The business case for unified commerce: Growth, efficiency and ROI backed by real data

Unified commerce has been around for years, yet only 7% of retailers can claim they’re leading the pack. At the other end of the spectrum, 33% of retailers remain at the Basic stage, with 30% each at the Developing and Advanced tiers. 

According to the latest report by Manhattan and Google Cloud, every step up in unified commerce maturity drives measurable growth: Retailers at the Leading stage show 2x higher growth rates than those at the Basic level. 

The report further states that, “Advanced maturity levels deliver the most significant near-term revenue boost, underscoring the importance of investing in operational excellence and customer experience. As these growth benefits accumulate over time, the opportunities for expansion become even more promising.” 

This shift is driven by rising customer expectations and the rapid commoditization of capabilities. Unified commerce enables brands and retailers to continuously raise the bar for customer experiences. What were once differentiators — such as digital wallets and real-time inventory visibility — have now become table stakes. In 2026, the bar is rising again, with in-store personalization and agentic commerce emerging as the next competitive advantages.

For brands and retailers facing rapidly evolving consumer expectations and market dynamics, playing catch-up is no longer viable. They must stay ahead as capabilities commoditize faster than ever. The technology enabling this is unified commerce.

At its core, unified commerce creates a single source of truth across customers, products, pricing, promotions and inventory, allowing brands and retailers to build seamless experiences on top, from endless aisle to AI-driven shopping.

Consumer behavior reinforces the need for unified commerce: 

• 75% research products online before buying in-store. 
• 63% use smartphones in-store to compare products. 
• 98% research a product or brand before purchase. 

Retailers must match this behavior with connected systems, not fragmented channels. 

Beyond driving revenue and growth, unified commerce improves efficiency and reduces costs. Retailers can eliminate duplicate systems, such as legacy POS solutions, while optimizing operations. Case in point: Improving fulfillment precision to reduce stockouts.

Unified commerce also enhances customer service. With real-time access to unified data, store associates spend less time on manual processes and more time assisting customers, handling returns seamlessly, delivering personalized recommendations and enabling frictionless fulfillment.

The Australian electronics retailer Jaycar shows how unified commerce translates into measurable business impact. By leveraging commercetools InStore, the company connected its online and in-store channels in just six weeks, replacing a traditional POS system with a single platform for transactions, returns and refunds across all channels. The retailer also embedded associate training into the platform, avoiding significant external training investments.

Ultimately, unified commerce has proven its value. It enables brands and retailers to scale with a flexible architecture that supports continuous innovation without disruption, reduces costs through operational efficiencies, and provides the foundation to stay ahead of evolving customer expectations.

Explore the full business case for unified commerce in the following infographic.

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