Digital shelf for e-commerce: Drive revenue with better visibility, pricing, and product experience

AI-driven discovery, social buying moments, mobile-first journeys, voice search, and sustainability expectations are changing how shoppers decide what earns their attention and spend. 

DHL’s 2025 research shows that 91% of online shoppers now use smartphones, 37% already purchase through voice-enabled experiences, and 82% say viral or trending products influence what they buy. At the same time, Deloitte’s B2C commerce research highlights an apparent disconnect between brand confidence and shopper reality: fewer than half of consumers rate online discovery and filtering as effective, while most brands believe they perform well.

The digital shelf in e-commerce reflects how well you handle those demands across channels. It determines how products appear, how pricing and promotions hold up to instant comparison, and how much confidence shoppers place in the information they see.

In today’s multi-channel buying environment, this article looks at how pricing, visibility, and experience perform across the digital shelf through Digital Shelf Analytics and day-to-day digital shelf visibility. It then connects those outcomes to B2B e-commerce buying journeys and the role PIM for e-commerce plays in keeping product data, pricing logic, and experience signals aligned.

Why does the digital shelf matter in e-commerce?

E-commerce performance increasingly rises or falls at the digital shelf, where pricing signals, content accuracy, and availability compete in real time. What is at stake goes beyond optimization and directly affects revenue, experience, and trust, which is why digital shelf management has become a daily operational concern for e-commerce teams.

Revenue

Digital shelf spend is projected to surge from $1.88 billion in 2025 to $5.84 billion by 2035 at a 12% CAGR, driven by e-commerce’s continued acceleration and buyers’ shift to mobile and social channels, while AI optimization and real-time inventory management raise the baseline for visibility and competitiveness. Brands that ignore those drivers lose digital shelf space to faster competitors. At the same time, consumers get fewer relevant results, weaker availability signals, and pricing that feels out of step with the market.

Experience

E-commerce shoppers expect richer, more accurate product content and smoother discovery. Deloitte’s B2C commerce research finds a gap between brand confidence and shopper experience, with far fewer consumers rating onsite search and filtering as effective compared to brand expectations. NRF’s 2025 Retail Returns Landscape shows online return rates at 19.3%, driven in part by unmet expectations around product details and clarity. Clear descriptions, relevant recommendations, and consistent experiences reduce confusion and costly downstream returns.

Trust

Trust now functions as a purchase filter rather than a brand sentiment indicator. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that trust, alongside price and quality, ranks as a deal breaker, shaped primarily by direct experience rather than messaging. On the digital shelf, shoppers judge credibility through consistent specs, accurate images, and clear information at the point of comparison. When those signals break, trust erodes quietly, leading to abandonment, brand switching, and reduced willingness to buy again.

What does your e-commerce team need to manage on the digital shelf?

Buying decisions now form across search results, marketplaces, social feeds, and apps, which means you are judged on signals shoppers process in seconds rather than on brand familiarity alone. Managing the e-commerce digital shelf requires attention to several interconnected areas that influence how your products compete, convert, and stay credible.

1. Pricing and promotions

You face shoppers who reassess value at checkout based on total cost, delivery fees, and payment flexibility. DHL’s 2025 e-commerce research shows abandonment rises when preferred payment methods or cost clarity fall short, making pricing consistency just as important as the promotion itself. You protect conversion when promotional logic aligns across channels and payment types, especially when shoppers evaluate affordability after they reach the basket.

2. Competitor benchmarking

As shoppers compare products across marketplaces, retailer sites, and mobile apps, your competitiveness is shaped by visibility, pricing, reviews, and content quality in real time. Market research shows that Digital Shelf Analytics now uses AI, machine learning, and data visualization to reveal ranking shifts and pricing gaps across platforms. Without access to those signals, you make decisions without seeing how your products actually stand up to competitive pressure on the digital shelf.

3. Seasonality and campaigns

Seasonal performance increasingly depends on how early and how visibly you participate in shopper discovery moments. Sprout Social’s Q4 2025 survey shows that 44% of social users are more likely to buy when brands launch campaigns ahead of peak periods, and that social media ranks as a top discovery source for holiday purchases. You influence conversion before checkout by matching campaign timing and content to where trends emerge, not only where transactions occur.

4. Customer experience and personalization

Deloitte’s research shows that many digital experiences feel generic because brands struggle to personalize at the individual or segment level. The study highlights that most organizations haven’t prioritized or invested in the personalization tools consumers actually find helpful, including tailored recommendations and context-aware content. You notice the impact when product journeys repeat across visits and channels, signaling that experience logic is not adapting to intent. Stronger product data foundations enable personalization that feels relevant rather than generic.

5. Availability and fulfillment

NRF’s research shows fulfillment expectations strongly influence purchase decisions, with 81% of shoppers reviewing return policies upfront and 82% prioritizing free returns. These behaviors reflect how shoppers assess the risk that an order will arrive on time and as described. You lose confidence when delivery windows feel uncertain, or stock signals lack precision, because shoppers attribute any confusion or delay to your brand long before a carrier enters the process.

What should you do next to strengthen your e-commerce digital shelf?

Your next steps depend on where your digital shelf needs the most support. These resources help you build stronger product foundations, improve visibility, and reinforce accuracy across every channel.

Create a digital shelf foundation your teams and customers can trust

Your digital shelf reflects every choice you make about pricing, content, availability, and channel execution. Structured, aligned, and connected product data helps you maintain visibility, support better experiences, and reinforce trust at the moment shoppers decide.

A PIM system brings that consistency into each update, from seasonal shifts to daily competitive changes. If your product data worked this smoothly every day, how far could your digital shelf performance go? Contact us and find out today!