Introduction

Running an online store is no longer simply about putting products on a website and accepting payments.

Customers expect relevant product recommendations, convenient returns, transparent delivery options, personalised promotions, fast checkout experiences, and easy access to their order information.

At the same time, businesses need their eCommerce operations to remain connected to inventory, sales, accounting, customer management, and fulfilment.

This is where Odoo's approach to eCommerce stands out.

Rather than treating the online store as a standalone sales channel, Odoo connects eCommerce with the rest of its ERP ecosystem. Products, inventory, sales orders, customers, payments, and deliveries can be managed from the same platform. Odoo's current eCommerce offering already includes product variants, multiple stores, B2B and B2C websites, subscriptions, marketplaces, inventory availability, abandoned-cart automation, cross-selling, payment providers, shipping, and sales analytics.

With Odoo 20 on the horizon, that approach is expected to become even more sophisticated.

Based on the Odoo 20 roadmap presented to partners and subsequent analysis from Odoo partners and consultants, several eCommerce improvements are particularly worth watching. These include automated cross-selling, customer self-service returns, standalone catalogue pages, promotion progress indicators, rating requests and a new eCommerce dashboard.

Let's take a closer look at what these changes could mean for online retailers and businesses selling through Odoo.

What Is Changing in Odoo 20 eCommerce?

The direction of Odoo 20 eCommerce appears to be centred around three major objectives:

1. Make it easier for businesses to increase conversions.
2. Make the customer journey more convenient.
3. Give businesses better visibility into eCommerce performance.

This means the upcoming changes aren't simply cosmetic improvements to the online store.

They address important parts of the customer journey—from discovering products and increasing basket size to managing promotions and handling returns after a purchase.

1. Automated Cross-Sell Recommendations

One of the most interesting Odoo 20 eCommerce updates is automated cross-selling.

Cross-selling involves recommending complementary products that customers may want to purchase alongside the item they are already considering.

For example, an online electronics store selling a laptop could recommend:

• A laptop bag
• A wireless mouse
• A keyboard
• A USB hub
• A laptop stand

Traditionally, businesses would have to manually configure these relationships.

The Odoo 20 roadmap points toward automated cross-selling, where the system can suggest complementary products rather than requiring businesses to manually create every recommendation.

This could make product recommendations easier to maintain, particularly for businesses with large catalogues.

Why this matters for online retailers

Automated recommendations can help businesses increase the value of each transaction without requiring customers to search for additional products themselves.

For a retailer with thousands of products, manually maintaining cross-selling relationships can also become a significant administrative task.

Automation can reduce that workload while creating more opportunities for customers to discover relevant products.

2. Customer Self-Service Returns

Returns are an important part of eCommerce, but they can also create significant administrative work.

A customer may need to:

1. Contact customer support.
2. Explain what they want to return.
3. Wait for instructions.
4. Receive approval.
5. Arrange the return.
6. Wait for the business to process it.

The Odoo 20 roadmap introduces a more direct approach.

Customers are expected to be able to initiate returns themselves through the customer portal, selecting the relevant order or items and providing a reason for the return.

This is potentially one of the most valuable improvements for businesses selling online.

What happens behind the scenes?

The important part is that the return isn't treated as an isolated website request.

It can remain connected to the underlying Odoo sales and inventory workflows.

This means the business can maintain visibility of the return within the same ERP environment rather than managing the process through separate emails or spreadsheets.

Why this matters

Self-service returns can:

• Reduce the volume of routine support requests.
• Give customers more control.
• Speed up return processing.
• Improve visibility for warehouse teams.
• Keep return information connected to the original order.

For businesses with significant eCommerce transaction volumes, this could make post-purchase management considerably more efficient.

3. Standalone Catalogue Pages

Another interesting addition is the introduction of standalone catalogue pages.

A traditional eCommerce website assumes that customers are entering a complete online store.

But not every business needs that approach.

Some businesses may simply want to showcase a particular collection, product range or selection without creating a full shopping experience around it.

Standalone catalogue pages could be useful for:

• Seasonal product collections
• B2B product catalogues
• Wholesale product ranges
• Campaign-specific collections
• Product launches
• Limited product assortments
• Industry-specific catalogues

The Odoo 20 roadmap identifies standalone catalogue pages as one of the upcoming eCommerce improvements.

This gives businesses greater flexibility in how products are presented online.

4. Promotion Progress Bars

Promotions are often more effective when customers can clearly see how close they are to receiving a benefit.

Odoo 20 is expected to introduce a promotion progress bar that communicates how much more a customer needs to purchase to unlock a promotion.

Imagine a customer sees:

"Add ₦15,000 more to unlock free delivery."

Or:

"Spend ₦10,000 more to receive 10% off."

Instead of simply displaying the promotion, the store actively shows the customer how close they are to achieving it.

Why this could improve conversions

Customers who are already close to a promotional threshold may be encouraged to add another product to their basket.

For example:

Cart total: ₦85,000

₦15,000 more to unlock free delivery

That simple piece of information can encourage customers to increase their order value.

For retailers, this creates an opportunity to increase average order value (AOV) while giving customers a clear incentive.

5. A New eCommerce Dashboard

Another major update expected in Odoo 20 is an improved eCommerce dashboard.

An online store generates enormous amounts of information.

Businesses need to understand not only how much they sold, but also what is driving those sales.

The roadmap and partner analyses point toward a more centralised eCommerce dashboard for monitoring store performance.

Depending on the final implementation, businesses can expect greater visibility into areas such as:

• Revenue
• Orders
• Conversion performance
• Product performance
• Average order value
• Returns
• Customer activity

This brings eCommerce performance closer to the decision-making environment of the ERP.

6. Rating Requests After Purchase

Customer reviews can have a significant influence on online purchasing decisions.

However, getting customers to leave reviews requires businesses to actively encourage them.

Odoo 20 is expected to introduce rating request flows as part of its eCommerce improvements.

This could allow businesses to request feedback after customers complete purchases.

For example:

"How was your experience with your recent purchase?"

The customer can then provide a rating or feedback.

Why reviews matter

Customer ratings can help businesses:

• Build trust with new shoppers.
• Identify customer satisfaction issues.
• Understand product performance.
• Improve the shopping experience.
• Generate social proof.

This connects the post-purchase experience more closely with the eCommerce platform itself.

7. Better Promotion and Loyalty Experiences

The promotion progress bar is part of a broader movement to make promotions more visible throughouto make promotions more visible throughout the shopping journey.

Odoo already supports features such as coupons, promotional codes, gift cards, eWallets, and cross-selling.

Odoo 20 is expected to make promotional mechanics more interactive by showing customers how their current shopping behaviour relates to available rewards.

This could be particularly useful for:

• Free-delivery thresholds
• Minimum-spend discounts
• Buy-more-save-more campaigns
• Loyalty rewards
• Product-based promotions

Instead of forcing customers to understand the promotion themselves, the website can communicate the incentive directly within the shopping experience.

8. Stronger Integration Between eCommerce and Marketing

One of the broader themes emerging from the Odoo 20 roadmap is that Website, eCommerce, and Marketing are becoming more closely connected.

This is important because an online store doesn't operate independently from marketing.

A typical customer journey might look like:

Advertisement → Website → Product Page → Cart → Purchase → Follow-up → Review → Repeat Purchase

When these activities are connected inside one system, businesses can better understand what happens before and after a transaction.

Odoo's roadmap also points toward broader Marketing Automation improvements, including additional automation steps and AI-related functionality.

This creates opportunities for businesses to connect eCommerce transactions with automated marketing activities.

9. Improvements to Website Performance

Performance is critical for eCommerce.

Customers don't want to wait for product pages to load.

Slow websites can lead to:

• Higher bounce rates
• Abandoned carts
• Poor user experience
• Lower conversion rates

Odoo 20 roadmap analyses also identify website performance improvements, including faster loading and optimised assets.

For eCommerce businesses, performance improvements aren't merely technical upgrades.

They directly affect the customer experience.

10. Better Product Discovery and Shopping Experiences

The eCommerce improvements expected in Odoo 20 build on functionality that already exists within the platform.

Odoo currently provides product search, categories, filters, product comparisons, variants, wishlists and a streamlined checkout process.

The new functionality appears designed to make these experiences more commercially effective.

Instead of simply helping customers find products, Odoo is increasingly helping businesses guide customers toward relevant products, promotions and actions.

That is an important distinction.

11. Improved Delivery and Checkout Experiences

Some of the most significant eCommerce improvements have already appeared in Odoo 19.x releases and provide an indication of the direction of the platform going into Odoo 20.

Odoo's official 19.3 release highlights include improvements around:

• Delivery date selection
• Pickup time configuration
• Website-specific units of measure
• Flexible payment options
• Product attribute presentation
• Product packaging and UoM-based pricing rules

These improvements matter because checkout is where customer intent becomes an actual transaction.

The evolution of Odoo's eCommerce experience is therefore not limited to product pages—it extends into payment, fulfilment and delivery.

12. More Flexible eCommerce for B2B Businesses

Odoo eCommerce is not limited to traditional B2C retail.

The platform already supports B2B and B2C websites independently and allows businesses to configure different pricing structures for different customer profiles.

The expected improvements to catalogues, promotions, pricing and customer portals could make the platform increasingly useful for businesses operating hybrid B2B/B2C models.

For example, a distributor could maintain:

• A public product catalogue.
• A private B2B customer portal.
• Customer-specific pricing.
• Different product availability rules.
• Different promotional structures.

This is particularly relevant for wholesalers, manufacturers, and distributors that are increasingly adopting digital ordering channels.

What These Odoo 20 eCommerce Updates Mean for Businesses

Taken together, these improvements point toward a more intelligent eCommerce model.

The emphasis is shifting from simply selling products online to managing the entire digital customer journey.

Consider the potential journey:

Product discovery

Customers find relevant products through better catalogues and product recommendations.

↓

Conversion

Cross-selling and promotional incentives encourage larger purchases.

↓

Checkout

Improved payment and delivery options make completing the transaction easier.

↓

Fulfilment

The order remains connected to inventory, sales, and delivery operations.

↓

Returns

Customers can initiate returns through the portal.

↓

Feedback

The business can request customer ratings after the purchase.

↓

Retention

Marketing automation can re-engage customers based on their behaviour.

This is where the ERP element becomes particularly important.

All of these activities can exist within one connected business platform rather than being managed across multiple disconnected tools.

Who Should Pay Attention to Odoo 20 eCommerce?

The upcoming changes will be particularly relevant to:

• Retail businesses
• Wholesalers
• Distributors
• Manufacturers selling directly to customers
• B2B businesses
• Subscription businesses
• Multi-store businesses
• Businesses with high return volumes
• Companies already using Odoo for inventory and sales

Businesses already running their sales and inventory operations in Odoo may find the deeper eCommerce integration particularly valuable.

Should Your Business Wait for Odoo 20?

Not necessarily.

The fact that Odoo 20 is approaching does not mean businesses should delay necessary digital transformation projects.

Odoo 19 already provides a substantial eCommerce toolkit, including product management, inventory integration, promotions, abandoned-cart automation, payment providers, shipping, marketplaces, and analytics.

Businesses can therefore begin improving their eCommerce processes now while preparing for future upgrades.

If you are already using Odoo, it is worth reviewing:

• Your current eCommerce configuration.
• Custom modules.
• Website customisations.
• Payment integrations.
• Shipping integrations.
• Product catalogue structure.
• Customer portal configuration.
• Promotional rules.
• Inventory workflows.

This becomes especially important for businesses with extensive customisations, because future upgrades should be planned and tested rather than treated as a simple button click.

How Businesses Can Prepare for Odoo 20 eCommerce

The best preparation isn't necessarily technical.

It starts with understanding your customer journey.

Ask:

Where do customers struggle to find products?

Review your categories, filters, search functionality, and product descriptions.

Where are customers abandoning purchases?

Analyse your checkout process, payment methods and delivery options.

Are customers frequently asking about returns?

If so, a self-service return workflow could have a significant operational impact.

Are you manually managing product recommendations?

Identify products that are frequently purchased together.

Are your promotions increasing order values?

Look at whether customers understand your promotional thresholds.

Can your teams measure eCommerce performance easily?

Make sure management has access to the metrics required to make decisions.

These preparations will help businesses get more value from the new functionality when it becomes available.

Final Thoughts

Odoo 20 is shaping up to make eCommerce more intelligent, more connected, and more focused on the complete customer journey.

The most notable expected updates include:

• Automated cross-selling
• Customer self-service returns
• Standalone catalogue pages
• Promotion progress bars
• eCommerce dashboards
• Rating request flows
• Stronger connections between eCommerce and marketing
• Website performance improvements

These aren't simply additional features.

They address some of the biggest challenges faced by online businesses: increasing order value, reducing support workload, improving customer experience, understanding store performance and encouraging repeat purchases.

Odoo's own 2026 eCommerce event is already positioning Odoo 20 around modern online-store creation, advanced catalogue and inventory management, streamlined checkout and delivery, multi-website capabilities, SEO, AI-powered productivity, recommendations, promotions and return management.

However, it is important to remember that Odoo 20 is still a roadmap at this stage. Odoo's Partner Days material represents planned or demonstrated directions rather than a final release-note list, and roadmap items can change before the official release.

For businesses already using Odoo—or considering Odoo as an ERP and eCommerce platform—the right approach is to understand these changes now, evaluate their current setup, and prepare for the capabilities that will have the greatest impact on their operations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the biggest new eCommerce feature in Odoo 20?

There isn't necessarily one single standout feature. Automated cross-selling and customer self-service returns are among the most commercially significant updates, while the promotion progress bar and eCommerce dashboard could provide important benefits for conversion and performance management.

Will customers be able to manage returns themselves?

The Odoo 20 roadmap indicates that customers will be able to initiate returns through the customer portal, creating a more self-service post-purchase experience. The exact final workflow should be confirmed in Odoo's official release documentation.

What is automated cross-selling in Odoo 20?

Automated cross-selling is intended to recommend complementary products to customers based on their shopping context, reducing the need for businesses to manually configure every product relationship.

Can Odoo eCommerce support B2B businesses?

Yes. Odoo already supports B2B and B2C eCommerce configurations, including separate websites, customer-specific pricing and integrated inventory and sales processes.

Should businesses upgrade immediately when Odoo 20 is released?

Not necessarily. Businesses with customizations or third-party integrations should assess compatibility, test the upgrade and plan their migration carefully. The decision should be based on the value of the new functionality and the organization's technical and operational readiness.