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Despite juggling stubbornly high prices, ever-shifting tariff policies coming out of the Trump administration, and an increasingly dour mood among shoppers, digital-first consumer brands have actually been having a good year.
Over the past 12 months, returns have been climbing with 73 percent of e-commerce businesses reporting a significant or moderate increase in profitability. That’s according to a new survey commissioned by Mercury, a San Francisco-based financial technology company that provides banking services to more than 200,000 startups. The report, which was released on Thursday, polled 750 leaders from e-commerce businesses in the U.S. during the months of October and November.
The survey found that larger and younger businesses tended to overperform. Among companies with more than 500 employees, the share reporting a significant or moderate increase in profitability rose to 87 percent. Some 78 percent of businesses that had been in operation for less than 10 years said that returns rose, compared with 61 percent of businesses
When it came to upping margins over the past year, another major differentiator was AI adoption. Businesses that reported using AI extensively were more than two times more likely to increase profitability, compared to the businesses that reported using little to no AI. Still the report stressed, “These figures show correlation rather than causation — but they do highlight a clear divide.”
The e-commerce companies that had adopted AI were also much more likely to have an upbeat view about the year ahead. Among business leaders that used AI, 92 percent said they were optimistic about the growth of their companies in 2026, compared with 69 percent of business leaders that did not use AI. Those that reported extensive AI use were even more confident about the year ahead with 96 percent of respondents saying they were optimistic about future growth.
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Ali Donaldson
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