Forget everything you knew about the customer journey. According to new data from customer engagement platform SALESmanago, Europe’s retail marketers are bracing for a fundamental reset, where SEO dies, TikTok sells, and private messages rule the buying journey.
In a 2025 survey of 150 marketers across the UK, Poland, and Italy, 73% said traditional SEO will be dead by 2026. That’s not a tweak to the playbook, it’s the playbook going up in flames. Algorithmic feeds, dark social chatter, and expectations for real-time, personalised experiences are slowly replacing search-driven discovery.
Retail marketers say the customer journey is splintering across platforms and into private spaces. Over 60% report rising concern over “dark social” channels like WhatsApp and Instagram DMs, which make customer tracking and attribution far harder. At the same time, 44% say TikTok is driving growing demand for social commerce, forcing brands to adapt to a world where virality often trumps visibility.
To cope, 35% are turning to AI-powered tools to decode consumer intent across fragmented channels, while 47% are investing in customer data platforms to stitch those signals back together.
From product push to personal touch
Half of the marketers surveyed say personalisation expectations are growing faster than their ability to deliver, especially as shoppers bounce between devices, tabs, and touchpoints. Meanwhile, 41% cite sustainability as an emerging driver in brand choice, particularly among Gen Z and millennial consumers.
Brian Plackis-Cheng, CEO at SALESmanago, said: “Brands across Europe are rapidly realising that consumer journeys are no longer linear, and the fact that so many marketers are questioning the value of SEO speaks volumes. As consumers move to private platforms and engage in more unpredictable, cross-channel journeys, brands need real-time intelligence, over keywords, and personalisation over products.”
With omnichannel journeys becoming the norm and private social channels muddying measurement, marketers are funnelling investment into:
- Customer Data Platforms (47%)
- Social commerce integrations (38%)
- AI tools (35%)
- Omnichannel marketing automation (34%)
The future of digital retail isn’t about mastering one channel, it’s about mastering all of them, in real time, with precision. As consumers ghost traditional funnels in favour of unpredictable, cross-platform paths, brands that can’t keep up may not make it to 2026.