Season 5, Episode 8: The state of eCommerce in 2025 (with Rishabh Jain)
Feb 18, 2025
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In this discussion, Rishabh Jain, CEO and co-founder of FERMÀT Commerce, shares his insights on the state of eCommerce advertising come 2025. He dives into Meta's Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns and the gradual rollout of generative AI tools for ad creation. The conversation shifts to TikTok Shop's growth potential and Shopify's evolving advertising strategies. Rishabh also analyzes the transition from last-click attribution to incrementality testing, emphasizing how DTC brands can adapt in a competitive landscape.
The eCommerce landscape in 2025 is marked by stabilization and a return to healthy operating conditions amid market corrections.
Meta's Advantage Plus Shopping Campaigns signify a strategic shift towards optimizing creative content over audience demographics in advertising.
Deep dives
Contextual Intelligence in App Notifications
Context SDK employs over 200 smartphone signals to accurately determine a user's real-world context, such as when they are commuting or relaxing. By leveraging this contextual data, apps can send precisely timed push notifications and tailored in-app offers, enhancing user engagement. One client using Context SDK experienced a remarkable 80% conversion boost and a 20% increase in customer lifetime value, showcasing the effectiveness of context-aware marketing strategies. This approach represents a significant shift towards more intelligent, user-centric app interactions that can foster brand loyalty and improve overall customer experience.
E-Commerce Landscape Overview for 2025
The e-commerce sector saw a rapid expansion during 2021, driven by pandemic-related restrictions, but growth subsequently slowed due to over-expenditure and market corrections. Analysts suggest that performance metrics in the e-commerce space have stabilized, with brands finding healthier operating conditions. Business owners report that effective advertising strategies still exist for quality products, indicating a return to normalcy as less viable businesses fall by the wayside. The cyclical nature of e-commerce growth highlights the importance of adaptability and the need for brands to reevaluate their marketing tactics amidst changing market dynamics.
Meta's Role in E-Commerce Advertising
Meta's introduction of Advantage Plus Shopping Campaigns (ASC) fundamentally transformed the way advertisers approach targeting by shifting the emphasis from audience demographics to creative content. This change allows brands to utilize a larger array of creative assets, with Meta's algorithms efficiently optimizing the targeting process. Industry experts note that this strategy not only enhances campaign effectiveness but also represents a significant advancement in Meta's advertising capabilities. As tools like generative AI evolve, the potential for further improvements in targeting accuracy and creative dating could accelerate overall e-commerce growth.
Challenges and Engagement with Generative AI
The gradual rollout of generative AI tools by Meta reflects a necessity to manage user comfort and trust in automated creative processes. Marketers remain apprehensive about relinquishing control over brand-specific creative outputs, emphasizing the need for careful implementation and guidance. The complexities of integrating generative AI into advertising highlight the importance of user education in leveraging new technologies. A successful transition to AI-driven creative content hinges on building confidence and ensuring alignment with brand identity, allowing advertisers to optimize their marketing strategies without compromising brand integrity.
My guest on this episode of the podcast is Rishabh Jain, the CEO and co-founder of FERMÀT Commerce, an eCommerce advertising optimization platform. This is Rishabh's third appearance on the podcast (see one and two).
I invited Rishabh back to the podcast to provide a broad overview of the state of eCommerce advertising at the outset of 2025. Among other things, we discuss:
Rishabh's outlook on eCommerce this year;
Meta's opportunities with Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC);
Whether Meta is purposefully slow-rolling the introduction of generative AI tools for ad creative;
Whether generative AI for ad creative will be captured entirely by the big platforms by necessity;
TikTok shop;
How Shopify's advertising products might evolve over the next 3-5 years;
The rise of incrementality among eCommerce merchants;
Rishabh's spiciest AppLovin take.
Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast:
INCRMNTAL. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
Clarisights. Marketing analytics that makes it easy to get answers, iterate fast, and show the impact of your work. Go to clarisights.com/demo to try it out for free.
ContextSDK. ContextSDK uses over 200 smartphone signals to detect a user’s real-world context, allowing apps to deliver perfectly timed push notifications and in-app offers.
Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact Marketecture.
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