Today, growth isn’t just about opening another location or expanding your catalogue. It’s shaped just as much by how effectively you use technology to scale and respond to evolving customer expectations.

But with pressure on cash flow and rising overheads, every investment in a tactic or tool carries weight. And there’s no shortage of options. New platforms, new integrations, new AI-enabled tools, each promising more sales, higher visibility or smoother operations. The volume alone can become distracting.

Not innovating, however, poses a greater risk. According to Shopify research, two in five local small businesses identify as early adopters. Innovation is already embedded across the sector, and hesitation could run you the risk of falling behind.

So where should small businesses focus this year?

Here are the four areas Shopify research shows are top of mind for SMB retailers.

One-click checkout

Thirty-six per cent of small businesses identify one-click checkout as a priority this year. For many, the most immediate growth lever isn’t attracting more traffic but rather improving what happens once a customer has already decided to buy.

Extra form fields, mandatory account creation or slow load times all create friction at the final step, deterring conversion. According to a Baymard Institute report, 24% of customers would abandon a purchase if they were forced to make an account first.

One-click checkouts shorten the distance between intent and transaction by securely storing customer details and removing unnecessary steps on return visits. While it seems like an incremental fix, this can be impactful for businesses with subscription models, lower-consideration products or a high percentage of mobile shoppers. Australian footwear brand FRANKIE4, for instance, saw 30% of their orders made via accelerated checkout last February.

That said, it’s important to review your own checkout analytics before making the leap. Where are customers dropping off in their shopper journey? It’s also worth noting that not every product benefits equally. Specialised hardware, complex B2B solutions or high-consideration purchases may require more deliberate steps, for example. But for many retailers, reducing friction at the moment of intent can deliver measurable gains over time.

Retail media networks

Shopify research shows the rising importance of retail media networks, with 35% prioritising the channel this year. As privacy changes limit third-party tracking and paid media becomes more competitive, the ability to use first-party insights in the environments where customers are already shopping is becoming more valuable.

Retail media allows merchants to promote products through sponsored placements on retailer or marketplace platforms. Rather than casting a wide net, it focuses on shoppers who are already demonstrating purchase intent, using signals like browsing and buying behaviour to surface relevant products.

Done well, it offers a tighter link between advertising and sales, and makes it clearer which products are driving revenue.

For businesses looking to take advantage of this channel, it’s worth starting with your highest-margin or best-performing products, and testing placements selectively before making big investments. Ensure the platform’s audience aligns with your brand and that results are measurable.

Used thoughtfully, retail media becomes a focused lever within a broader strategy, helping improve visibility and capture sales where intent is already strong.

Creator commerce

Collaboration is also clearly on retailers’ agendas, with 32% of small businesses prioritising creator commerce.

Influencer partnerships have existed for years. What’s changing is how tightly they are integrated with commerce. Social platforms now make it easier to tag products, link directly to checkout and track conversions. At the same time, AI-powered editing and content tools have lowered the barrier to producing polished, platform-native content. The mechanics are becoming more seamless.

But sharper production alone doesn’t guarantee results. The most effective creator partnerships are built on audience alignment and shared objectives. That means choosing collaborators whose followers closely resemble your target customer, setting clear performance measures from the outset and treating partnerships as ongoing relationships rather than one-off posts.

When approached this way, creator commerce can help businesses build interest and consideration within communities that already trust the voice delivering the message.

Next-day delivery promise

Lastly, 31 per cent of small businesses are prioritising a next-day delivery promise. Speed has quietly become part of how customers judge value. If they can get something tomorrow from one store, waiting several days from another starts to feel like friction.

That doesn’t mean small retailers need to build the kind of logistics networks the major marketplaces operate. For most businesses, that simply isn’t realistic. But there is value in taking a critical look at how efficient your operations are, and where manual processes are slowing you down.

Is inventory visibility accurate across channels? Are there steps in fulfillment that could be automated? Are you working closely enough with delivery partners to access faster options during peak periods? Incremental improvements can make a meaningful difference, whether that’s streamlining picking and packing processes, integrating systems so orders flow automatically, or using real-time stock data to prevent overselling.

Shopify’s Holiday Retail Report found 34% of shoppers cite faster delivery or lower shipping costs as a key reason to buy from a local store. By tightening your processes and removing avoidable delays, you can improve speed and strengthen competitiveness where it counts.

Ultimately, growth in this environment isn’t about adopting every new tool or tactic. Rather, it’s about choosing the ones that sit closest to revenue, remove friction and strengthen how you serve your customers. By investing deliberately, small businesses can build momentum that compounds over time.

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