Shopify says 2026 is "the year of the normal person" (and why that's good for UX) - Perspective #60

Hey ,

Shopify dropped their 2026 ecommerce trends report last week. Buried in all the algorithm talk and influencer predictions was something actually useful: "2026 is the year of the normal person."

Grace Clarke, Shopify's head of community, put it like this: "Brands are finding more ways to engage with real people in a genuine way. It's about finding ways to encourage your community to talk about the products, sort of optimizing for the group chat and not the public Instagram story."

That's a UX insight disguised as a marketing trend.

The slow content rebellion

While everyone's been obsessing over 7-second TikTok clips, skin care brand Sonsie posted a 1-minute-39-second video of Pamela Anderson tending her garden. Slow. Cinematic. No jump cuts.

People watched the whole thing. Then shared it without even knowing what the brand was.

The CEO calls it "slow content," videos that reward you for not scrolling. It's working because people's nervous systems are shot from rapid-fire content.

"The longer we have with one thought, the more likely we are to take an action because of it, because we're motivated, not stressed out," Clarke explains.

Good UX isn't just about speed. Sometimes it's about slowing people down.

The authenticity bar just got higher

Here's an interesting twist: as machine-generated content makes it easier to create "standard" stuff, authentic content becomes more valuable.

Think about smartphone cameras. Everyone suddenly had access to decent photography, so the bar for content quality went up. Same thing happening now. Higher baseline, but truly creative work stands out more.

For Shopify brands working with design studios, the message is clear: "The people who are doing authentic, creative work are going to be valued more."

What "normal people" actually means for UX

When brands optimize for "the group chat" instead of the Instagram story, they're designing for intimacy over virality. That changes everything:

• Loyalty programs get personal: Ouai (hair care brand) is ditching "points for purchases" and rewarding customers for comments, reviews, wearing merch on Instagram, even loving a specific product scent.

• IRL experiences matter again: Hedley & Bennett (kitchenware) is throwing more in-person events. Not big productions. Micro events where people actually connect. "It's just going back to things that are real," says founder Ellen Bennett.

• Customers have the power: Golden West Boots founder Michael Petry puts it bluntly: "In the past, bigger brands would dictate what the trends were. That has sort of gone away. It's harder to direct consumers into your direction, whereas you take a lot more feedback directly from the consumer."

The real insight

Shopify's Grace Clarke again: "Anything that a brand does should be a little off. It should be slightly different. It's actually safer for a brand to do something kind of weird because that is going to be more memorable and get people's attention."

Perfect is boring. Weird wins.

So what?

The most interesting part of Shopify's 2026 trends isn't the tech. It's the anti-tech: slowing down content, hosting real events, getting weird, listening to customers instead of dictating to them.

We've been saying this for years. Nice to see it catching on.

—Shaun and Taylor

P.S. If your brand feels like it's trying too hard to be perfect, maybe it's time to get a little weird. We can help with that.