Good afternoon,

Here’s the headlines for this week: 12 December 2025

ECOMMERCE

Shoppers hit Black Friday sales with celebratory mood despite economic strain

• US shoppers flocked to malls nationwide for Black Friday, maintaining celebratory traditions like champagne shopping in New Orleans even as budgets tighten, hiring slows and prices rise.
• Major malls such as Mall of America and Garden State Plaza reported some of their best Black Fridays, with early lines, packed stores, and strong demand for deals as consumers prioritized holiday spending
• eCommerce continued to grow, with U.S. shoppers spending nearly $80B online in early November and showing no signs of pulling back despite broader economic uncertainty

TikTok Shop crossed $500 million in US sales during the Black Friday Cyber Monday week

• TikTok Shop surpassed $500M in US sales during Black Friday–Cyber Monday, boosted by major brands like Disney, Samsung, and Ralph Lauren joining the platform
• Despite the growth, TikTok Shop remains small compared to Amazon, with US ecommerce spending hitting $44.2B over the same period and Amazon projected to reach $500B in 2025 sales
• Social commerce continues to surge, with platforms like Whatnot tripling sales and TikTok Shop projected to hit $15.8B in 2025 US sales, setting the stage for the category to exceed $100B by 2026

BNPL drives over $1B in online spend on Cyber Monday

• BNPL hit a new milestone, driving $1.03B in online Cyber Monday spend, contributing to total U.S. online sales of $14.25B, up 7.1% YoY, per Adobe Analytics
• Black Friday outpaced Cyber Monday for the second year, helping push the five-day Thanksgiving–Cyber Monday period to $44.2B, a 7.7% YoY increase, as shoppers used AI tools and hunted early deals
• Shopify merchants saw a record $14.6B in global sales (+27% YoY) despite temporary technical issues; sales peaked at $5.1M per minute on Black Friday

Instacart may be jacking up your grocery prices

• Study finds Instacart varies prices using AI, with ~75% of identical items showing different prices for different shoppers—potentially costing consumers up to $1,200 more per year
• Algorithmic pricing tools from Eversight (owned by Instacart) can raise prices by up to 23%, boosting retailer profits while testing customers’ price sensitivity—confirmed via an accidentally shared “smart rounding” email
• AI-driven pricing is spreading, raising concerns over higher consumer costs; meanwhile, Instacart deepens its AI push through an OpenAI partnership enabling users to create recipes and buy groceries directly via chat

You can buy your Instacart groceries without leaving ChatGPT

• OpenAI and Instacart have launched a full grocery-shopping flow inside ChatGPT, letting users ideate meals, build lists, and check out without leaving the chat, an expansion of their earlier AI-powered search collaboration
• Agentic commerce is becoming a major OpenAI focus, with growing integrations across apps like Booking.com, Canva, Target, and more, as AI-assisted online shopping is forecasted to surge 520% this holiday season
• OpenAI hopes these shopping integrations generate new revenue, taking a small fee per merchant sale, though it would require massive volume to meaningfully offset the company’s ongoing high compute costs and lack of profitability

CONSUMERS

Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend Draws a Record 203 Million Shoppers

• Record 203M+ shoppers participated over Thanksgiving–Cyber Monday, surpassing previous highs, with strong engagement both in-store (129.5M) and online (134.9M)
• Consumer spending rose, averaging $338 per shopper, the highest since 2019, with 96% making holiday-related purchases and clothing, toys, and books topping gift lists
• Cyber Monday online activity surged, especially via mobile devices, while overall holiday shopping remains only halfway complete as 84% of consumers have started but still have 53% left to buy

When holiday deals cause customer confusion, skepticism

• 84% of shoppers say holiday promotions are confusing or misleading, and only one-third believe they offer real savings
• Nearly half of consumers, especially younger ones, stop or switch retailers when a promotion feels unclear or dishonest
• Confusion stems from unclear pricing, unavailable promo items and inconsistent discounts; success hinges on simple, honest, clearly communicated deals

TECH

What’s happening with social media bans?

• Despite President Trump’s order to force a sale of TikTok’s US operations, negotiations have gone quiet, deadlines keep getting extended, and lawmakers appear unsure of the deal’s status, meaning TikTok continues operating as usual
• Users under 16 will lose access to major platforms (TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit, etc.), with platforms facing heavy fines if they don’t remove underage accounts. Meta will start deactivations Dec 4
• Australia’s move is the first of its kind, with Denmark, Malaysia and several EU countries considering similar bans. In the US, both federal proposals and 25 state-level initiatives aim to regulate youth social media use

RETAILERS

ChatGPT referrals to retailers’ apps increased 28% year-over-year, says report

• ChatGPT referrals to retailer apps rose 28% YoY over the Black Friday weekend, but still represent less than 1% of total ChatGPT sessions (0.82%)
• Amazon and Walmart dominated AI-driven referrals, with Amazon’s share jumping to 54% (from 40.5%) and Walmart rising to 14.9% (from 2.7%), suggesting limited gains for smaller retailers.
• AI-driven shopping traffic surged broadly, with Adobe reporting AI referral clicks to U.S. retail sites up 805% on Black Friday and those users being 38% more likely to purchase

Amazon Eyes Expanding Delivery Network After Talks with USPS Stall

• Amazon may exit USPS partnership as negotiations over discounted rates collapse, prompting Amazon to consider rerouting its 6B+ annual packages through an expanded in-house delivery network by 2026
• USPS faces major financial risk, with Amazon representing $6B (7.5%) of revenue; losing that volume could deepen its multibillion-dollar losses and trigger calls for a new rescue package
• USPS shift to a reverse-auction model, selling facility access to the highest bidder, surprised Amazon, ending talks and escalating concerns that Amazon’s growing delivery network could become an existential threat to the postal service

Amazon offering deliveries in 30 minutes in parts of Seattle and Philadelphia

• Amazon launches 30-minute deliveries for thousands of essential and grocery items in select areas of Seattle and Philadelphia through its new ultra-fast Amazon Now service
• Prime members get cheaper fees, starting at $3.99 per order (vs. $13.99 for non-Prime), with a small-order fee for baskets under $15
• Powered by micro-fulfillment centers, the service enables rapid delivery from nearby facilities and integrates directly into the Amazon app under “30-Minute Delivery”

Amazon Delivery Company Owners Organize to Seek Higher Pay

• A new anonymous group, DSPs for Equitable and Fair Treatment (Deft), has formed to organize Amazon’s 2,400 delivery-service providers, pushing for higher per-package pay, better van reimbursements and fairer bonus criteria after surprise repair fees and rising costs squeezed profits
• Delivery company owners say Amazon’s flat fee schedule, rising insurance and operating expenses and pressure to maintain extra vans mean many lose money even during peak holiday season, especially as a new performance-scoring system makes it harder to earn the “fantastic” ratings needed for bonuses
• Backed as a chapter of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers, Deft is building a cell-based, semi-secret network to avoid retaliation and gain enough leverage to negotiate policy changes, while Amazon insists most DSPs are profitable and says it already consults some providers on policy shifts
  

ADVERTISING

OpenAI says ChatGPT ‘ads’ weren’t ads

• OpenAI said the promo-style prompts seen by paying ChatGPT users weren’t ads but app recommendations with no financial component, though users felt they looked like real ads
• Executives first claimed the screenshots were “not real or not ads,” then admitted they “fell short” and have disabled the feature while improving controls
• Amid a companywide “code red” to boost model quality, OpenAI has put its advertising plans on hold, delaying any real ad rollout for now

MARKETING

Marketing on Reddit: What you need to know

• Reddit is now a major marketing channel, with strong B2B potential thanks to new Bombora-powered audience segmentation, AI-optimized ad creative, dynamic product ads, lead gen formats and deeper engagement metrics that reveal real community activity
• Success on Reddit requires authentic engagement, a human tone, tailored creatives, AMA participation and close monitoring for reputation management, as users reward expertise and penalize overly promotional behavior
• Ad tools and performance continue to expand, including takeovers, pro trend insights, inspiration libraries, SMB tools and integrations (Zapier, Meta import, Google Tag Manager), helping brands target highly influential, intent-driven communities across the platform

See you next week,

The ChannelSight Team

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