☕ Your Ecommerce Coffee Break (Issue 194)

👋 Happy Tuesday! Here’s your latest ecom news roundup: Fast-rising holiday traffic, new AI shopping tools, tighter TikTok Shop rules, and fresh Amazon + Google updates — all the key shifts you need to stay ahead this week.

Grab your coffee—skim in 60 sec or read in 3 minutes.

In Today’s Edition:

📰 Top Headlines: News, Marketplaces, and Platform updates
🎧 On the Pod: How Your Work Group Chat Is Quietly Ruining Your Business
🗨️ Claus’s Hot Take: Online Shopping Leaves Stores in the Dust

Feedback? Hit me up at [email protected] — I love hearing from my readers.

⭐ TOGETHER WITH APUS NEST*

Who are your best customers? (And who is about to churn?)

Stop batch-and-blast marketing. ApusNest's RFM analysis segments your customers into 'Champions', 'At-Risk', and 'Potential Loyalists'. Know exactly who to target to reduce churn and maximize LTV.

Start your 7-day free trial and see it for yourself. Use code COFFEEBREAK20 for a 20% discount on any paid plan.

[Find your best customers]

📰 WHAT’S HAPPENING

📈 General Ecommerce News

• 203M Thanksgiving shoppers — demand still strong [read more]

• ChatGPT now #2 discovery channel — shift your SEO [read more]

• AI brings new ways to shop for holiday gifts [read more]

• U.S. consumer delinquency glass is half full [read more]

🛒 Platforms & Marketplaces

• TikTok Shop tightens shipping — sellers must comply [read more]

• Amazon Frequently Bought Together Guide for Sellers [read more]

• Amazon Drops AI Brand Name Evaluator [read more]

• Google: Virtual Apparel Try On tool [read more]

📱Social Media & Advertising

• 15 Social Media Marketing Trends for 2026 [read more]

• Google’s Top Trending Searches in 2025 [read more]

• How creators drive real brand impact on TikTok [read more]

• Google Ads is adding an “investment strategy” tool [read more]

🎙️ ECOMMERCE COFFEE BREAK PODCAST

How Your Work Group Chat Is Quietly Ruining Your Business

In this episode, we dive into the silent killer of e-commerce team productivity: using personal chat apps for work.

Guy Weiss, CEO and founder of ZenZap, shares how relying on apps like WhatsApp can quietly harm your business through security risks, employee burnout, and lost data.

🎧 Listen on: [Website] [Apple Podcasts] [Spotify] [YouTube]

Don’t forget to rate the ECB Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

🗨️ CLAUS’S HOT TAKE

Online Shopping Leaves Stores in the Dust

E-commerce is pulling away — fast. Black Friday online sales jumped 10.4%. Stores? Just 1.7%. Foot traffic even fell 5.3%. The gap isn’t closing. It’s widening.

Why it matters: If you run an online store or DTC brand, the shift to digital is your tailwind. Shoppers want speed, ease, and comfort — not lines, weather, or tote-bag giveaways.

What sold:

• Apparel: +6.1% online

• Activewear & luxury: standout winners

• Home goods and beauty: lagged behind

The real story:

Physical retail isn’t dead. But it’s not where the growth is. If your plan still leans on in-store behavior, you’re betting against the market.

What to do now:

• Double down on site speed, mobile UX, and checkout flow.

• Tighten your promo strategy — shoppers compare fast.

• Push high-intent channels: email, SMS, retargeting.

Bottom line: The couch won Black Friday. Make sure your store meets shoppers where they already are — online. Learn more.

📰 PARTNER WITH US
Want to put out your message in front of over 35,000 online sellers, ecommerce operators, and direct-to-customer (DTC) brands? Find our Partner Kit here.