson Weekly<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His point: most sellers already offer free shipping<\/a> above a cart threshold. The question is whether offering it is doing the work you think it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skiver pushed further. The more interesting question, he said, isn’t whether you offer free shipping\u2014it’s what you offer alongside it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Customers who are really passionate about getting something when they want it will pay for it,” he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ShipStation’s Benchmark Report<\/a>, cited during the session, backs this up: shoppers will pay more for delivery that fits their timeline and preferences. That’s one of the clearer ecommerce shipping trends to come out of this year’s data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t

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66%<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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of customers will pay $7\u2013$9 more for delivery that fits their timeline <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
ShipStation Benchmark Report, 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

The implication: your ecommerce shipping strategy may be optimizing the wrong variable. Removing cost at checkout matters, but giving customers meaningful delivery choices may matter more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heat keeps building. Here\u2019s how smart operators handle rising rates.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Skiver has watched carrier pricing for nearly 20 years. The trend line, he said, has been consistent: “The rate increases have just gone up and to the right the entire time\u2026especially in the last 12 months with global conflict and the price of oil.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His view on when it stops: “It’s not going to stop as long as customers keep paying the rate increases and surcharges.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s a hard truth, but Watson’s follow-up reframed it around what operators can actually control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You can’t anticipate everything, but you have to build a solution with some flexibility and maybe even some redundancy,” he explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Watson said the sellers who come out ahead built ecommerce shipping strategies that don\u2019t depend on everything going smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Worley, VP of Product Marketing at ShipStation, put the pattern in perspective during the session: “We were here last year talking about tariffs. This year, it’s global conflicts creating additional fuel surcharges<\/a>. It will be something else six months from now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ecommerce shipping strategy with no flexibility is a vulnerability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t put all your chips in one bowl: The risk of single-channel selling.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On single-channel risk, Watson’s answer was unambiguous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stated that you can’t be fully dependent on one site or one platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need wholesale if you’re going to get beyond a certain level\u2014or retail partners,\u201d Watson said. \u201cAll these things are needed to unlock the next phases of growth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made a point that reframes the whole conversation: “Last I checked, 80% of retail is still in stores. Why are we ignoring the 1% of the 20% instead of focusing on the 80%?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t

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80%<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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of retail sales still happen in physical stores\u2014the channel most ecommerce sellers overlook when they build their shipping strategy<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Rick Watson, Founder of Watson Weekly, at Innovation Delivered 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Concentrating your business in a single channel puts your margins and your operations at the mercy of decisions you don’t control. Watson and Skiver weren’t just making a growth observation\u2014they were making a risk management one. Multichannel fulfillment<\/a> is one of the ecommerce shipping trends more sellers are leaning into to de-risk their operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skiver added that even sellers who’ve expanded into multiple channels often aren’t using them fully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There are retailers with stores, wholesale partnerships, and an online presence, but they’re not fully utilizing their stores to ship from or place inventory. That’s where they’re missing opportunities and lagging behind,” he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claiming the heat. Why most brands talk about delivery but don\u2019t deliver on it.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the salsa got hotter, so did the conversation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Watson and Skiver moved from market-level observations to something more specific\u2014a pattern Skiver said he still sees regularly, even among sellers who should know better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described it as “aimless head nodding.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A lot of retailers will pay lip service to delivery being an absolutely critical part of the customer experience. They’re super adamant about it. And then you go and order from them, and they can’t tell you when it’s going to get there.”<\/p>Nate Skiver, Founder, LPF Spend Management<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Watson connected this to how shipping gets classified internally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There are so many heads of logistics who still view shipping as a cost center. Fifteen to twenty years ago, that made a lot of sense. It doesn’t now,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some brands have flipped this equation entirely, treating delivery as a core part of the customer experience<\/a> rather than a cost to minimize. Features that let shoppers consolidate orders, add items to a pending shipment, and control timing don’t just reduce cost\u2014they grow basket size and build loyalty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brands that treat ecommerce shipping strategy as a customer experience question build a durable advantage. The ones still treating it as a cost center are falling further behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watson and Skiver got practical. Here’s what you can do now.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When asked what a brand could do tomorrow to immediately improve their shipping economics, the answers were specific\u2014and neither required a long implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tighten your return policy.<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> Watson’s response was direct: “You’d be surprised how many brands would like to do this but don’t. Do you need 90 days? Is 30 days enough? Are you ahead of your competition? That right there will save you money.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Optimize your packaging.<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> Skiver flagged dimensional surcharges as an overlooked cost lever. “Pretty much every carrier has surcharges related to dimensions for oversized packages, and that’s only increasing. Packaging optimization is an area where a lot of retailers still have a real opportunity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both are decisions, not projects. They improve your shipping economics easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n