The Final Scroll of 2025 🥳

Hello there, Ecom Fam! Welcome to the final issue of 2025 👏.

This year brought big launches, bigger ideas, and moments that shaped the future of ecommerce 🛒. From AI agents running storefronts to livestream avatars out-selling real people, it’s been a wild 52-week sprint — and we’ve loved every second of sharing it with you 💚.

So in this final issue of the year, let’s rewind the tape together. We’re spotlighting the biggest stories, moments, and milestones that made this newsletter worth showing up for every single week ☺️.

🚀 Year in review: Top stories of 2025 

From AI going full commerce to platform partnerships we didn’t see coming, 2025 delivered the goods. Here’s a quick month-by-month scroll through some of the biggest ecom headlines we covered together this year 🛍️🤖📈

🚫 TikTok faced a potential U.S. ban - The year kicked off with TikTok in hot water again before a last-minute deal saved the app two weeks ago from disappearing.

🚢 Trump ended China’s de minimis trade benefits - The U.S. pulled the plug on tariff-free imports from China, sending waves through global ecommerce logistics.

💅 Google brought AI try-ons to Search - Shoppers got to virtually test clothes and makeup, making product discovery more visual and personal.

🛍️ Amazon rolled out Interest-based AI shopping - A new feature started surfacing products based on user passions and hobbies, powered by prompts.

🤖 Google launched AI Mode for shopping - AI Mode debuted at I/O with a full-on vision for agentic shopping, from try-ons to checkout.

🤖 AI livestream avatars outsold real humans - Two digital clones outperformed their human counterparts on a livestream, including the person they were based on.

📩 Shoppable emails arrived in Gmail - Google began testing a Promotions tab makeover that let users shop directly inside their inbox.

🧠 X confirmed AI-powered ads in Grok - Elon Musk announced that Grok chatbot replies would include embedded ad placements.

👓 Amazon released Lens Live for real-time shopping’ - Shoppers could scan products in the real world and buy them instantly, with no manual search required.

🛒 ChatGPT introduced Instant Checkout - OpenAI launched a direct-buy feature, kicking off with Etsy and setting the stage for 1M+ Shopify stores.

🎯 Target launched an AI shopping app inside ChatGPT - Target took shopping conversational with a beta ChatGPT app that let users build and check out carts via chat.

🤑 Cyber Monday broke all online sales records - U.S. shoppers spent $14.25 billion in a single day, making Cyber Monday 2025 the biggest ever.

🎁 Ecom Press 2025 wrapped

Before we close the year, let’s hit pause and look back at what we built together. It’s been one heck of a ride, and the numbers don’t lie 💯.

🗞️ 52 newsletters delivered to your inbox

✍️ 76,300 words of curated ecommerce insights

🔥 313,700 total impressions, and counting

📈 13,000 total subscribers strong (that’s a 26% growth from last year!)

That’s the size of a small city reading with us every week — wild, right 🏄?

But beyond the stats, it’s been about showing up, every week, with content that actually helps. Whether you joined us in January or just last week, thank you for being part of this ride. We’ll keep raising the bar in 2026, together 🚀.

And that’s a wrap on 2025 🎁!

Whether you joined us to stay ahead of ecommerce trends, discover new tools, or just get a quick hit of industry intel each week, we’re glad you did. You made space for us in your inbox, and that means a lot.

Now go recharge, eat something sweet, and log off (just a little) 🧁✨.

Hit that subscribe button, and we’ll see you in 2026, same place, bigger wins ⚡.

Cheers to what’s next 🥂!