The Paypers has recently published the Global Ecommerce Report 2026 – Scaling Ecommerce and SaaS: Finding the Right Partners to Succeed across Borders.
In 2025, global ecommerce faced challenges such as trade tensions, tariff volatility, and recession concerns, resulting in slower growth than seen since 2022. However, forecasts for 2026 indicate a stabilisation period, with the market expected to grow to USD 6.8 trillion.
China, the United States, and Western Europe remain dominant in global ecommerce, contributing an impressive 80.5% of sales worldwide. Though growth in mature markets is steady, emerging economies are leading the way with double-digit increases, particularly in Southeast Asia and LATAM, which are among the fastest-growing ecommerce regions.
Industry voices from organisations, consultants, merchants, and payment service providers have come together to provide a comprehensive guide in the Global Ecommerce Report 2026, aimed at offering actionable insights for global success. This edition offers a forward-looking, data-driven perspective on the evolving ecommerce landscape, focusing on innovations such as agentic commerce, social selling, and stablecoins.
The Contents of the Report
Spanning five chapters, the Global Ecommerce Report 2026 explores key trends, technologies, and opportunities. Key highlights include:
- An overview of the global ecommerce landscape, including geopolitical influences on cross-border markets, the rise of super apps, QR code-initiated payments, agentic commerce, stablecoins, livestream ecommerce, etc.
- Regional analysis of LATAM, MEA, and APAC growth markets.
- The role of Merchant of Record models in facilitating global expansion with reduced complexity.
- Discussion on payment orchestration as a key driver for change, addressing the buy vs. build dilemma, fraud prevention, and AI-driven self-optimising payments.
- Best practices for merchants and platforms, including strategies for foreign exchange (FX), optimisation of payment mix, gaming payments, infrastructure considerations, and more.
Original Research by The Paypers
The report features two original research pieces:
- An infographic on payment orchestration players, broken down into key capabilities and regional activation insights (North America, Europe, APAC, LATAM, MEA).
- An infographic on growth markets: a collaborative effort with PCMI mapping the payments landscape in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia, the UAE, and Nigeria, highlighting local merchant acquirers and PSPs.
No matter whether you’re a merchant looking for new market entry, a solution provider seeking growth opportunities, or a payments expert interested in ecommerce trends, our report provides essential clarity to help you stay ahead. Download your free copy of the Global Ecommerce Report 2026.
