The commerce leaders winning in 2026 are those who invested early in AI-fluent talent. The gap between AI-capable and AI-dependent businesses is real, widening, and compounding.
Five London commerce startups rebuilding how Britain buys and sells — from cross-border localisation and returns management to AI category management and sustainability verification.
London is expensive — but the most successful commerce founders aren’t those who made it cheap, they’re the ones who made deliberate decisions about where to spend and where to conserve.
Five supply chain questions keeping UK commerce leaders awake — from inventory optimisation and supplier concentration to climate resilience, sustainability verification, and warehouse automation.
London businesses are losing customers to unseen competitors via search. The solution is not complex — but it requires sustained investment that most businesses have yet to make.
UK retailers above £500m revenue face mandatory Scope 3 emissions reporting from 2027. The data challenge is formidable — and preparation time is running out.