AI is becoming a regular part of online shopping, but consumers are not abandoning traditional search. Instead, they are combining the two as they research products and move toward a purchase. That is one of the main findings of Similarweb's State of E-commerce 2026 report. Direct referrals from generative AI platforms grew 203% year over year, making AI one of the fastest-growing sources of e-commerce traffic. Yet AI still accounts for only 0.4% of retail e-commerce visits. The more interesting development may therefore be happening before the click. Similarweb found that AI recommendations can significantly influence purchasing decisions even when…
Sprint 104 is about making what we already have more dependable. Publication status is now verified rather than assumed; our accessibility program now reaches the last pages of the studio interface; and both editors now use a shared set of design tokens. Behind the scenes, we continued work on the AI Assistant, the MCP Server, and the new Story Builder canvas. Publication Status Check Publishing to the Icecat Network could previously return a successful response while the story did not actually appear — or was removed shortly afterward by validation on the receiving side. The feedback status alone was not…
