5 Ecom Shifts You Can’t Afford to Ignore

If you’re online for more than five minutes, you know how loud it is — especially now.

Between BFCM prep and endless “hot takes,” it’s hard to tell what’s signal and what’s noise.

That’s why, this week, I’ve put together a shortlist of what’s worth paying attention to.

From the rapidly declining state of tracking & attribution, to the new face of ecommerce marketing, here’s what should be on your mind right now.

Are You Ready for BFCM?

Black Friday is around 50 days away.

That means it’s running tight to dial in your BFCM strategy. But there’s still time.

Most brands focus on the wrong things for BFCM. They throw everything at getting short-term spikes and winning the weekend, instead of using Cyber Week as a platform for long-term growth.

Our BFCM Strategy Report shows how you can be different — from more profitable promo strategies, to using the weekend as an opportunity to boost loyalty and acquire more valuable customers.

There’s still time to make this year a major inflection point for your brand. Get the report to learn how.

1. iOS Tracking Changes (Again)

Another major iOS update has hit. And with it, user tracking and attribution keeps getting harder.

Apple’s iOS 26 update kills most click IDs, is expanding Link Tracking Protection (LTP) everywhere, and brings tighter anti-fingerprinting rules.

This article does a great job of breaking it down. The quick summary is that Click IDs (like fbclid, gclid, ttclid, etc.) are being stripped from Safari URLs, and Apple is actively building a privacy moat that makes life a nightmare for advertisers.

There’s no reason to believe this trend won’t continue. And as it gets harder to maintain clear attribution and tracking across channels, the value of first-party data and reliable repeat revenue (especially through your own platforms, such as apps) rises exponentially.

2. International Expansion

A recent story in Modern Retail shines a light on how some brands are looking into new markets to combat tariffs.

The current tariff truce expires in November, meaning landed costs could see another huge increase soon. But brands like Loftie and Wolf aren’t waiting around to see if there’s any good news on this front.

They’re seeing international markets (non-US) as the only way forward, with Europe, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia among the markets getting more play.

As mentioned in the Modern Retail article:

“Loftie isn’t alone in taking a more global approach. A number of brands that have historically bet on the U.S. market are now deploying resources elsewhere because tariffs are tanking their bottom lines, several told Modern Retail.”

Some are still holding U.S. inventory to “keep a foot in the door”, and things could change if we get some good news on tariffs to end the year. But tariff risk has become a real growth constraint, making US no longer the default market for a lot of brands — especially those with flexibility.

3. Marketing Is Now Creator-Driven

This is nothing new. But it’s a trend you need to be on top of.

Highly polished, professional ads are finished (ok maybe not finished, but no longer the default option).

Personal, creator-driven marketing is in.

We’ve seen it with TikTok, and how effective and widespread UGC ads have become. And it keeps evolving.

Sephora is launching “My Sephora Storefront”, a creator platform built in to their site and app. This takes influencers (in one of the biggest markets for UGC) out of TikTok/Instagram and into the brand’s own ecosystem.

Of course, not all brands have the same pull Sephora does. But I’ve seen smaller brands doing similar things — like MASC, a brand we worked with, who run Instagram/TikTok-style shoppable videos in their site/app.

I predict we’re just going to keep seeing UGC and creator-driven marketing explode.

TikTok Shop is trying to recruit more CPG brands and become a grocery destination. And OpenAI is launching the Sora app, which is like an AI-driven version of TikTok and Instagram Reels (with, seemingly, more of a focus on content featuring real people than Meta’s panned “Vibes” feature).

Keep all this in mind as you shape your marketing strategy going forward.

4. Pinterest for Shopping

If you’re looking for a new channel to dabble with, Pinterest may be worth a look.

Before you laugh, Pinterest just announced at their annual advertising summit the launch of new ad products, and features that signal the platform may be doubling down on this aspect of their platform.

The platform has steadily rising MAU numbers, with the latest showing 578 million active users worldwide.

This puts it not far behind Reddit, above Twitter — though obviously some way behind TikTok (1.84 billion) and Instagram (2 billion).

Still, there may be potential here, especially for brands that fit their discovery-first positioning.

5. AI & ChatGPT Shopping

We went deep on this last week, but it’s a topic big enough that it’s worth double-dipping.

A story ran this week on Etsy sellers’ opinions on the announcement (Etsy is the first platform to have partnered with OpenAI to allow people to buy directly through ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout feature).

It seems like a big win for Etsy sellers; free visibility/CRO through AI.

Some of the sellers in the piece agree — some feel like that ChatGPT damages the connection they have with their buyers.

“The human touch is such an important part of e-commerce and my small business. If purchases are made directly through a platform like ChatGPT, some of that personal connection risks being lost.”

Etsy is Etsy. But it’s worth thinking about if there could be similar implications for DTC brands.

As shoppers become more comfortable and more used to buying through ChatGPT, the risk emerges that no one’s going to buy direct from the brand anymore.

Why would you, when you can just ask ChatGPT for the best option and run with that?

I think brands are going to have to be more proactive about how they set up personal touchpoints and build these connections.

Otherwise, you risk ceding all control to AI over whether or not your customers end up coming back.

Final Thoughts

The landscape’s shifting fast. Privacy walls are rising, creators are eating the ad world, and AI is quietly rewriting how people shop.

If there’s one theme across all five stories, it’s control — who has it, and who’s losing it.
Brands that double down on first-party data, authentic creator partnerships, and owned platforms will weather the chaos.

Everyone else will be at the mercy of algorithms, tariffs, and platform rules.

Stay scrappy. Stay adaptable. The next few months are going to reward the ones who move first.

On the Pod

In case you missed it, this week we had Raphael Faccarello from Yon-Ka Paris on the pod.

For beauty brands like Yon-Ka, loyalty is crucial. You can’t survive on one-off purchases. And they’ve done a great job of bringing customers back, with half of their buyers making repeat purchases.

Eric and Raphael dived into what they’re doing to maintain such strong retention, and the different tools pulling weight in their stack.

Check out the episode below:

That’s all for now.

Keep an eye out for next weeks’ email, plus earlier in the week when I’ll have the takeaways from the next episode of the Retention Edge pod — this one’s another successful founder who shared some hard-earned insights on how their approach to retention has evolved over the last 18 years.

If there’s any topic you’d like to see us dive into, for either the newsletter or the podcast, just shoot me a message here.

Until next time,

Pietro and The Retention Edge Team

PS: want to boost retention, revenue and profitability? If so, launching your own app could be the best move you make this year.

See how: go to our website to get a preview of your app for free, or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn to talk about it.