Even though 2024 can still be seen in the rearview mirror, as per usual marketers are forced to look ahead to stay on top of new trends as the eCommerce landscape continues to evolve. This year, we expect a stronger focus on strategies that prioritize customer acquisition, adaptability to new platforms, and a deeper integration of data to drive profitability. From navigating lower average order values to embracing trend-driven platforms like TikTok, brands must refine their approaches to remain competitive. In this article, we’ll explore the key trends shaping eCommerce in 2025 and provide actionable insights to help your business succeed in an increasingly crowded digital marketplace.
AOV Will Continue to Be Low – Focus on Conversion Volume and CAC
Saying American households are struggling is an understatement. Confidence in the economy is down, and it has led to people spending less per transaction. We’ve seen advertisers combat this by generally raising prices and pushing prioritizing higher priced items in ad spend. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these tactics, but they can result in alienating potential customers who still have money to spend, just not as much of it. Luxury retailers may be the last to feel the pinch, as high income earners still drive most discretionary spending, but that leaves a vast majority of advertisers scrambling to find customers who are generally cutting back
We predict that average order value (AOV) will continue to be low in 2025 and that advertisers should instead focus on conversion volume and optimizing for customer acquisition. Having more transactions can hedge against falling revenue from lower AOV, and securing more new customers puts more people on the path to brand loyalty and higher LTV (lifetime value). Google’s Performance Max allows you to bid more for, or exclusively for new customers, and you can use your first party data to build exclusions for campaigns on paid social that exclude existing customers.
Also- Learn to be satisfied with microtransactions. The idea of “treating yourself” is going to become smaller before the economy gets better. Consumers are more appreciative of a deal than ever and saving money can be the first step to building brand loyalty. Entice customers with low-cost impulse buys and remarket them heavily with future deals, promotions, or product launches. Then, develop your customer journey to nurture low spend buyers to become evangelists- because people love to talk about a great deal.
Focus on Profit with Savvy Segmentation
While optimizing for ROAS isn’t quite dead, more sophisticated brands will make it a priority to optimize toward higher overall profit margins. This can only be achieved through transparent communication between Finance and Marketing departments. Ideally, COGS (cost of goods sold) would be recorded in the feed so that you can see a real time view of your ads’ gross profit in Google Ads. Sometimes this is a massive undertaking for brands with tens of thousands of SKUs, or brands in the fashion industry, for instance, where item turnover is very frequent. In cases like these, the best first step is often to segment product groups or categories by average profit margin- high, medium, or low. Then, you can put more spend toward products that have the best margins.
Embrace Trendiness
While it’s no surprise that TikTok spent little time dark, 2025 will decide the app's fate. We predict that there will still be a few hoops for the platform to jump through to pacify legislators, but after that more companies than ever will take an interest in reaching new audiences there.
This means embracing the inherent trendiness that the platform requires. If they’re not already doing so, brand strategists and creative managers will become more responsive to what’s popular on TikTok, and that will trickle down to resulting in better creative on other platforms.
Diversified Marketing
Try New Platforms
With platforms like TikTok and Pinterest leaning heavily into optimizing Search and Shopping offerings and CPCs still rising on Google, the wisest companies will seek to invest in testing untried platforms in 2025. While Meta and TikTok may be common sense, Reddit is highly under-utilized from both a paid and organic standpoint (though the latter is already changing as a result of Google paying Reddit to show results in Search). A great agency partner can set up media plans designed to put new platforms through their paces, while not being afraid to pivot to try new campaign types based on results.
Influencer and Affiliate Marketing
The Honey Scandal may have put a bad taste in some advertisers' mouths for large scale affiliate marketing, but we predict that trusted platforms like Rakuten will continue to grow as retailers look for new ways to grow their customer base. We also predict that many performance marketers in ecommerce will test Influencer Marketing this year, working directly with content creators to produce non-cringey UGC and build targeted brand partnerships.
Sponsored Content
If ad spend trends up, more and more companies will start to invest heavily in organic episodic content. This allows them to develop a narrative they own and build an audience of influencers rather than paying them directly. For instance, Sephora is launching a show on Hulu called “Faces of Music” examining the intersection of music and beauty. Sephora is likely dumping a ton of money into this, but that shouldn’t be a deterrent to smaller brands looking to build an audience. Short form content is still King and can be produced for little money with strategic planning.
More Competition Means You’ll Have to Sweat The (Not-So) Small Stuff
Feed Optimization
While you can use one feed for Google, TikTok, and Pinterest, each of these platforms has its own algorithm and idiosyncrasies. Beyond the basic work of making sure that all product data is ingested correctly, set up rules that optimize things like titles and descriptions for the platforms you’re advertising on. Use trending topics in keywords for Pinterest and TikTok. Stick to tried-and-true keywords with high volume for Google.
Conversion Rate Optimization on page
At larger ecommerce brands, performance marketing teams typically have little control over website functionality. Unfortunately, this often leads to wasted ad spend when qualified traffic doesn’t or can’t convert online. Ecommerce brands with websites that make search, navigation, and checkout easy and intuitive will see gains compounded by any paid media efforts.
Contact Concept for Your Commerce Needs
Concept helps ecommerce clients with performance marketing, feed optimization, UX design and audits, SEO, email marketing, and more. We have experience working with ecommerce brands in several industries and obsess about meeting the unique business goals of our clients. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help with your brand’s growth, regardless of what 2025 brings.