Category: ecommerce

Posted in ecommerce

What the 2025 Holiday Shopping Season Reveals About the Future of Ecommerce

Posted on by Nadia K

The 2025 holiday shopping season didn’t just break records – it reshaped expectations for how consumers discover, decide, and transact online.

According to Adobe Analytics, consumers spent $257.8 billion online between November 1 and December 31, marking a 6.8% YoY increase and the strongest holiday season for ecommerce on record. But the headline number only tells part of the story.

Beneath the surface, three forces defined the season: mobile-first behavior, the rise of generative AI in shopping journeys, and payment flexibility enabling higher-value purchases.

A Record Season Driven by Sustained Demand

Unlike prior years where spending was concentrated around a few promotional days, 2025 saw 25 days exceed $4 billion in online sales, up from 18 days the year before. This indicates more consistent consumer confidence throughout the season, not just deal-chasing during Cyber Week.

Cyber Week itself remained a major driver, generating $44.2 billion in online spend, with:

  • Cyber Monday reaching $14.25B
  • Black Friday growing faster YoY at +9.1%
  • Thanksgiving Day surpassing $6.4B online

Consumers didn’t wait – they acted earlier, responding to competitive promotions spread across the calendar.

Mobile Is No Longer a Channel – It’s the Default

Mobile shopping crossed a critical threshold in 2025. For the first time, 56.4% of all online transactions occurred on smartphones, confirming that mobile is now the primary ecommerce environment for consumers.

The shift was even more pronounced on peak days:

  • Christmas Day: 66.5% of sales via mobile
  • Thanksgiving Day: 61.6% mobile share

This has major implications for retailers. Optimizing for mobile can no longer stop at responsive design. Speed, checkout simplicity, payment options, and post-purchase flows must all be designed with mobile-first intent.

Generative AI Enters the Shopping Funnel

One of the most notable shifts this season was the role of generative AI as a shopping assistant.

Traffic to retail sites from AI-powered tools surged 693% year-over-year, with particularly strong usage during Cyber Monday. Consumers used AI to:

  • Research products
  • Compare prices
  • Discover deals
  • Narrow down options before purchase

While AI-driven traffic still represents a smaller share compared to traditional channels, the growth rate signals a fundamental change in discovery behavior. AI is moving upstream in the funnel – influencing consideration well before consumers land on a product detail page.

Retailers that think of AI only as an internal tool risk missing its growing influence on customer decision-making.

Discounts Didn’t Cannibalize Value. They Encouraged Trade-Up

Despite persistent concerns about margin pressure, Adobe’s data shows that strong discounts actually encouraged consumers to buy higher-priced items.

During the holiday season:

  • The share of units sold for the most expensive items rose 20% compared to the rest of the year
  • Within categories:
    • Electronics: +56%
    • Sporting goods: +55%
    • Appliances: +38%

Strategic promotions didn’t just drive volume – they shifted mix. When paired with the right messaging and timing, discounts enabled consumers to justify larger purchases rather than trade down.

Buy Now, Pay Later Reached a New Milestone

Payment flexibility played a major role in unlocking holiday spend. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) reached $20 billion in online sales, up nearly 10% YoY.

Key insights:

  • 82% of BNPL transactions occurred on mobile
  • Cyber Monday alone crossed $1 billion in BNPL purchases
  • Consumers favored BNPL for electronics, apparel, toys, and furniture

BNPL is no longer a niche offering – it’s a mainstream conversion lever, especially for higher-ticket items on smaller screens.

Social and Affiliate Channels Gained Ground

Adobe’s data also highlights a continued shift in how consumers discover products:

  • Social media revenue share grew over 40% YoY
  • Affiliates and partners (including influencers) now account for more than 20% of ecommerce revenue share

While paid search and email remain reliable, social platforms increasingly act as the top of the funnel – where inspiration, validation, and intent begin.

What This Means for Ecommerce Teams in 2026

The 2025 holiday season makes one thing clear: growth is no longer driven by a single tactic. Winning retailers orchestrated multiple levers at once.

Key takeaways:

  • Mobile-first execution is mandatory, not optional
  • Generative AI is shaping discovery and consideration
  • Payment flexibility directly influences conversion and basket size
  • Discounts work best when aligned with pricing, inventory, and experience
  • Reducing friction matters more than chasing traffic spikes

As ecommerce heads into 2026, the advantage will belong to teams that connect strategy with execution – turning insight into seamless customer experiences at scale.

Posted in ecommerce

Transitioning from eCommerce to Product Management

Posted on by Nadia K

When people imagine the career path into product management, they often picture software engineers or UX designers making the leap. My journey began elsewhere – deep in the world of eCommerce operations and digital site management. Yet every step I took in that environment quietly honed the very skills a great Product Manager needs.

Building Strategy from the Ground Up

As Digital Site Operations Lead at Hudson’s Bay, I wasn’t just keeping the lights on. I influenced the strategy and roadmap for increasing online conversion and profitability year over year. That experience – identifying levers for growth, setting measurable goals, and aligning teams around a plan – is exactly what product managers do when they craft and execute a product vision.

Living Side-by-Side with Product

Over the past five years, I have worked hand-in-hand with product managers on thebay.com, staying close to the products and features as they moved from concept to launch. I’ve helped identify customer pain points, shaped business requirements, and pulled key metrics to demonstrate the importance of new features. I’ve participated in functional, regression, and user testing, and I’ve spent countless hours troubleshooting and enhancing site functionality. This close partnership gave me a front-row seat to the full product development lifecycle and allowed me to practice many of the very responsibilities PMs own.

Leading Across Functions

eCommerce is a team sport. My roles demanded constant collaboration with Product, UX, Technology, QA, Merchandising, Marketing, Buying, and external vendors. Navigating these relationships taught me how to influence without direct authority, manage competing priorities, and keep diverse stakeholders moving toward a shared outcome. Cross-functional leadership is the beating heart of product management, and I’ve been practicing it for years.

Data as a Decision Engine

Product managers live and breathe data. In my operations career, data wasn’t an afterthought – it was the driver of every decision. I tracked site conversion, analyzed customer behavior, and used SQL to uncover insights that shaped priorities. The ability to frame problems with numbers and translate them into actionable next steps has become one of my strongest assets.

Obsessing Over the Customer

Behind every metric is a human being. Whether researching customer feedback on Medallia, retracing customer actions on Fullstory, monitoring repeat purchase rates, or fine-tuning onsite search and recommendations, I’ve always asked: What does this mean for the shopper? Keeping the customer at the center of every decision is second nature now, and it’s exactly the mindset product managers need to build products people love.

Delivering with Operational Excellence

Great ideas mean little if they can’t be delivered. Years of participating in site QA efforts, managing product information systems, and reducing defect rates taught me to balance innovation with execution. Product managers must ensure that what’s planned actually ships with quality – skills I developed while turning ambitious digital strategies into on-site realities.

Leading Teams and Scaling Impact

From hiring and mentoring analysts to developing process documentation and training materials, I’ve invested in people as much as processes. Product management is about scaling impact through others, and leading high-performing teams prepared me to do just that.

Looking Ahead

My path proves that product management isn’t limited to one background. eCommerce operations demanded strategic thinking, customer empathy, data fluency, and relentless delivery – the same qualities that define successful product managers. The titles on my résumé may read “Digital Site Operations” or “Director,” but the work has always been product work at its core.

For anyone considering a similar transition, take heart: the skills you’re honing today may already be the foundation of a product career. Sometimes, you’ve been a product manager all along – you just haven’t changed the job title yet.

Posted in ecommerce

AI Ethics: The Key to Trust in eCommerce

Posted on by Nadia K

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing eCommerce, from personalized recommendations and dynamic pricing to automated customer service and fraud detection. But as retailers embrace AI to optimize experiences and drive sales, they face a critical responsibility: ensuring AI is deployed ethically.

For eCommerce brands, AI Ethics is no longer optional – it’s a foundational pillar for customers trust, brand reputation, and long-term success.

Why AI Ethics Matters for eCommerce

Today’s consumers expect more than convenience – they demand transparency, fairness, and respect for their privacy. AI-driven tools influence product discovery, pricing, personalized offers, and increasingly, the product content itself – from descriptions to images.

A misstep – whether through misleading AI-generated content, biased recommendations, or misuse of personal data – can erode trust and spark public backlash.

Ethical AI is a competitive advantage that protects your brand and fosters loyalty.

Key AI Ethics Considerations for eCommerce Brands

1. Transparency in Personalization

  • What to Consider: Are product recommendations, search rankings, or pricing algorithms explainable to customers?
  • Why it Matters: Shoppers who feel manipulated by hidden AI may abandon your brand.
  • Action: Offer transparency tools and clear communication around AI-driven experiences.

2. Bias & Fairness in Product Discovery

  • What to Consider: Does your AI system promote products or sellers unfairly due to biased data?
  • Why it Matters: Bias limits consumer choice and can marginalize smaller or diverse sellers.
  • Action: Audit AI outputs regularly and diversify training data to promote fairness.

3. Data Privacy & Consent

  • What to Consider: Are AI-driven personalization and marketing fully compliant with privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA)?
  • Why it Matters: Data misuse erodes trust and invites legal penalties.
  • Action: Prioritize transparent consent processes and empower customers to control their data.

4. Dynamic Pricing Ethics

  • What to Consider: Are your AI-driven pricing models transparent and fair to all customer groups?
  • Why it Matters: Exploitative or opaque pricing damages brand reputation.
  • Action: Set ethical boundaries for pricing AI, ensuring fairness and transparency.

5. AI-Generated Product Descriptions & Images

  • What to Consider: Are AI-generated product descriptions, images, or videos truthful, representative, and free from manipulation?
  • Why it Matters: AI content that exaggerates product capabilities, uses unrealistic images, or creates deepfakes undermines consumer trust and invites legal risks.
  • Action: Implement strict content review processes for AI-generated materials. Clearly label AI-enhanced imagery if applicable and ensure all product representations are accurate and not misleading.

6. AI-Driven Customer Service with Accountability

  • What to Consider: Are AI chatbots and support tools reliable and inclusive?
  • Why it Matters: Poorly designed AI support frustrates customers and damages loyalty.
  • Action: Blend AI with human service options, ensuring accessibility and reliable escalation pathways.

7. Social Impact & Responsible Automation

  • What to Consider: How does AI affect your workforce, supplier diversity, and social equity?
  • Why it Matters: Automation without consideration for its broader impact can harm communities and brand integrity.
  • Action: Use AI to augment – not replace – human contributions and support equitable opportunities across your ecosystem.

Building an Ethical AI Roadmap for eCommerce

Embedding ethics in your AI strategy isn’t just good governance – it’s essential for lasting success. Start with:

✅ Content Oversight: Establish human review checkpoints for AI-generated product content and ensure authenticity.
✅ Bias Audits: Regularly evaluate AI-driven product recommendations, search, and marketing for fairness.
✅ Privacy-First Approach: Offer transparent, consent-driven personalization with robust data protection.
✅ Transparency in AI Use: Clearly communicate when AI shapes product discovery, pricing, or content.
✅ Responsible Innovation: Consider social, workforce, and inclusivity impacts in your AI strategy.

The Bottom Line

In eCommerce, where trust is fragile and competition fierce, ethical AI is a brand differentiator. Companies that integrate AI responsibly – whether through personalized recommendations, dynamic pricing, or AI-generated content – will win customer loyalty and avoid reputational pitfalls.

AI can revolutionize retail – but only if guided by ethics.