Trends for small businesses: 8 things to know in 2026

The 2026 trends for small businesses are eight: AI as a work tool, search going through AI answers, social commerce, mandatory accessibility, transparent prices and product information, new ways to pay, fast sites on smartphones and environmental claims that must be proven. Some are opportunities, others are already legal obligations.

The Italian original of this article was born in 2022, amid supply problems and shipping delays. Four years on, the picture has changed: AI has entered offices, Google answers with AI and Europe has raised the bar on accessibility, prices and transparency. Here’s what changes for a small business and what to do, trend by trend.

What are the 2026 trends for small businesses?

In short, the eight trends and the first thing to do for each:

Trend	What to do now	Date to remember
1. AI as a tool	Pick a repetitive task and try automating it	—
2. Search with AI	Google profile and website with clear, consistent information	—
3. Social commerce	Short videos showing products in use	TikTok Shop in Italy, France and Germany since 31 March 2025
4. Accessibility	Check whether you’re obliged and run a site check	European Accessibility Act since 28 June 2025
5. Transparent prices and product pages	Lowest 30-day price on discounts, GPSR data on product pages	GPSR since 13 December 2024
6. New payments	Wallets, short checkout, instalments from reliable providers	New consumer credit rules from 20 November 2026
7. Speed on smartphones	Measure the Core Web Vitals of the pages that sell	INP in the Core Web Vitals since 2024
8. Green claims you can prove	Remove generic environmental claims	New rules from 27 September 2026

1. How are small businesses using AI?

More and more, but still not much. In Italy, according to Istat, 15.7% of small and medium-sized enterprises with at least 10 employees used artificial intelligence in 2025, against 7.7% in 2024. Among businesses that considered it without doing it, almost 6 in 10 cite a lack of skills as the obstacle.

The point isn’t to “do something with AI”, but to use it as a tool that saves time on specific tasks:

• drafts of emails, quotes and replies to customers;
• product descriptions and translations, checked by a person;
• summaries of documents, contracts, meetings;
• first analyses of sales and website data;
• ideas for posts, shop windows, promotions.

Start with a repetitive task, measure the time saved and only then expand. That’s how skills are built: it’s also why we train our own talent in-house with the AI Academy.

2. How is search changing with AI answers?

On Google, many searches now show an AI-generated answer at the top, with links to the sources: AI Overviews and, increasingly, AI Mode. On top of that, lots of people ask questions directly to ChatGPT, Gemini or other assistants.

What changes for a small business? Fewer clicks on simple questions, but more value for those cited as a source. Google explains that its AI features don’t require any special optimisation: good SEO practice applies. In practice:

• answer your customers’ questions directly, on your website and in your FAQs;
• keep name, address, phone and opening hours identical everywhere;
• look after your Google profile and reviews;
• write content with your real experience: it’s what a generic answer doesn’t have.

3. Does social commerce work for small businesses too?

Yes, especially for products you understand by seeing them in use. Social commerce is selling that starts, and sometimes ends, inside a social network: a video, a live stream, a linked catalogue. TikTok Shop has been active in Italy, France and Germany since 31 March 2025, and Instagram and Facebook have long let you link your catalogue to posts.

What to do:

• post short videos showing the product in use, with real people;
• link your social media catalogue to your online shop, so price and availability stay the same everywhere;
• measure which videos bring orders, not just views.

If you want a content plan, videos and campaigns made for your business, that’s the work of our social media and TikTok service.

4. Is digital accessibility mandatory for small businesses?

For many, yes. Since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882, transposed into national law in each member state) has required several digital services, including e-commerce, to be accessible to people with disabilities too. Microenterprises are excluded for services: fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or balance sheet up to €2 million.

Even if you fall under the exclusion, accessibility pays: a site with readable text, good contrast, clear forms and a checkout usable by keyboard sells better to everyone, including people on the underground with their phone in one hand. Run a free accessibility check on your website.

5. What changes for prices and product pages?

EU rules are pushing towards more transparent prices and products. The three to know:

• Discounts (Omnibus): under the EU Omnibus Directive, when you announce a discount, the reference price must be the lowest applied in the previous 30 days. It applies online and in shops.
• Reviews (Omnibus): if you show them, you must say whether and how you check that they come from real customers.
• Product safety (GPSR): since 13 December 2024 anyone selling online in the EU must show on the product page the manufacturer with its contact details, the data to identify the product and the safety warnings.

If your online shop runs on PrestaShop 9, the lowest price of the last 30 days can be calculated and shown by Omnibus Compliance (€29 + VAT), the module we developed so we don’t have to think about it at every promotion. For product pages, also read how to write a product description in 2026.

6. How are payments changing?

Customers expect to pay in a few seconds and the way they prefer: card, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and more and more often in instalments. For a small business there are three priorities:

• a short checkout, with guest purchase too. On PrestaShop, since version 9.2 released at the end of September 2026, one-page checkout is included in the software;
• payment methods chosen based on your customers, not on fashion;
• instalments chosen carefully: from 20 November 2026 the new EU Consumer Credit Directive (2023/2225) brings most “buy now, pay later” services under stricter rules, with creditworthiness checks. Choose reliable providers and explain the terms clearly.

7. Why does site speed matter even more?

Because almost everyone arrives from a smartphone, often on a less-than-perfect connection. Google measures experience with the Core Web Vitals: loading (LCP within 2.5 seconds), responsiveness (INP within 200 milliseconds, the metric introduced in 2024) and page stability (CLS within 0.1).

INP is the one you feel most on sites with filters, variants and a cart: if you tap a button and nothing happens, you leave. Measure the pages that bring leads or sales with PageSpeed Insights, mobile version, and fix those first. If the problem is the server, read how to choose the right PrestaShop server.

8. What changes for businesses that talk about sustainability?

Sustainability still matters to many customers, but from this year it has to be proven. From 27 September 2026 the rules of EU Directive 2024/825 against greenwashing apply across the EU: generic environmental claims such as “eco-friendly”, “green” or “sustainable” are banned if they aren’t substantiated, as are sustainability labels not based on a certification scheme.

What to do: reread your website, product pages, packaging and social media. Replace vague adjectives with verifiable facts (“packaging in 100% recycled cardboard”, “we ship each order in a single parcel”) and keep the evidence to hand.

Which trend should you start with?

Start with the one that concerns an obligation or a problem you already have, not the most fashionable one:

1. Do you run discounts? Check the 30-day rule straight away.
2. Do you sell online and exceed the microenterprise thresholds? Check accessibility.
3. Is your site slow on smartphones? Start with the speed of the pages that sell.
4. Is everything in order? Try AI or social commerce with a small, measurable project.

Need a hand working out where to start? Flag Agency, a PrestaShop web agency in Frattamaggiore (Naples, Italy), works with small businesses every day: from business websites that bring in leads to PrestaShop e-commerce development, all the way to PrestaShop support for shops that are already online. Write to us: a real person from the team will reply, within 24 hours.