E-commerce

Speed and transparency: The new CX imperatives for 2026

Many CX breakdowns aren’t caused by ‘bad experiences’; they’re caused by mismanaged expectations. 

Data from Humii, which combines real human feedback from online mystery shoppers with powerful AI analysis, shows that online customers are often disappointed not because something failed, but because what they were led to expect didn’t align with reality.

According to Humii co-founder and CEO Mareile Osthus, common examples of retailers getting it wrong include ambiguous dispatch and delivery times, a lack of live chat availability or long queue lengths, inconsistent returns policies – increasingly misaligned between own-stock and marketplace items –, and long refund timelines.

Osthus stresses that shoppers may tolerate slower service if expectations are clearly set, but uncertainty drives churn.

“Whether fast or slow, the silent trust killer is poor communication and uncertainty. Shoppers don’t expect perfection across every channel, but they do expect clarity and certainty.

Humii’s data comparing timelines during peak trading periods in 2024 versus last year shows that the e-commerce landscape has slowed rather than sped up – the opposite of what consumers are expecting. 

Notable gaps across some industry segments:

• Average refund time: 12 days in 2024 versus 13 days in 2025.
• Live chat response time: 1.6 minutes to 1.7 minutes.
• Dispatch time: 2.4 days to 2.3 days.
• Email response time: 21 hours to 27 hours

The average delivery time remained stable at 5.3 days. 

Within the overall e-commerce industry, the trend and young fashion category delivered the fastest response times, clearly outperforming the industry average. This category outperformed across most metrics, especially in refund times, averaging just five days compared to the overall 13-day average. 

“Historically, these retailers have always been the fastest when it comes to shipping times, delivery times and response times,” says Osthus.

“In many instances, they offer instant refunds, unlike other industry segments. We can clearly see that retailers with a younger audience adapt faster to what customers expect – specifically, the sports and activewear segment, as well as outdoor, are highly competitive.” 

The trend and young fashion category sits half a day below the average dispatch time, and sports and outdoor is 0.4 days below the average dispatch time. “Significantly, we see these segments outperforming the average refund times by almost two days, at 2.45 days for the trend segment,” she says. 

The email response times for trend and young fashion are in line with the average, seeing more customers using live chat. Sport and outdoor activities outperform by an average of seven hours. 

The slowest segments were streetwear and modern classic, underperforming across all metrics.

One metric that stands out is response to return authorisations (RAs). In 2024, shoppers waited an average of four days to receive an RA; this more than doubled to nine days last year. Meanwhile, the rate of unresponded RAs (no reply after a month) has tripled, from 3 per cent to 9 per cent, with serial offenders most commonly in the pet supplies and beauty and nutrition categories, although these were generally the segments with lower return rates. 

The best of the best

The Humii-Inside Retail Online CX Index reveals the Australian retailers who set the benchmark in providing online shoppers with both speed and transparency: 

• The Iconic
• Go-to Skincare 
• Beginning Boutique 
• Bed Threads
• Fayt the Label
• Intersport. 

What customers expect in 2026

Based on Humii’s data, shoppers are clear as to what they want to know when shopping online:

• Live chat: Expected response times, queue numbers, or the ability to leave a message if offline. AI bots must provide a seamless handover to a human when needed.
  
• Email: Realistic response times. Any reply longer than 24 hours risks customer frustration. A confirmation email acknowledging receipt of a query is essential.
  
• Dispatch and delivery: If timelines change, particularly during peak periods, shoppers must be informed. Parcels taking longer than a week to reach purchasers create impatience and erode trust.
  
• Return authorisations: Responses must happen within three days. Shoppers should never have to follow up multiple times; unresponded RAs lead directly to lost customers.

Osthus concludes with a strong takeaway for the year ahead: CX isn’t just about being fast, it’s about managing expectations effectively. 

“Retailers who clearly communicate timelines, acknowledge limitations, and follow through consistently will win trust, loyalty, and repeat business, while those who leave shoppers guessing risk being left behind.”