We’ve analyzed trends that stood out from the five-day period between Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday and how these lessons can impact 2025 e-commerce trends for brands and retailers. Consumers spent more online than ever before, according to Adobe Analytics data. For Rithum clients, AI, social commerce and retail media strategy took center stage. Here’s what brands and retailers are investing in to reach more consumers in 2025.
1. Explosion of product categories for third-party (3P) marketplaces is reshaping e-commerce in 2025.
Brands and retailers will continue to use artificial intelligence (AI) to manage product inventory across multiple sales channels including marketplaces and direct-to-consumer websites. Retailers like Amazon use AI for real-time inventory management.
“One marketplace’s shift from 70 to 7,000 product types presented a significant challenge for suppliers. However, our latest categorizer, now in Rithum’s AI Magic Mapper, ensured seamless migration for hundreds of clients managing millions of SKUs. This highlights Rithum’s leadership in scalable AI solutions,” said Sebastian Spiegler, Director of AI, Rithum.
Rithum is currently focusing on Profitability Benchmarking, which is the process of identifying top channels, pricing strategies and returns insights.
“Profitability Benchmarking at the SKU-level is the ‘holy grail’ for brands. This process is a key 2025 focus area for Rithum and is already being piloted with strategic clients,” Spiegler said.
2. TikTok Shop will continue to revolutionize discovery and influence.
In just one year, TikTok Shop has become one of Rithum’s top 10 sales channels since launching in December 2023. This includes merchant giants like Amazon, Walmart, Target+, eBay and Zalando.
“TikTok’s innovative platform connects content with commerce enabling intuitive product discovery through viral, low-effort videos created by thousands of creators. TikTok account users with only a thousand followers are now product curators, streamlining affiliate marketing and enabling effortless monetization directly in the app,” said Lou Camassa, Director of Product at Rithum.
Currently, Rithum supports TikTok Shop in the US and UK, with launches in Spain and Ireland planned for early 2025.
“This is an incredible proposition for EMEA sellers to tap into a growing and dynamic market,” Camassa said
3. Brands and retailers are being more strategic about retail media budgets.
Consumers continued to shop well before BFCM in October. As a result, Rithum retail media clients spread-out retail media budgets.
“Rithum retail media brands and retailers had to strategically pace their seasonal budgets for a longer peak season before and after BFCM. Specifically, during BCFM week, we advised clients not to over-invest and instead ride a continuous wave of peak seasonality wins while managing the budget thoughtfully. While budget increases only averaged 3%, we were still seeing wins. This included meeting their efficiency goals with an average of 1.7 advertising cost of sales (ACOS) as one example,” said Meghan Barden, director, global retail media, Rithum.
Going into 2025, Barden believes that the promotional holiday period will continue to extend into October and well through the end of December. Clients should be prepared to extend their seasonal budgets to accommodate this length of time. Also, brands and retailers should be open to peaks and valleys in their spend and return. Leveraging product data YoY, such as noting high performing SKUs, is a strategic way to map the seasonal timeframe approach in 2025.
Delve deeper into what’s trending in third-party (3P) commerce in 2025.
Read more about trends in AI, cross-border commerce, social commerce, retail media and supply chain in Rithum’s 2024 State of 3P Commerce Report.
