6 eCommerce News: Black Friday Prep, BNPL Strategy, TikTok’s Rise & AI Commerce – Week 46

Week 46 has arrived, and the eCommerce landscape is experiencing seismic shifts that demand immediate attention. With Black Friday mere days away, online retailers face a perfect storm of opportunity and disruption that will define their holiday season performance.

The timing couldn’t be more critical. Buy Now Pay Later services are demonstrating the power to increase order values by up to 40%, yet many merchants still haven’t integrated these payment options into their checkout flows. Meanwhile, the platform wars are intensifying—eBay is scrambling to retain relevance, TikTok Shop continues its aggressive expansion into commerce territory, and Walmart is rolling out new badge systems that could reshape seller dynamics.

But perhaps most striking is what’s happening beneath the surface. Shopify’s latest AI commerce data reveals adoption rates that exceed even the most optimistic predictions. Google’s search dominance faces unprecedented challenges as ChatGPT explores advertising models. Amazon, apparently unsatisfied with its current empire, has launched multiple new business initiatives simultaneously. And in a development that perfectly captures our current moment: holiday shopping is projected to cross the trillion-dollar threshold while retailers are hiring fewer seasonal workers than ever before.

This week’s eCommerce news roundup cuts through the noise to deliver actionable insights on the trends reshaping online retail. Whether you’re finalizing your Black Friday strategy or planning for 2025, understanding these platform shifts and technology disruptions isn’t optional—it’s essential for survival in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Buy Now Pay Later Guide for Holiday Season eCommerce

Look, if you’re running an eCommerce store and haven’t added Buy Now Pay Later to your checkout yet, you’ve got about ten days to fix this before Black Friday hits. I’m not being dramatic here. The numbers don’t lie.

Adobe Analytics is projecting $18.5 billion in BNPL purchases just for Q4 2024. That’s up 14.3% from last year. And here’s the kicker: retailers who offer BNPL are seeing increased sales, bigger cart sizes, and more repeat customers. It’s not rocket science, it’s just smart business.

Why BNPL Actually Matters This Black Friday

You might be thinking, “Another payment option? Really?” But BNPL isn’t just another checkbox at checkout. It’s changing how people shop, especially during the holidays when budgets get tight and wish lists get long.

Here’s what’s happening in the real world. BNPL users are spending more, not just using it more often. The average BNPL user will drop $1,185.50 in 2025, and that number keeps climbing. Why? Because splitting a $400 purchase into four $100 payments feels manageable, even when your credit card is already doing overtime.

The psychology is pretty straightforward. When someone can break down a purchase into smaller chunks, they stop seeing it as “Can I afford this right now?” and start seeing it as “Can I afford $50 every two weeks?” Usually, the answer is yes.

Who’s Actually Using This Stuff

Let’s talk about your customers for a second. Gen Z and millennials are driving this shift hard. We’re talking 45% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials using installment options. These aren’t people with bad credit desperately trying to buy things they can’t afford. They’re using BNPL as a budgeting tool, a way to manage cash flow between paychecks.

And before you think this is just for broke college kids, think again. Sure, most BNPL users earn between $20,000 and $50,000 annually, but plenty of higher earners use it too. It’s not about necessity anymore. It’s about flexibility and control.

Research shows that BNPL increases consumer spending by as much as 26%, with customers viewing smaller installment payments as more manageable than larger one-time charges.

The eCommerce News You Need to Know About BNPL

Here’s where this week 46 eCommerce news gets interesting for your bottom line. Stores offering BNPL aren’t just getting more sales, they’re winning customers from competitors who don’t offer it. About 40% of consumers say financing options are “very or extremely influential” in choosing where to shop, especially for bigger purchases.

Think about that. Four out of ten people are literally deciding where to spend their money based on whether you offer payment flexibility. If you’re not offering it and your competitor is, guess who’s getting that Black Friday sale?

The fees are usually lower than credit card processing too, which is a nice bonus. And the approval process? Way easier than traditional credit. About 21.7% of consumers say BNPL is the easiest payment method to get approved for.

Getting This Set Up Before the Rush

The good news is that adding BNPL isn’t some massive technical headache. Services like Klarna, Affirm, and PayPal have made integration pretty straightforward. Most platforms can get you up and running in a few days, not weeks.

But here’s the thing: you need to do this now. Not next week when you’re already dealing with Black Friday prep chaos. Not after Thanksgiving when you’re trying to fix your site because traffic just tripled. Right now, while you still have breathing room to test it and make sure everything works.

The data is crystal clear. BNPL usage jumped from 29.5% to 37.8% between April and September 2025. That’s massive growth in just five months. And with holiday shopping about to explode, you want to be ready when customers start looking for that “pay in 4” button at checkout. Just like optimizing other critical touchpoints such as your order confirmation page, adding BNPL can significantly impact your conversion rates and customer satisfaction during the busiest shopping season of the year.

Okay, so eBay just dropped some significant changes to their store subscription structure, and if you’re one of those sellers who’s been running an eBay store since the mid-2000s (yes, they’re still very much a thing), you need to pay attention. This isn’t just tweaking the pricing. They’re restructuring how the whole subscription model works.

Here’s what’s happening. eBay is overhauling their five-tier store system, and the changes affect everything from your monthly fees to how many free listings you get. For context, eBay stores range from the Starter level at $4.95/month (annual plan) all the way up to Enterprise at $2,995/month. Each tier gives you different benefits, mainly around free listings and lower final value fees.

What’s Actually Changing

The big shift is in how they’re calculating insertion fees and adjusting the free listing allocations. Previously, if you had a Basic Store subscription ($21.95/month on annual), you’d get 1,000 fixed-price listings and 250 auction listings. Now they’re tweaking these numbers and the associated fees for going over your limit.

What’s interesting is the timing. We’re heading into peak holiday season, and eBay is making these changes right when sellers are ramping up inventory. According to their seller updates page, they’re positioning this as part of their “busiest selling season” preparation, which… okay, sure. But it’s also forcing sellers to recalculate their entire fee structure heading into Black Friday.

Why This Matters for Multi-Channel Sellers

If you’re running eCommerce across multiple platforms (and honestly, who isn’t these days?), this eBay news matters even if you’re primarily on Shopify or your own site. Here’s why: eBay still drives significant traffic for certain product categories, especially collectibles, electronics, and refurbished items.

The fee restructuring means you need to recalculate your margins. For example, the category-specific final value fees range wildly. Books and magazines hit 15.3% on sales up to $2,500, while some electronics categories are at 9.35%. If you’re selling athletic shoes over $150, you’re looking at just 7% fees. These variations matter when you’re deciding where to list your inventory.

The difference between a 7% and 15% final value fee can completely change whether a product is worth listing on eBay versus keeping it on your own site.

What’s really catching sellers off guard is the timing. Most eCommerce news for week 46 has been dominated by Black Friday prep, BNPL integrations, and last-minute site optimizations. Now eBay sellers are scrambling to understand how these subscription changes affect their holiday profitability. You’ve got maybe two weeks to adjust your strategy before the real holiday rush hits.

The Real Cost of Getting This Wrong

Let’s talk numbers for a second. Say you’re running a Premium Store at $59.95/month (annual plan). You get 10,000 fixed-price listings and pay $0.10 for each additional listing. If you’re a high-volume seller pushing 15,000 listings, that’s an extra $500 in insertion fees. Add in the final value fees, and you better be doing the math on whether that Premium subscription actually saves you money versus dropping down to Basic.

The store level guide breaks down when it makes sense to upgrade, but with the new fee structure, those calculations just changed. You might have been right at the break-even point for Premium, and now with adjusted fees, you’re actually losing money compared to staying at Basic.

For sellers managing this alongside their main eCommerce operations, it’s another variable to track. You’re already juggling conversion optimization, site speed, and getting that Buy Now Pay Later integration done before Black Friday. Now you’ve got eBay throwing fee changes into the mix.

Okay, so Shopify just dropped some numbers that made me spit out my coffee. AI traffic on their platform is up seven times since January. Seven. Times. But here’s where it gets really interesting: AI-driven orders? Those jumped eleven times.

Let me put that in perspective. If you were getting ten orders from AI traffic back in January, you’re now looking at a hundred and ten. That’s not a trend, that’s a complete shift in how people are shopping online.

What’s Actually Driving This AI Shopping Surge

Remember when ChatGPT first launched and everyone was asking it to write poems about their cat? Well, shoppers have moved way past that. They’re now using AI tools like Claude, Perplexity, and ChatGPT to research products, compare prices, and get recommendations. And here’s the kicker: they actually trust these AI recommendations.

Adobe’s research shows that more than 90% of consumers trust the links they get from large language models. That trust is translating directly into clicks, and those clicks are converting at rates we haven’t seen before.

The behavior patterns are fascinating too. Shoppers coming from AI sources spend 32% more time on sites and view 10% more pages than typical visitors. Their bounce rates are 27% lower. These aren’t casual browsers, they’re serious buyers who’ve already done their homework through AI.

Why Black Friday Week 46 Changes Everything

Now, why does this matter so much for eCommerce news week 46, right before Black Friday? Because this is the exact moment when AI shopping behavior hits peak velocity. Last year during the holiday season, AI-driven traffic jumped 1,300% year over year. On Cyber Monday alone, visits spiked 1,950%.

If you’re running an eCommerce store and you haven’t thought about how AI tools are sending traffic your way, you’re missing a massive opportunity. These aren’t just random visitors, they’re high-intent shoppers who’ve already told an AI exactly what they want.

Shoppers using AI to research products convert 23% faster than those who don’t, because they arrive at your site already knowing what they need.

Think about your own product pages right now. Are they optimized for shoppers who arrive with specific questions already answered? Or are you still writing for people who stumble in blind? The conversion path has narrowed significantly. In January, AI traffic was 49% less likely to convert. By July, that gap shrunk to just 23%.

What This Means for Your Store Right Now

Here’s what you need to understand: AI isn’t replacing traditional search, it’s creating an entirely new customer journey. These shoppers are more informed, more decisive, and more ready to buy. They’ve already compared your products against competitors. They know your pricing. They’ve read reviews through AI summaries.

Your job isn’t to educate them from scratch anymore. It’s to make the buying process as frictionless as possible once they land on your site. That means clear product information, straightforward checkout, and none of those annoying pop-ups that make people bounce.

The timing couldn’t be more critical. With Black Friday hitting this week 46, and AI traffic showing no signs of slowing down, stores that adapt to this new shopping behavior will have a serious advantage. Those that don’t? Well, they’ll be wondering why their traffic looks good but conversions stay flat.

AI Search Platforms Face Identity Crisis Despite E-commerce Success

When AI Search Tools Can’t Find the Real Answers

So Google’s Preferred Sources tool? The thing that’s supposed to help you find quality information? It’s completely jammed with spam. I’m not kidding.

Picture this. You’re trying to find legit eCommerce news for week 46 before Black Friday hits, and you want to mark your trusted sources in Google’s new tool. Sounds great, right? Except when you search for actual publications, you get copycat sites, parked domains, and random garbage mixed in with the real thing.

Here’s what’s happening. People are registering domains that look almost identical to legitimate sites. Like, they’ll grab the .com.in version of a popular .com domain and boom, suddenly they’re showing up in Google’s Preferred Sources alongside the actual publication. Some of these spam sites only have their homepage indexed. That’s it. One page of thin content, and they’re appearing next to The New York Times.

The irony is painful. Google built this tool to give users more control over which sources they trust, and it’s surfacing sites that shouldn’t even be in the index.

Now, you might be thinking, “Okay, but that’s just Google’s problem to fix.” Not really. Because while Google sorts out their spam issues, the bigger shift is already happening. McKinsey’s research shows that 50% of consumers now intentionally seek out AI-powered search engines, and by 2028, $750 billion in revenue will flow through these platforms.

The Real Identity Crisis

But here’s where it gets interesting for us in eCommerce. AI search platforms are having this weird identity crisis where they’re incredibly good at some things and completely broken at others. On one hand, they’re crushing it for product discovery. You can ask ChatGPT or Perplexity about the best cross-training shoes for your budget and training goals, and you’ll get a thoughtful answer that would’ve taken you an hour of research to compile yourself.

On the other hand, these same systems can’t consistently separate legitimate sources from spam. They’re pulling from “a broad and diverse array of sources including affiliates and user-generated content,” according to that McKinsey analysis. And those sources? They vary wildly by platform, location, and even the specific way you phrase your question.

What does this mean for your store during week 46 and beyond? Traditional brand strength doesn’t guarantee you’ll show up in AI search results. Even market leaders are absent from AI-powered search answers in major categories like electronics and apparel. Your decades of SEO work? It helps, but it’s not enough anymore.

The platforms that are supposed to make finding information easier are simultaneously making it harder to know what’s real. And for eCommerce brands trying to show up in these AI answers, you’re playing a game where the rules change depending on which AI platform someone uses, where they’re located, and even how they word their question.

It’s messy. It’s confusing. And it’s absolutely something you need to figure out before your competitors do.

Amazon Launches Aggressive Multi-Platform Expansion Strategy

Amazon’s Not Playing Around Anymore

So Amazon just dropped some eCommerce news that should have every online retailer paying attention. They launched this new app called Bazaar, and it’s rolling out to 14 countries right now. Think of it as Amazon’s direct answer to Temu and Shein eating into their market share.

Here’s the deal. Most items on Bazaar are priced under $10, with some starting around $2. They’re hitting markets like Hong Kong, the Philippines, Argentina, Nigeria, and Qatar. And get this: new users get 50% off their first order. Amazon’s basically saying, “You want cheap? We’ll show you cheap.”

Now, you might be wondering why they’re calling it “Bazaar” instead of just expanding Haul (which they launched last November). According to Amazon’s official announcement, it’s about cultural fit. The Bazaar name resonates better with local languages and shopping habits in these markets. In the US, UK, Germany, and Japan? It’s still called Haul. Same platform, different branding.

What This Means for Your Store

If you’re selling on Amazon or competing with them (so, basically everyone in eCommerce), this is huge. Amazon’s not just defending territory anymore. They’re going on offense, and they’re doing it with a platform designed specifically for price-conscious shoppers.

The timing matters too. We’re in week 46, staring down Black Friday, and Amazon’s making these moves now. They know holiday shoppers are hunting for deals, and they want to be the first app people open when they’re looking for cheap gifts or impulse buys.

Amazon is extending Prime-exclusive features to the Bazaar platform, including an “Add to Delivery” option that lets members add items to upcoming shipments with one tap.

That last part is sneaky brilliant. They’re not just competing on price. They’re weaving Bazaar into their existing Prime ecosystem. You’re already getting a package? Cool, add a $3 phone case to it. No extra shipping, no friction.

The platform includes social features too: lucky draws, step-up discounts, interactive promotions. Sound familiar? Yeah, they’re copying the Temu playbook but with Amazon’s infrastructure behind it. According to eMarketer’s analysis, deliveries typically arrive within two weeks, which is faster than most ultra-low-cost competitors.

The Real Challenge Nobody’s Talking About

Here’s where it gets interesting. Amazon’s betting big on international expansion right now. They’re planning to invest over €2.4 billion in Belgium and the Netherlands alone over the next three years. But there’s a catch.

Countries are tightening import rules and closing de minimis loopholes (that’s the tax exemption for low-value shipments). As eMarketer points out, Amazon’s low-cost experiment could hit more regulatory roadblocks than Temu or Shein face. Those competitors are already established in the “ship cheap stuff from China” game. Amazon’s playing catch-up here.

For eCommerce managers watching this unfold, the lesson is clear: Amazon sees the budget shopping segment as critical growth territory. If you’re competing in fashion, home goods, or lifestyle products under $50, you need to figure out your angle fast. Because Amazon just showed up with deeper pockets, better logistics, and a willingness to lose money to win market share.

And speaking of market dynamics shifting, there’s another platform making waves this week that’s changing how people discover products entirely…

Holiday Retail Sales Cross One Trillion Dollars for First Time

One Trillion Dollars: Breaking Down the Historic Holiday Forecast

So here’s a number that made me spit out my coffee this morning. The National Retail Federation just predicted that holiday retail sales are going to cross one trillion dollars for the first time ever. That’s trillion. With a T. As in, more zeros than my brain can actually process before lunch.

When you’re tracking eCommerce news week 46 style updates, this is the kind of headline that makes you pause. We’re talking about November and December 2025 sales hitting $1.021 trillion according to the NRF’s forecast. That’s a 2.2% increase from last year, which honestly sounds modest until you remember we’re adding billions with a B to an already massive number.

But here’s what’s really interesting. It’s not just that people are shopping more (though they are). The average person plans to spend $890.49 on holiday gifts, food, decorations, and all that seasonal stuff. That’s the second highest amount in 23 years of tracking this data. So yeah, consumers are still showing up with their wallets open, even with all the economic uncertainty we’ve been dealing with.

What’s Actually Driving This Growth

You might be wondering what’s pushing this massive spending spree. It’s not one thing, it’s a perfect storm of factors:

Early shopping is the new normal. October buying events (looking at you, early Black Friday deals) are pulling purchases forward, which means retailers are seeing money flow in earlier than ever.

Online sales keep climbing. Nobody’s surprised here, but the shift to digital continues to drive overall numbers up.

Consumers are planning ahead. People save for the holidays, they prioritize it, and they make it happen even when times are tight.

Matthew Shay from the NRF put it pretty well: “Somehow every year, Santa Claus always comes.” And honestly? That tracks with what we’re seeing in the data. People find ways to make holiday shopping happen, whether that means hunting for deals, spreading payments out (hello, Buy Now Pay Later), or just being more strategic about where their dollars go.

The average holiday shopper plans to spend $890.49 this season, the second highest amount in 23 years of tracking.

Now, before you get too excited about these rosy numbers, there’s a reality check coming. Consumers are absolutely more cautious than they used to be. They’re price sensitive, they’re trading down to find value wherever they can, and they’re not just throwing money around like it’s 2019. The New York Times points out that forecasting in this environment is genuinely challenging, even for the experts.

But here’s the thing for us eCommerce folks. A trillion dollar holiday season means opportunity, even if shoppers are being pickier about where they spend. It means your Black Friday strategy matters more than ever. It means those checkout optimizations we’ve been talking about? They’re not nice to haves anymore, they’re essential. Because when there’s this much money flowing through the system, you want to make sure your store is positioned to capture its fair share.

Your Week 46 Game Plan: What to Do Right Now

Week 46 has dropped some serious bombs on the eCommerce world. We’re looking at BNPL hitting $18.5 billion this quarter, AI traffic jumping seven-fold on Shopify, and holiday sales about to crack the trillion-dollar mark for the first time ever. Meanwhile, eBay’s throwing fee changes at sellers during the worst possible time, and Amazon’s launching Bazaar to fight Temu on price. The common thread? Everything’s moving faster than expected, and the old playbooks aren’t cutting it anymore.

Here’s what actually matters for your store right now:

Add BNPL before Friday — If you don’t have Klarna, Affirm, or PayPal installments live yet, you’re leaving money on the table. Forty percent of shoppers are checking for this before they buy.

Test your site for AI shoppers — These visitors spend 32% more time browsing but expect zero friction at checkout. Remove anything that slows down the buying process.

Recalculate your eBay margins immediately — Those new fee structures aren’t waiting for you to figure them out. Run the numbers on your top SKUs and decide if you need to adjust prices or pull products.

Optimize for AI search platforms — Your traditional SEO won’t save you here. Make sure your product information is clear, consistent, and easily digestible for AI tools that are driving purchase decisions.

Price strategically, not desperately — With Amazon Bazaar entering the ultra-budget space and shoppers planning to spend $890 each, there’s room for both value and premium positioning. Know which one you’re playing.

What’s your biggest challenge heading into Black Friday weekend? Are you scrambling to add payment options, fighting with platform fees, or trying to figure out this whole AI shopping thing? Drop a comment and let’s talk through it.