For most of ecommerce’s short history, growth has been framed as a simple equation: more traffic, more products, more transactions. The mechanics have become increasingly sophisticated, but the underlying assumption has stayed the same. Progress looks like acceleration.
VML’s Tomorrow’s Commerce 2026 report suggests something more nuanced is emerging. Alongside Agentic AI, synthetic retail, and hyper-automation, a quieter counter-movement is taking shape. One that does not reject commerce, but reshapes its role in people’s lives. VML calls it de-commerce, and it sits firmly in the near future, not a speculative horizon.
De-commerce is not a backlash against ecommerce. It is a response to saturation. Physical clutter, digital fatigue, environmental anxiety, and the emotional cost of owning too much are starting to influence how people decide when, why, and whether to buy at all. In that context, brands that only optimise for conversion risk missing the deeper shift in consumer expectations.
The moment brands become editors, not amplifiers
De-commerce is described in the report as the art of un-selling. In practice, that means brands actively helping customers dispose of, repair, resell, recycle, or repurpose what they already own. It includes buy-back schemes, trade-in programs, repair services, resale platforms, and intelligent recycling partnerships. But it also includes something more subtle: guidance on when replacement is unnecessary.
This is a meaningful reframing of the brand’s role. Instead of acting solely as a demand generator, the brand becomes a curator of product life cycles. Instead of pushing customers toward the next purchase as quickly as possible, it creates space between transactions and earns trust within that space.
VML’s report points to a simple but powerful insight. Many consumers are not opposed to buying. They are opposed to waste, clutter, and regret. Helping someone let go of an old item responsibly often creates the psychological and physical room for a future purchase, made with greater intention and less friction.
De-commerce belongs to 2026, not someday
One of the most important signals in the report is timing. De-commerce is not positioned as a far-future concept. It sits alongside trends that will shape the next two to three years of retail behaviour. That positioning matters.
The infrastructure already exists. AI systems can auto-identify products from images, assess condition, estimate resale value, and route items to the highest-value outcome. Logistics networks are mature enough to support reverse flows. Consumers are already comfortable with recommerce through platforms like brand-led resale programs, trade-in offers, and circular fashion marketplaces.
VML highlights that 64% of consumers want to see more brands branch into resale or second-hand offerings. That demand is present now, not forming gradually. The brands that treat de-commerce as a side project risk falling behind those that design it into their core experience from the outset.
Why un-selling builds more durable growth
At first glance, helping people buy less can feel counterintuitive for ecommerce teams under pressure to hit revenue targets. The report reframes this concern by shifting the unit of value from transactions to relationships.
De-commerce creates new revenue streams in repair, refurbishment, resale, parts, and services. It also increases customer lifetime value by positioning the brand as a long-term partner rather than a one-off vendor. When a customer trusts a brand to tell them when they do not need to buy something new, the next purchase carries less scepticism and more confidence.
There is also a defensive advantage. As AI agents increasingly optimise for lowest total price, purely transactional categories face margin compression. De-commerce introduces value signals that are harder to commoditise: responsibility, care, convenience after purchase, and ethical follow-through. These signals matter to humans and are increasingly legible to machines.
The psychological shift ecommerce teams underestimate
Beyond sustainability narratives, de-commerce taps into a quieter emotional driver. Many consumers feel overwhelmed by ownership. Too many products create friction rather than freedom. Storage space, maintenance, guilt, and decision fatigue all shape purchasing behaviour, even if they are rarely articulated in checkout surveys.
VML describes de-commerce as creating circular flow rather than linear accumulation. That framing is important. The act of letting go becomes part of the brand experience, not an afterthought. Brands that make this process easy, transparent, and respectful reduce the emotional cost of consumption.
In doing so, they also reduce buyer’s remorse and returns. Customers who know they can resell, repair, or trade in an item later make purchase decisions with more confidence. That confidence often translates into higher-quality purchases rather than higher volumes.
What leadership looks like in a de-commerce world
Responding to de-commerce does not require abandoning growth ambitions. It requires broadening the definition of growth.
Leading brands treat reverse logistics as a front-of-house experience, not a back-end cost. They design digital journeys where selling back, repairing, or recycling is as intuitive as buying. They communicate product lifespan, repairability, and second-life options at the point of purchase, not buried in policy pages.
They also invest in partnerships. Local repair networks, certified recyclers, donation platforms, and resale marketplaces extend a brand’s capabilities without forcing everything in-house. VML’s examples point to ecosystems rather than closed loops, where value is shared across multiple actors.
Crucially, leading brands measure success differently. They track retained customers, reduced waste, repeat engagement, and service-based revenue alongside traditional conversion metrics. The commercial logic remains rigorous, but the lens widens.
Where ecommerce strategy meets cultural relevance
De-commerce also intersects with broader cultural shifts identified throughout the Tomorrow’s Commerce report. Anti-consumption, curated scarcity, human curation, and kinship commerce all reflect a desire for restraint, meaning, and care in an AI-accelerated world.
In that context, de-commerce becomes a credibility test. Brands that speak about sustainability while optimising exclusively for volume face growing scepticism. Brands that operationalise restraint through practical services demonstrate alignment between values and behaviour.
This alignment matters not only to customers, but to employees, partners, and regulators. Circular systems reduce exposure to future regulation around waste, right to repair, and product lifecycle transparency. They also future-proof brand narratives in a market where trust is increasingly fragile.
Making space is the new form of service
Perhaps the most compelling idea in VML’s framing is that de-commerce gives customers space. Physical space in their homes. Cognitive space in their decision-making. Moral space in how they think about consumption.
Ecommerce has spent years removing friction from buying. De-commerce removes friction from owning. That distinction matters.
Brands that help people manage what they already have position themselves not as sources of excess, but as stewards of value. In a world where AI can generate infinite options, that stewardship becomes a differentiator.
De-commerce does not signal the end of ecommerce growth. It signals a maturation of it. The brands that lead here will still sell products. They will just do so with a clearer understanding of when selling more is helpful, and when helping people let go is the smarter move.
And in 2026, that balance may be what separates trusted brands from forgettable ones.