Venmo launched Venmo Stash, a bundled brand rewards system for users, per a press release. Cardholders can select handpicked bundles of their favorite brands—which include Uber, Lyft, Target, Walmart, and Sephora—to earn a flat 1% back on their purchases. Users can raise that rate to 2% by enabling auto-reloads to their wallets and 5% for adding at least $500 in direct deposits on Venmo each month. Injecting more choice into consumers’ rewards adds incentives to make a card top of wallet. Leaning into flexible rewards and card-linked offers can help secure younger consumers who are looking for value and functionality at checkout during economic uncertainty.
OpenAI’s push into commerce took a major step forward with the launch of in-app shopping on ChatGPT, though it will take time to gain traction as a meaningful retail sales channel.
Singles Day transactions in China rose 17.6% YoY to 1.7 trillion yuan ($240 billion), according to Syntun, marking a slowdown from last year’s 26.6% gain despite extended campaigns and heavy promotions from Alibaba and JD.com. Platforms poured billions into vouchers and discounts, but longer sale periods diluted urgency and limited impact. The event’s waning momentum highlights China’s broader economic challenges—rising frugality, youth unemployment, and deflationary pressures. To reignite excitement, platforms may need to move away from drawn-out promotions toward shorter, high-impact campaigns that restore Singles Day’s original urgency and appeal.
Visa Direct will pilot letting businesses and platforms send stablecoin payouts to recipients’ crypto wallets, per a press release. The importance of the creator economy is growing for ecommerce. Over half of US social shoppers follow creators or influencers, and almost half (49.5%) of all US social shoppers have made a purchase based on creator content. Instituting quick and reliable stablecoin payouts for freelancers can help them retain key marketing contractor team members on social media platforms. However, crypto adoption has met resistance: Per a Kansas City Fed report, the largest predictor for cryptocurrency payments is payee preference, far outstripping speed, privacy, or cost.
This year, media and entertainment brands will spend nearly twice as much on linear TV ads (10.0%) as they will on over-the-top (OTT) streaming services (5.4%), according to MediaRadar data and an August 2025 EMARKETER forecast.
Airbnb and Instacart plan to launch a pilot program that would enable guests in select cities to order grocery delivery before and during their stays, per Bloomberg. The partnership is a win-win, offering Airbnb the chance to improve the guest experience, and giving Instacart an opportunity to expand its reach and boost ad revenues. As competition between delivery platforms heats up, deals like these are poised to become more common as companies look for new ways to win over customers.
Amazon announced a breadth of AI-powered ad options on Day 1 of its annual Unboxed event designed to simplify campaign creation and deployment. Amazon’s new resources give advertisers a uniquely full-funnel solution that’s difficult to find in the crowded digital marketing world.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss why 7-Eleven is opening more stores even as foot traffic falls, explore its next engine of growth, and consider some bold moves that could help future-proof the convenience store giant. Listen to the discussion with Vice President of Content and host Suzy Davidkhanian, Senior Analyst Blake Droesch, and Principal Analyst Sarah Marzano.
Swiss sneaker brand On Holding will skip holiday discounts to reinforce its premium positioning, co-founder Caspar Coppetti told CNBC. The strategy follows a strong Q3, with adjusted EPS up 300% YoY and revenue rising 24.9% to 794 million francs, beating expectations. While rivals like Nike and Hoka are cautious about global demand, On raised its full-year forecast for the third consecutive quarter. Positioned in the “accessible luxury” segment, On continues to benefit from affluent consumers’ spending power and consistent innovation, helping it sustain growth despite broader economic softness and market headwinds.
40% of global consumers say they’ve gone out of their way to spend less on US products in response to tariffs, with Canadian consumers leading the way, based on July data from Morning Consult.
US online sales jumped 8.2% year over year to $88.7 billion in October, with $9.1 billion spent during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days and rival promotions, according to Adobe Analytics. The surge highlights ecommerce’s growing clout, driven by social and influencer-led shopping. Despite resilient consumer spending, rising reliance on Buy Now, Pay Later and record credit card debt hint at mounting financial strain. With forecasts pointing to slower but still solid holiday growth, the season is set to reflect a polarized economy—strong at the top, stretched at the bottom, yet collectively keeping ecommerce momentum alive.
The world’s largest digital platforms are increasingly treating AI as the foundation of a new commercial paradigm, according to recent earning calls from Google, Amazon, and more.
Amazon’s quiet expansion of its low-cost apps, Haul and Bazaar, into 25 markets highlights a cautious strategy to counter Shein and Temu without diluting its core brand. Despite marking Haul’s first anniversary with an unannounced two-day sale on November 10–11—aligned with Veterans Day and Singles Day—the company offered little promotion, even as it ramped up marketing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The understated rollout suggests Amazon views Haul less as a major growth engine and more as a defensive play to retain budget-conscious shoppers amid cost-cutting and automation efforts.
As shoppers flock to LLM-powered searches to learn more about products and set shopping budgets, Salesforce data reveals new opportunities for brands looking to have a firm hold on their customers' journeys.
Visa and Mastercard reached a settlement with merchants to lower interchange fees in the US, ending a 20-year battle in the courts, per SEC filings. The networks will lower their average effective interchange rate by 0.1 percentage point for five years and cap standard US credit rates at 125 basis points. Small businesses trying to maximize their bottom lines by declining premium cards need to incentivize their consumers to switch to a compatible payment method. Offering discounts or loyalty programs contingent on standard credit cards, debit, or cash can help mitigate dissatisfaction while changing their consumers’ payment behavior patterns.
Samsung is reportedly in advanced talks with Barclays to develop a co-branded Visa credit card, per the Wall Street Journal. The card’s cash-back rewards would funnel back into cardholders’ Samsung accounts to encourage spending on Samsung products and services. To accelerate users’ adoption of the card, tech companies with payment ambitions should build a flywheel to lock in new consumer spending patterns. By centering rewards and device upgrades to the same credit card and wallet, consumers can find both the products, services, and financing they desire all in one place.
"The magic where I see it is all that you have done through the year actually get puts into practice and see the result during the holiday season," said Minyi Su, marketing lead at Bluemercury, during a recent episode of "Behind the Numbers."
Convenience continues to outweigh cost savings for many shoppers, driving strong growth across the grocery delivery market. Instacart led the sector in Q3 with a 14% increase in orders and a 10% rise in gross transaction value, while Uber and DoorDash also posted solid gains. As online grocery adoption accelerates, Instacart is doubling down on affordability through price parity and loyalty integrations to counter economic pressures. Convenience remains a powerful growth driver, but its durability will depend on how effectively delivery platforms balance ease with value as consumers grow more price-conscious.
Gen AI tools are making it easier to carry out ecommerce fraud. Bad actors are increasingly using genAI tools to trick moderation teams, Nicolas Waldmann, the head of external affairs for TikTok’s global governance and experience unit, told Business Insider. That includes creating more convincing listings for fake or counterfeit products, as well as fabricating brands. While AI slop is not unique to ecommerce marketplaces, the stakes are high—especially for emerging ones like TikTok Shop that are still trying to win consumers’ trust. Shoppers who lose money on products that don’t exist are unlikely to become loyal customers, and widespread fraud can deter consumers from purchasing in the first place.