Buying decisions extend beyond brand websites. Customers now discover, compare, and select products across social platforms, marketplaces, answer engines, connected devices, and AI-powered experiences.
These channels open new paths to purchase, but each one changes the cost and level of control involved in reaching customers.
Many organizations are responding by testing new channels as quickly as possible. But showing up everywhere is not a strategy. Each new environment brings different costs, operating requirements, data dependencies, and levels of customer control. Without a clear economic framework, channel expansion can increase visibility while reducing margins.
The strategic question is which channels can produce profitable growth.
New Channels Bring New Operating Requirements
For years, expanding into a new channel followed a familiar logic: reach more customers and generate more revenue. But the equation changes as algorithms and large language models influence which products buyers discover, they compare their options, and which brands make the shortlist.
Every distributed commerce environment plays by different rules. Answer engines reward authoritative content and structured product data. Social platforms reward engagement and algorithmic relevance. Marketplaces favor competitive pricing, fulfillment performance, and positive ratings. Connected devices prioritize frictionless transactions, often with less direct brand visibility.
The economics and capabilities that drive growth in one environment may not work in another.
Organizations need to look beyond new storefronts or technical integrations. Sustained growth depends on strong product data, adaptable content operations, clear governance, reliable measurement, and an operating model capable of supporting each channel after launch. Modernization means strengthening these foundations, then investing in the channels where they can create lasting value.
Perficient Participated in Forrester’s Research
Against this backdrop, Perficient was among the organizations interviewed for Forrester’s report, Distributed Commerce Strategy: Algorithms And LLMs Become Sellers, published in June 2026.
The report examines how social platforms, answer engines, and connected devices are creating new paths to purchase outside brand-owned sites.
It also explores how algorithms and AI agents shape product discovery and turn customer intent into purchases with fewer steps than traditional buying journeys.
Participating in these environments can require expanded content operations, make attribution harder to track, and give third-party systems more influence over how a brand and its products are represented.
These tradeoffs need to be addressed before launching, not after a channel is already in market.
Treat Channels as an Investment Portfolio
Perficient’s participation in the research reflects the questions we help organizations address:
- Where should the business compete?
- What capabilities will each environment require?
- How much control will the organization retain?
- Do the economics justify continued investment?
The answers will differ by channel.
A marketplace initiative may increase revenue while compressing margins and limiting access to customer data. An answer-engine strategy may improve product visibility while requiring sustained investment in structured data, content quality, and governance. Social commerce may create demand while increasing dependence on algorithms the organization does not control.
Distributed commerce should be managed as an investment portfolio, not a channel checklist.
Leaders should evaluate each opportunity based on revenue potential, margin impact, operational complexity, customer relevance, governance requirements, and ownership of the customer relationship. Before launching a pilot, they should establish success criteria, decision points, and exit conditions.
A disciplined strategy defines where to invest, when to scale, and how each channel can support profitable growth.
Turning Distributed Commerce Strategy into Action
Perficient helps organizations connect commerce strategy to the capabilities required to execute it. We modernize product and customer data and structure content for AI-powered discovery. We also integrate commerce platforms with enterprise systems and establish governance and measurement models that guide investment decisions.
We also help teams pressure-test new opportunities before committing to broader investment. The result is a model that can generate measurable value, operate efficiently, and adapt as platforms, algorithms, and customer behavior change.
Our participation in Forrester’s research reflects a sustained focus on how AI, data, content, and platform ecosystems are reshaping commerce. It also reinforces a practical reality: more distribution does not automatically create more value.
Organizations that build a sustainable distributed commerce model will be positioned to respond as new channels emerge and customer expectations evolve.
For a deeper look at how algorithms and LLMs are changing product discovery and buying, access, Forrester’s Distributed Commerce Strategy: Algorithms And LLMs Become Sellers.
