2025 is shaping up to be a big year for ecommerce.
New tech, shifting customer behavior, and some big changes in how brands operate are all on the horizon. To help you prepare, we tapped five of Triple Whale’s thought leaders to share their take on the trends that will shape 2025.
From the explosion of AI and social commerce to an emphasis on in-person experiences and platform diversification, these are the real shifts we’re seeing—and what they’ll mean for brands trying to grow in a competitive space.
Let’s dive in.
Brands will start leveraging generative AI in ecommerce to process and analyze far more data than was humanly possible before, giving them a deeper, broader understanding of their business.
Instead of focusing on just a subset of metrics or insights, businesses will use AI to identify patterns, opportunities, and trends across the entire organization — at scale.
We’ll also see the rise of AI agents purpose-built for specific jobs. These agents will automate large parts of roles, driving efficiency and freeing teams to focus on higher-value, creative, and strategic work. Brands that embrace agentic AI will gain a competitive edge, unlocking smarter decision-making and operational agility at every level.
AI will also transform the role of creatives in advertising — both in how they’re generated and how they’re optimized. We’re already seeing AI play a big role in creative generation, but the next step is automation. AI will enable brands to produce, test, and iterate on creatives faster than ever, whether that’s for hyper-personalized campaigns or higher-level strategies.
But I know John might disagree with me on that one (see No. 5 on this list).
There’s a lot to consider as we head into the new year, both on the consumer demand and brand capability side. Here are some trends I think will define 2025:
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We’re about to be flooded with AI-generated content — even down to influencer videos — which will put a premium on authentic interaction. And we're just coming out of a bitter and contentious election cycle, so coming together in communities will feel even more important.
I predict we’ll see an explosion of brand-led digital communities, IRL events, VIP focus groups, and more. I imagine many of them will be tied to social impact causes as well — think volunteering outings organized by brands.
I hope 2025 will be the year we come together more, instead of focusing on what keeps us apart. And I think brands who architect this shift will reap the rewards in customer loyalty, lifetime value, and word of mouth.
In 2025, ecommerce brands will double down on platform diversification, driven by clear signs from 2024 that relying heavily on someone else’s digital real estate is risky.
Algorithm changes, rising ad costs, and increased competition have underscored the dangers of over-reliance on platforms like Meta, Google, or Amazon. To mitigate these risks, brands will start spreading their efforts across more ad platforms (Applovin, Pinterest, Perplixity, X, CTV, etc.) and prioritize the growth of owned channels like email, SMS, loyalty programs, apps, SEO, and CRO.
This shift comes with challenges—managing creative, copy, and targeting across five or more platforms. At the same time, scaling owned channels requires greater operational agility, sharper customer insights, and investments in tools that streamline multi-channel marketing.
The brands that thrive will balance diversification with a strong emphasis on building direct, meaningful connections with their customers.
We’re at an interesting point in the life of AI. It’s better than many humans at plenty of things, but it still isn’t better than the best humans at most things. Also - we’re all being told to frantically embrace it or we’ll be obsolete.
Don’t get me wrong — AI is a fantastic sidekick for things like chatting with your data, impact modeling advertising channels, and media mix modeling.
The key is to lean into AI and optimize for operational efficiency instead of creative excellence.
The market is flooded with B-grade creatives produced by brands, agencies, and marketing teams with the assistance of AI.
So, instead of optimizing for a high volume of B-grade creatives, the best brands will focus on producing a “high enough” volume to ensure they can run plenty of tests while prioritizing creative excellence.
In their creatives, they’re willing to:
Brands like that make projections as if they’re going to improve but then optimize for efficiency instead of improvement are going to be common in 2025. Brands that use AI to assist them and really double down efforts in the places where they — as humans — can still beat AI are going to be rare, but they’ll be the real winners.
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In 2025, more AI tools for ecommerce will surface and current AI tools will improve at a rapid pace.
But leading brands will hire individuals or teams dedicated to researching and implementing the latest
AI tools, while also ensuring all of the new AI is used to the best of its ability and turns into measurable efficiency.
Huge chunks of time are spent amongst marketers (in-house and agency) and operators sifting through reports, looking for golden nuggets that they hope will unlock efficiencies throughout the business. Through human-in-the-loop training, AI will be able to uncover these nuggets while we sleep, leaving us with the task of creative execution.
As AI becomes more powerful and more heavily integrated across the web, testing landing page variants, imagery, copy, and product merchandising will become easier than ever. Where marketers were once forced into launching multiple variants of landing pages and website heroes will become an automated process owned by an AI agent that has a human-driven brand book and guidelines to execute on.
Based on Triple Whale’s previously reported data, Google Ads is losing share of spend amongst its portfolio of brands. But, you can’t spell FAANG without G and that G is Google. Google will find a way through its portfolio of platforms and AI products to deliver on what its ecommerce customers need most: incremental purchases.
So, what’s the big takeaway for 2025? It’s all about balancing innovation with authenticity—whether that’s using AI to streamline your workflow, building a loyal community, or creating scroll-stopping content.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but one thing’s clear: The brands that embrace change and connect with their customers in meaningful ways will come out on top.
Game on, 2025. Let’s make it happen.
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© Triple Whale Inc. 266 N 5th Street, Columbus OH 43215
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