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The global e-commerce market set to pass $11 trillion milestone
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The global ecommerce market is on a trajectory of rapid expansion, set to reach $11 trillion in 2028, driven by technological advancements, seamless delivery services, and rising internet penetration.

With China and the US dominating the landscape, companies must continuously innovate to meet evolving consumer expectations, embrace ESG compliance, and leverage data-driven strategies to maintain competitiveness in an increasingly dynamic sector, says GlobalData.

Its latest Strategic Intelligence report, “Ecommerce,” reveals that the global value of transactions for the ecommerce market  is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.1% between 2023 and 2028, driven by improved technology and delivery services and wider internet adoption.

Aisha U-K Umaru, Strategic Intelligence Analyst at GlobalData, said: “The global ecommerce industry is dominated by China and the US, with market shares in 2023 of 33% and 30%, respectively. These countries are home to some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including Alibaba and Amazon, which benefit from the huge troves of data generated by user activity on their platforms.”

Subscription-based services are a growing ecommerce segment. Beauty brands like Estrid and Harry’s started with subscription services and have enjoyed great success. Both are now available in physical stores, further boosting sales. Harry’s filed for an IPO in March 2024 after reaching nearly $1 billion in revenue. However, some subscription services have struggled after a rapid rise. Once valued at almost $2 billion, meal-kit subscription service Blue Apron was bought for about $100 million by food delivery company Wonder in 2023.

Umaru continued: “Consumers are also concerned with the social and governance factors of ESG. As a result, it remains high on the agenda for ecommerce companies, both to comply with relevant regulations and to meet consumer demands. ESG regulations such as the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities are also a method of clamping down on greenwashing, the practice of inflating a company’s ESG performance for marketing purposes.”

Other terms such as carbon neutral, green, and environmentally friendly are being regulated, and ecommerce companies must ensure they comply with relevant guidelines to mitigate the risk of litigation.

Umaru conlcuded: “Initiatives like the Fifteen Percent Pledge, which urges US retailers to allocate at least 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses, highlight the increasing emphasis on social equity within the ecommerce sector. Additionally, issues such as supply chain transparency and diversity remain critical, as brands strive to align with the evolving ESG priorities of Gen Z and Millennial consumers.”

EMEA region ‘sees marketing engagement thrive’ – research
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EMEA’s focus on transparency and consent has fostered trust-focused audience building, leading to an 8% growth in marketing list subscribers – and this foundation perfectly positions marketers in the region to set the global standard for cross-channel tactics such as personalised email follow-ups and targeted automation.

That’s according to the 2025 Global Benchmark Report from Dotdigital, which also reveals that marketers in EMEA get some of the highest email engagement metrics globally. The region has a world-leading email open rate of 47%, and click-through rates (CTR) of 3.5%, far exceeding global averages and APAC’s 2%.

Other key insights from EMEA included:

  • Responsible marketing pays off: With GDPR driving transparency around consent and preferences, email lists in the region grew by 8%, proving the value of trust-focused audience-building. This growth places EMEA marketers in an excellent position to embrace cross-channel tactics like personalised email follow-ups and targeted automation.
  • Automation unlocks higher engagement: The report reveals abandoned cart campaigns in EMEA achieved a click-to-open rate (CTOR) of 16%, the highest across all global regions. This demonstrates the growing appetite for more tailored, data-driven customer journeys.

Dotdigital’s Chief Marketing Officer Juliette Aiken said: “It’s clear that marketers across EMEA excel at email, getting open and click through rates that are well above the global average. This trust-driven success has translated into 8% list growth, highlighting the value of GDPR-compliant marketing practices.

“What’s especially exciting is the role of automation, especially in abandoned cart campaigns, in EMEA delivering another global-leading click-to-open rate. By combining automation, segmentation, and retargeting, marketers in the region are sustaining engagement, reducing churn, and setting the global standard for modern marketing strategies”

The report draws from tens of billions of emails, hundreds of millions of SMS campaigns, and automation workflows sent across 40+ industries. It covers multiple global regions, including Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific (APAC).

To download the full report visit https://dotdigital.com/global-benchmark-report/ 

Photo by Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk on Unsplash

AI assistants set to pull people away from using branded apps as on-device consolidation looms
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By 2027 mobile app usage will decrease by 25% due to AI assistants – instead, smartphone users will turn to AI assistants, such as Apple Intelligence, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Meta AI, and others to replace apps for many functions.

That’s according to analysts at Gartner, who say in addition to the impact of AI assistants, apps will be consolidated across separate brands and companies, creating mobile app partnerships or consortiums to reach more users per app at scale and defray the cost of creation and maintenance.

“CMOs should begin scenario planning for the impacts of decreased mobile app usage,” saidEmily Weiss, Senior Principal for the Gartner Marketing Practice. “Brands with low app engagement and retention will likely be first impacted – this will be a positive development for brands that are not overly reliant on driving revenue via apps as app development costs will decrease. Other brands may be severely impacted by the disintermediation of users turning to AI assistants for services. The loss of app users will also result in the loss of first-party data collection and the ability to reach fewer users via mobile push notifications.”

By 2026, Over 1/3 of Web Content will be Created for the Purposes of Gen-AI Powered Search

According to Gartner’s 2024 CMO Spend Survey of 395 respondents between February and March 2024, the average CMO allocated almost a quarter of their digital marketing budget to search. Other than end users directly visiting a website, search currently drives more traffic to the average commercial enterprise website than any other referral source. Given this, a loss of search driven traffic due to algorithmic shifts by major search engines would result in tangible, negative commercial impact to any organization.

“CMOs will need to direct their teams to hire talent with a strong understanding of how GenAI, and broader AI influences, impacts the performance of their content in search algorithms,” said Weiss. “It will be important to upskill the function by investing in search and content talent with AI skillsets. These associates will need to have familiarity with creating or optimizing content to train and rank within evolving search algorithms.”

By 2028 Digital Marketers will Move 30% of their Paid Social Budget to Support Advertising and Partnerships on Subscription-based Channels

It is becoming more challenging for CMOs to maintain, let alone grow, their reach and engagement among consumers. This is especially true as consumers shift their tech and media behaviors away from social media, to other platforms and subscription based channels. Gartner’s 2024 CMO Spend survey found that since 2022, paid social has maintained the highest budget allocation for all digital media spend. In 2024, B2C Marketing leaders reported allocating 14.3% for their digital channel budget to social media advertising (an increase from 12.3% in 2023).

“Closed group communities and subscription channels offer a potential alternative for social media weary consumers and content creators who want to do more than feed the algorithm,” said Weiss. “Brands can leverage closed-group subscription channels – such as Substack, Patreon, and Discord – and the professional creators on them to reach relevant target audiences who are already engaging with content they self-selected into consuming.”

By 2027, 85% of Customer Data will be Collected from Automated Interactions or Those Led by AI Agents

Current AI models, such as large language models (LLMs), lack the agency to autonomously execute tasks and adapt in complex environments. However, as new levels of intelligence are added, new AI agents are poised to quickly become more capable and reliable as brands seek to address customer facing use cases.

“There will be more AI agents than people, so while current approaches require humans in the loop, this idea will quickly become antiquated. Marketers will need to determine when and how they can trust AI agents to act on behalf of the brand and customers across key areas,” said Weiss.

Photo by James Yarema on Unsplash

Marketers ‘must focus’ on transcending disruption in 2025
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With increased pressure to deliver growth and support cross-functional work, Gartner has identified three priorities for CMOs to deliver marketing excellence in 2025, namely Transcending Disruption, Elevating Enterprise Impact and Maximising Marketing Yield.

“Marketing faces extraordinary expectations heading into 2025, and CMOs cannot risk incremental change when the enterprise expects transformative results,” said Ewan McIntyre, VP Analyst and the Chief of Research for the Gartner Marketing Practice. “A sharp focus on marketing excellence is key. By applying the resources CMOs have with ever greater vision and discipline, they will earn the confidence of the business to expand their leadership and stewardship of resources.”

In a survey of 395 CMOs conducted in February and March 2024, respondents said they devote almost 40% of their budget to activities focused on change and transformation. The problem is that constant disruption diverts attention from long-term goals. CMOs must identify where tactical thinking has replaced strategic discipline and dedicate resources to ongoing strategy management, such as staff time, training and tools.

“A strategy management capability is a self-funding investment. While managing strategy is a core part of the CMO role, it cannot happen without a supporting organizational capability,” said McIntyre.

Gartner asserts that many CMOs are not fulfilling their growth potential – both in terms of delivering business results and maximizing their leadership effectiveness. In a survey of 125 CEOs and CFOs conducted in August and September 2024, executive leaders reported that only 14% of CMOs are effective at market shaping, or influencing market dynamics by identifying and fulfilling unmet customer needs. Companies where CMOs are effective at market shaping are 2.6 times more likely to exceed revenue and profit goals.

Market shaping CMOs distinguish themselves from C-suite colleagues with their exceptional skill-level in data-based decision making, strategy management and market knowledge. These skills help CMOs make meaning from data and convert trends into visionary strategies.

“This is a different skill set than merely understanding or empathizing with the customer,” said Sharon Cantor Ceurvorst, Vice President, Research in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “With customer data increasingly available to all functions, the CMO edge lies in knowing how to synthesize insight from an array of different sources to find opportunities for differentiation.”

With customer understanding being a significant driver of marketing-led growth, CMOs should be concerned that many customers feel misunderstood by brands. In a survey of over 6,000 U.S. consumers conducted in July and August 2024, 58% reported that the companies trying to sell them something don’t have a good understanding of their needs and preferences. The consequence is that many marketing campaigns underperform, wasting budgets, resources and opportunity.

“What’s perplexing about this is that marketing has never had more access to data, or more technology tasked with building customer understanding and targeting messages. Right now, technology-driven customer engagement is at an inflection point,” said McIntyre. “The vast majority of marketing teams are accelerating AI initiatives; 95% of CMOs in 2024 reported that GenAI investments are a priority.”

Gartner says CMOs must avoid the pitfalls of AI-driven excess and prioritize customer journey investments with the greatest economic return. A data- and hypothesis-led approach will help rebuild emotional connections with customers who are feeling misunderstood and drive a mutually productive growth engine.

Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash

Are podcasts the key to reaching Gen Z and Millennials?
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Podcasts have emerged as a powerful medium for brand discovery, overtaking traditional platforms — especially amongst younger audiences, according to new data from research platform GWI’s Connecting the Dots report.

The shift highlights a growing opportunity for brands to tap into this trend to reach their key audiences. Since 2021, brand discovery through podcasts has accelerated, particularly with Gen Z listeners, who are increasingly tuning into podcasts over other media.

And it’s not just brand awareness that has increased. Almost as many Americans get their news from podcasts (21%) as newspapers (24%) — a shift driven primarily by Millennials and Gen Z listeners, of which one in four say they enjoy listening to podcasts.

The recent US election also highlighted the importance of podcasts to American listeners, with 14% of Americans noting podcasts as a source of information on US politics, and 5% noting it as one of the most trustworthy sources.

With podcast investment on the rise through high-profile deals — like the recent acquisition of Call Her Daddy by SiriusXM for $125 million — they are positioned as a lucrative investment for brands wanting to connect with younger consumers, who are spending more time with podcasts than ever before.

However, as with all channels, brands must be mindful of ad fatigue — especially among younger listeners, of which one in five say they’ll tend to skip ads, compared to just 15% of Gen X and Baby Boomers.

In fact, consumers have made it clear that the format of an ad is a deciding factor in skipping it or switching off entirely. 17% of listeners have a preference for ads integrated into the episode, in the host’s style — making it crucial for brands to tailor engaging and relevant advertisements.

Although most listeners dedicate less than an hour a day to podcasts (42%), the growing listenership is a clear opportunity for brands to align with their audiences interests through tailored, host-led ads that seamlessly blend into the show’s content.

Commenting on these findings, Bridget Evans, Global Director of Business Brand Marketing at Spotify, said: “Gen Z’s love for podcasts extends offline, with 37% attending live podcast events, deepening their relationships with trusted hosts and communities.

“This means podcasts are now a 360-degree amplification opportunity for brands. Spotify’s ecosystem — from live events to social and audience targeting via Spotify Audience Network and more — lets brands reach these highly-engaged audiences and forge authentic connections across multiple touchpoints.”

Matt Smith, Trends Analyst at GWI adds: “Unlike traditional media, podcasts provide a unique opportunity for brands to reach listeners in an environment where ads can feel like a part of the experience. Younger generations value a deeper personal connection to content and are drawn to hosts that they find relatable, so podcasts are a powerful option for targeting these audiences in an engaging way.

“As podcast popularity continues to grow, brands that adopt a well-thought out and aligned approach to podcast advertising can create more memorable touchpoints with audiences that can’t be replicated via other channels.”

Photo by Soundtrap on Unsplash

Bricks-and-mortar ‘retail revival’ being driven by Gen Z and Millennials
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Despite frequent digital-first and social media dependent stereotyping, Gen Z and Millennial shoppers are the most frequent visitors to UK retail stores, helping drive the physical ‘retail revival’ in 2024.

That’s according to the latest research from RetailNext, which polled over 1,000 UK shoppers by RetailNext to show that while 40% of UK consumers now visit non-food stores once a week, 46% of Millennials make weekly trips to stores (+6 percentage points compared to the average UK shopper).

When it comes to fashion, younger Gen Zs were also the most frequent in-store shoppers, with the demographic more than twice as likely as the average UK consumer to head into apparel stores every week (28% vs 13%). And, despite Gen Z spending an estimated two hours every day on TikTok, a social media habit that often earns them the stereotype of being wedded to social commerce, two thirds (66%) of Gen Z, a demographic tipped to spend £1.2billion on fashion in the next 6months, prefer to use the store to discover fashion trends and products, according to a recent UNiDAYS report.

Similarly, for Health & Beauty, Gen Z were also x1.7 times more likely to visit stores weekly (34% vs 20% of average shoppers), while the proportion of Millennials taking trips to Health & Beauty shops each week is now +5 percent higher than the average UK consumer (25% vs 20%).  And with the trend for younger shoppers showing a growing preference for physical retail, increasingly online retailers, such as Gymshark, Trinny London and THG’s Lookfantastic, are looking to invest in bricks-and-mortar store networks.

“All too often assumed as being solely creatures of social commerce, younger consumer cohorts are embracing physical retail,” said Gary Whittemore, Head of Sales EMEA & APAC at RetailNext. “Whether that’s through a desire to reduce screentime, seeking more authentic shopping experiences or human interaction away from digital enclaves, or connecting and engaging with the brands they love IRL (in real life), we’re seeing rafts of younger shoppers leading the store revival both here in the UK and over in the U.S., choosing the store as their channel of choice.”

Outside of younger shopping cohorts, UK consumers as a whole are also signalling wider support for UK High Street retailers, echoing recent calls by retail leaders, including executives from M&S, Primark, Ikea and Tesco,who wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the Budget demanding more relief for the sector through business rates reform.

Seven in ten (71%) consumers polled by RetailNext wanted to see retailers better supported in the Autumn Statement, with three quarters (75%) of UK consumers wanting the Government to do more specifically to support High Street retailers.  A further 70% believe bricks-and-mortar retail businesses should be given rates cuts to level the playing field between online competition.

“For many years now, we’ve heard death knell after death knell sounding the impending doom of the High Street,” Whittemore added.  “But the reality is physical retail remains an important and compelling component in omnichannel buying journeys, prompting strong support for the High Street amongst shoppers, which is why we continue to see many pureplays actively investing in growing their physical retail offerings.”

Many retailers struggle to leverage AI to drive meaningful business outcomes, says research
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Despite UK retailers quickly adopting artificial intelligence (AI), many are yet to move past leveraging it to automate simple everyday tasks, meaning they are yet to extract the full value of the technology.

That’s according to research from Wunderkind, which polled over 100 senior retail executives for its 2024 CMO State of the Union Report, which indicates that almost all (97%) of retail teams are implementing AI in their operations in some way.

Leveraging AI for data collection was the most adopted AI used by UK retailers (73%), followed by optimising marketingdesign (72%) and marketing deployment, which includes reaching and engaging customers (58%).

However, whilst AI adoption within retail is being undertaken at pace, currently much of its deployment has focused on automating day-to-day manual and time-intensive jobs.  While this may help retailers save time and allow them to run their operations more efficiently, it’s not necessarily using AI to its greatest potential, Wunderkind suggests, especially when it comes to retailers making the most out of their data or delivering the insights needed to drive marketing and customer engagement performance.

Wunderkind’s poll suggests that currently less than two fifths (38%) of retailers are using AI to power advanced segmentation and personalisation, while 17% said their biggest challenge in deploying AI was navigating the technology’s use within their organisations.

Wulfric Light-Wilkinson, International GM of Wunderkind, said:  “AI has rapidly reached a tipping point, achieving mass adoption, though for retailers its applications remain largely limited to a narrow, mostly generative, set of use cases.  And, whilst most retailers are commonly using the tech to assist with simple everyday tasks, many haven’t yet reached the point where the technology starts to deliver meaningful outcomes.”

“To achieve this transformation, retailers need to focus on enhancing the quality of data their AI systems consume, enabling the generation of valuable insights that can lead to meaningful results.  Often, this will require collaboration with third-party AI providers, who have access to vast amounts of data from trillions of digital interactions, helping optimise processes, improve performance, and ultimately deliver a solid return on investment.” he added.

Research indicates online retailers can use chatbots to manipulate ratings
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When consumers use chatbots to submit online reviews they tend to give higher ratings but provide less detailed feedback, according to new research from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM).

Researchers Dr Dimitrios Tsekouras, Dominik Gutt (RSM) and Dr Irina Heimbach from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, found that low-quality sellers could abuse chatbots to boost their ratings and disguise the low quality of their products.

This study highlights potential risks for online retail platforms like Amazon. Dr. Dimitrios Tsekouras, a lead researcher at RSM, said: “While online reviews are crucial for informed consumer decisions, reliance on chatbots may lead to misleading ratings that do not accurately reflect product quality The research indicates that chatbot interactions, especially those with humanlike characteristics, enhance user enjoyment but compromise the depth of reviews.”

It turns out that the way companies collect reviews, and in particular the humanlike characteristics of the chatbots that collect the reviews, have an effect on what consumers say. The findings call for policymakers to consider regulations regarding chatbot usage for review solicitation to ensure transparency and maintain the integrity of online marketplaces.

The researchers conducted a series of online experiments and a field experiment. In the online experiments, participants watched a short movie for which they later provided an online review, either through a chatbot with moderate or highly humanlike characteristics, or through a conventional review form. In the field experiment, they collected course evaluations for a university class either through a chatbot or through a conventional form.

Their research, The robo bias in conversational reviews: How the solicitation medium anthropomorphism affects product rating valence and review helpfulness has been published in the Journal of the Academy of MarketingScience.

Study: Half of UK Gen Zs are abandoning brands due to ‘boredom’
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Almost half of UK Gen Zers (46%) and 29% of other generations have abandoned a brand they were once loyal to because they grew ‘bored’ of them.

That’s according to SAP Emarsys’ new annual Customer Loyalty Index (CLI), which calls on data from over 2,000 UK consumers about their marketing preferences.

SAP Emarsys survey reveals that the key to standing out in the long term lies in more personalised marketing, more relevant content, and offering unique perspectives tailored to individual interests. According to the data, younger consumers are particularly drawn to innovative marketing.

Specifically, 30% of Gen Z, compared to 23% of all demographics, have tried a new brand because of its ‘creative marketing.’ Additionally, over a quarter of Gen Z (31%) are enticed by brands that use ‘cool’ content or imagery, versus 21% of other age groups. Meanwhile, 28% of Gen Z, compared to 17% of other demographics, seek out brands that deliver ‘memorable experiences.’

To deliver on this, marketers are increasingly turning to AI to foster long-term loyalty and reach new audiences. According to SAP Emarsys’s research, two-thirds (66%) of marketers agree that AI will be crucial for boosting customer engagement in 2024, and half (50%) have already experienced a rise in engagement after implementing AI-powered personalisation. AI enables brands to stay competitive by quickly adapting to changing customer expectations.

Sara Richter, CMO at SAP Emarsys, said: “It’s clear that consumers today, not just Gen Z, expect more than ‘business-as-usual’—they want meaningful and memorable experiences. The key to delivering that is personalisation for every customer. AI is the only practical solution for providing genuine one-to-one interactions at scale, across every channel, and at the right moment. Brands that embrace AI-powered personalisation are far better equipped to keep customers engaged, especially when attention spans are short, and demands are high.

Photo by Mike Von on Unsplash

Research points to 5.3% growth in ‘back to school’ online shopping
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Back To School, an increasingly important trading period for UK retailers, delivered a welcome boost to online retail revenues, according to the latest data from Wunderkind.

Original data from Wunderkind’s Marketing Pulse, which analysed over 55.4million customer journeys during the start-of-school shopping season during 2024 and 2023, showed that web revenues for Back To School 2024 rose +5.3% year-on-year, delivering a welcome uplift in retail sales.

With Mintel estimating that UK consumer spending on Back To School items surpassed £1335millionlast year, the start-of-term trading period is now an increasingly important part of the retail trading calendar.  Kantar’s latest figures show Back To School helped drive an increase in grocery spending at the end of last month, with sales of lunchbox snacks, including yoghurts, fruits and cereal bars rising +14% year-on-year in the last week of August.  Meanwhile, other retailers including M&S, which froze pricing on school uniforms for the fourth year in a row and offered additional second-hand lines to keep prices low, and Asda, which reported an 88% increase in sales at the start of its Back To School campaign, vied for start-of-term share of wallet.

Wunderkind’s data showed that Thursday 29 August was the biggest revenue-generating day of the 2024 Back To School season, when online sales rose +46% on the daily average for the period (26 Aug – 08 Sep), as parents surged to make pre-term purchases.  Monday 02 September, the first day of the school year for many, saw the highest converting day of Back To School, with web conversions up +10% on the daily average, as final start-of-term spending and last-minute purchases were made.

As well as the opportunity to grow sales, the event also provides retailers with a timely opportunity to engage existing shoppers and acquire new customers ahead of the all-important Golden Quarter, delivering future engagement opportunities to win share of wallet during Peak Trading, Wunderkind suggests.

Wulfric Light-Wilkinson, International GM of Wunderkind, emphasised the strategic importance of the Back To School period, commented:  “In addition to being a profitable sales window on its own, Back To School serves as a critical precursor to the Golden Quarter, positioning brands for a successful peak season.  Retailers that perform well during Back To School typically carry that momentum into strong Black Friday and Christmas campaigns, as they benefit from acquiring new customers and capturing valuable first-party data for use in Q4.”

Light-Wilkinson also highlighted the growing challenges in paid third-party channels, noting: “As platforms like social media, search, and display become more competitive and costly, brands must focus on optimising their owned channels.  By building first-party data, retailers can drive more cost-efficient conversions and deliver personalised, one-to-one experiences during pivotal trading periods.”