Online retailers face strategic choices when they budget for the best use of their ecommerce technology dollars.
Tech is indispensable for merchants who rely on online sales. That’s probably why 30% of online merchants Digital Commerce 360 surveyed in February said they considered their ecommerce platform investment in 2024 to have been “very effective.” Another 40% said it was at least “somewhat effective.”
So, which new technologies are making retailers most satisfied?
Survey results shared in Digital Commerce 360’s 2025 Special Ecommerce Platforms Report offer a peek at where these merchants have the fewest regrets.
Best ecommerce technology investments, according to retailers
Asked how effective they felt their ecommerce technology investments had been in 2024, online retailers participating in the survey cited two options above all others as technologies they were “using with good results.” Those technologies, which each received response rates of 44.4%, were artificial intelligence (AI) and marketing automation. In both cases, 22.2% said they were using these technologies, “but with limited results.”
The motivations for making these investments are clear.
35.0% of retailers in the same survey called their AI investments “very effective” when it came to improving conversion rates. With a survey high 37.5% of respondents calling content management a budget priority in 2025, demand is there. Meanwhile, new use cases in agentic commerce are arriving on the market with hopes of shortening shoppers’ paths to discovery through personalized help.
Which ecommerce technologies help improve conversion rates?
Along with AI, only one other area received a “very effective” response rate of 35.0% in the survey. That other area was supply chain management, which has become an area full of tension and unpredictability in 2025, thanks to escalating trade policy disputes and tariffs between the U.S. and other countries. Those tariffs are impacting ecommerce, with retailers addressing tariffs and associated preemptive measures on recent earnings calls.
After all, if products aren’t in stock, they can’t be sold to consumers. Moreover, if retailers have to pay more from international suppliers due to new tariffs, those costs can be passed on to shoppers, potentially making those shoppers less likely to purchase. Thus, technology solutions for optimizing supply chains and minimizing new costs may have added value in 2025.
Concerns were on display at Costco, where CEO Gary Millerchip mentioned “higher supply chain costs” during Costco’s March earnings call. Millerchip acknowledged “unpredictability that we’ve seen in supply chain timing” and “potential risk around tariffs” while assessing his company’s outlook.
In addition, Shoe Carnival CEO Mark Worden noted 2024 was a “volatile landscape” for the industry on his company’s March earnings call.
“We also have the added unknown of tariffs yet to play out with the customer, vendors and industry pricing,” Worden stated.
Patrick Edwards, the chief financial officer at the retailer, explained that Shoe Carnival purchased more inventory at the end of 2024. Doing so, he said, helps “hedge against potential supply chain disruption from port worker strikes and from tariffs.”
Inventory levels in preparation for tariffs
February results released by the Logistics Manager’s Index showed that Costco and Shoe Carnival have likely not been alone. The February edition of its monthly report, which tracks relative inventory levels over time, showed inventory levels increasing, with growth peaking in late January and early February. The report assessed that while part of this growth was likely due to firms replenishing inventories after the 2024 holiday season, many were probably also trying “to stay ahead of potential tariffs.”
“There have been anecdotal reports of smaller firms bringing in greater levels of inventory to avoid potential cost increases from tariffs,” the report found. “There are surely other factors at play; but taken together, these readings could lend support to that argument.”
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