E-Commerce 2025: The New Rules of Digital Retail

TikTok Shop is all over the headlines, and for good reason. In the UK, seller sign-ups have jumped by 85%. In France, 72%. The format is simple: mix entertainment and product discovery, then layer commerce on top.

But before we all dive in headfirst, a word of caution: TikTok Shop is still very much in its test-and-learn phase, especially in Europe.

🧠 What we’ve learned so far:

• It’s not about sales pitches. Long, teleshopping-style livestreams haven’t worked well. What converts is native content that entertains first.

• Creators drive conversions. People trust people. Especially relatable, engaging creators with niche communities. Brands should support them (not replace them).

• Millennials are where the money is. Gen Z drives engagement, but older audiences are more likely to click and purchase.

• The trust gap is real. Concerns around counterfeit products and data privacy can slow adoption. Transparency is key.

At Lengow, we’ve already integrated with TikTok Shop, and we’re supporting pioneering brands like Fnac Darty to find their voice on the platform. It’s early days, but the potential is there, for those who treat it as a long-term investment, not a quick win.

Let’s be honest, Reddit doesn’t scream “commerce.” There are no glossy influencer campaigns or clickbait videos. But scratch beneath the surface and it’s one of the most powerful platforms for product discovery in 2025.

📊 In May alone, Reddit clocked 4.51 billion visits, with an average session of over 13 minutes. More telling? Reddit accounts for 21% of citations in Google AI results and over 11% in ChatGPT answers.

Source: Profound.com

💬 Why this matters:

• Reddit isn’t about interrupting, it’s about joining. Ads appear within product discussions, comparisons, and reviews. You meet shoppers at the moment of decision.

• It’s a platform that algorithms trust. AI models like ChatGPT and Google’s SGE source heavily from Reddit because it’s human, nuanced, and vetted.

• Users are highly intent-driven. Over 40% of Redditors say they’ve made purchases based on threads. That’s not just passive browsing (that’s action).

With Lengow’s Reddit Ads integration and Dynamic Product Ads, brands can now show up in relevant subreddits with laser-targeted offers. If your audience does research before they buy, Reddit is where they are.

Let’s talk AI, and not the vague, fluffy kind.

Right now, ChatGPT is already influencing purchasing behaviour. Shoppers are turning to generative AI for product recommendations, comparisons, deal-hunting, and gift ideas. According to Adobe, 53% of US consumers use GenAI to conduct research before buying.

And it’s not just research.

🛒 Merchants are reporting direct traffic and conversions from ChatGPT. When users click on product cards or recommendations, they’re redirected to brand sites – often with strong intent and low bounce rates. On average, this traffic browses 12% more pages and bounces 23% less (source: Adobe).

💡 Pro tip: If your brand isn’t showing up in ChatGPT search, check if your site is blocking the OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT’s crawler). Also, make sure your product data is clean, structured, and optimised for conversational queries.

OpenAI has also started working on direct product feed submissions. It’s the beginning of a new traffic source, one that’s only going to grow.

Here’s where things get really interesting – and a bit unsettling.

The big platforms (Google, Amazon, OpenAI, Microsoft, Perplexity) are all rolling out “Buy For Me” functionalities. That means AI agents that not only research and compare, but also make purchases on your behalf.

This changes everything.

🧭 From pull to push: Until now, shoppers browsed and clicked their way to checkout. Now, AI agents are pre-filtering results, building baskets, and auto-checking out based on user preferences.

📉 UX is no longer your biggest weapon: Agents don’t care about flashy websites or homepage videos. They care about structured product data, speed, and relevance.

🤖 Welcome to algorithmic trust: If you want to win in an agent-mediated world, your brand needs to be chosen. That means optimising for both humans and bots. Yes, both.

The brands that master this shift won’t just earn more traffic. They’ll earn delegated loyalty, AI agents choosing their products over competitors’, again and again.

Temu and Shein made massive waves in 2023–2024, particularly in the US. But by mid-2025, things have shifted.

📉 Temu’s monthly users in the US have halved since March. Shein also saw a 12% dip. Why? Tariffs up to 54% and the end of the de minimis exemption have dented competitiveness.

But the story in Europe is the opposite.

📈 Temu recorded 62% YoY growth in Europe in May alone, especially in France, Germany, and Spain. That’s on the back of heavy ad spend and aggressive expansion strategies.

⚠️ Both brands now face new EU scrutiny around consumer protection and environmental standards. Shein was fined €40 million in France. The EU is considering a €2 fee on low-value parcels.

👉 Takeaway: These platforms are evolving fast. They’re powerful, aggressive, and, for now, winning hearts in Europe. But regulatory hurdles are real and they’ll shape how long the party lasts.

If you’re feeling a bit dizzy, you’re not alone. The ground is moving under everyone’s feet. But it’s also a moment full of opportunities for brands that move fast and smart.

Here’s what we recommend:

1. Audit your data for AI-readiness: Is your product data structured? Accessible to bots? Optimised for natural-language queries?

2. Unblock the bots: Make sure crawlers like OAI-SearchBot can see and index your content.

3. Test TikTok Shop and Reddit: Don’t wait for a mature playbook: test, learn, iterate.

4. Start building for agents, not just users: Think about speed, clarity, schema, and decision-making logic.

5. Adapt to Buy For Me: Look at where your products are being surfaced, and optimise feeds for visibility across agents like Google, ChatGPT, and Amazon.

6. Partner with Lengow: Our platform already connects you to TikTok Shop, Reddit, and dynamic feeds. And yes, we’re actively exploring integrations for agent commerce.