Mid-market ecommerce retailers in the UK and US are posting strong year-on-year gains, but Linnworks says the biggest obstacle to further expansion is no longer demand—it is “operational design” and how well businesses are set up to scale.
That’s the central message of Linnworks’ 2026 State of Commerce Ops Report, based on input from 500 companies across the two markets. All respondents sit in the mid-market band, with annual revenues between $7.5m and $100m, and are navigating the complexity of running across multiple digital channels and fulfilment networks.
The study indicates that growth is broad, with 89.6% of UK respondents and 88.8% of US respondents reporting moderate to significant year-over-year improvement. Yet Linnworks says scaling remains uneven: “scalability is selective,” and tends to correlate with automation levels and channel maturity.
Linnworks CEO Jon Bahl said: “As retailers navigate the ever-evolving ecommerce industry, one thing remains clear: growth and operational maturity are inseparable. Our new survey data sheds light on the ongoing growth of the market while providing clients with strategies for scalability and progress.”
Inventory visibility emerged as a persistent weakness for mid-sized online sellers. Only around one-third of respondents said they have excellent visibility across all channels and warehouse locations, a shortfall that can magnify errors as mid-market ecommerce retailers add marketplaces, geographies and fulfilment nodes. Linnworks noted that inaccurate stock tracking, inconsistent system reliability and fulfilment execution issues remain common as companies expand.
The report also suggests AI is moving rapidly from optional to foundational. More than half of those surveyed said they already use AI chatbots for customer support, including 60.8% in the US and 54.8% in the UK. Overall, more than 95% said they use AI somewhere in their operations, and most expect to increase adoption in 2026 once they identify “effective” use cases. Linnworks said AI is also being deployed in demand forecasting, inventory management, marketing optimisation and fraud prevention.
Automation is increasingly viewed as standard operating practice rather than a differentiator. In the UK, 64.8% of surveyed businesses reported that their operations are majority or highly automated; in the US, the figure was 60%. Linnworks says the depth of automation still varies widely, and those differences show up in resilience, growth outcomes and leadership confidence—separating companies that can scale smoothly from mid-market ecommerce retailers that grow into operational friction.
On fulfilment, the report argues that logistics choices remain central to customer experience and operational stability. Retailers working with multiple carriers were described as more resilient during peak periods, encountering fewer disruptions and having greater flexibility to manage delivery speed and cost.
