It’s Q4 and I work in marketing and ecom, so I went to work. That is, I began reading on market predictions for 2025.

Good. Good. Mmm. Wait. Why are all these articles the exact same thing, but in different fonts? Are these incoming trends so certain that these 5 different publications all came to the same conclusions? And why are their article sections so vague and roundabout?

Out of curiosity, I changed the year of my search to 2024, and then 2023, and wouldn’t you know it, these “sure” trends have been predicted every year for the past 2-3 years, and yet, nothing.

Who’s spreading the rumor of these supposed trends?

I think you’ve probably already guessed who. ChatGPT.

In fact, if you ask ChatGPT to create an article predicting ecommerce trends for 2025, you will see a strong lookalike to the many articles floating around right now.

Now, just because something looks similar to the work of Generative AI, that doesn’t mean it isn’t human-made. Furthermore, just because something is written by AI, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be accurate. 

There’s no AI-author snobbery here. Instead of dismissing these articles, I looked at the gaps in their consensus and would like to add my own predictions, based on my experience as a human professional.

The end of Frivolous

There was (and still is) a wave of artificial candy-colored things that appeared as a reaction to the pandemic. The uncertainty of living to see the next year, the lack of places to go, and the need for escapism bred this 2020-2024 look of frivolity and fun in products, fashion, and even just brands themselves.

Say goodbye to that. I am predicting a strong pendulum swing that will welcome the beiges, neutrality and seriousness in product and brand positioning beginning in 2025 onwards. When times are financially tough and there isn’t enough to purchase necessities, frivolity feels cruel. 

Underconsumption Core

Already you’re seeing a growing movement called underconsumption core that directly shows disgust to the “hauls” and “tiktok made me buy this” content that was the baseline of consumer behavior just 2 years ago. 

The movement instead applauds using products to completion, or using less things than normal. The philosophy behind this is simply, “don’t buy new things, just use what you have even if it’s subpar,” which is quite different from traditional minimalism of 2010’s of having less things through finding the best. 

I predict in 2025, underconsumption will begin to be the norm. It’s a convenient philosophy that will resonate to a lot of people impacted by a cost-of-living crisis or recession.

For the companies that recognize this early, they would soon want to separate themselves as a responsible, smart choice for consumers, instead of being fun and exciting. Underconsumption core recoils from purchasing as a source of entertainment, to those in the movement, impulse buying is socially reprehensible. 

Fight to the death (for the ever-dwindling disposable income)

Another prediction of mine, really less of a prediction and more pattern recognition, is that 2025 will be the arena where companies dominate or die. 

Necessities will outdo each other in being the most necessary. Non-necessities will either camouflage themselves as one, transform themselves as luxuries, or just go extinct. This will leave a bigger slice of the pie for those that can adapt quicker.

Zero Friction Selling

When the competition is cutthroat (and it will be), it only makes sense that you don’t squander any opportunity of making a sale. 

Sales reps report that 20% of stalled and lost deals are a result of overly complex internal policies and procedures. – Gartner

Frictionless shopping is already a thing this 2024, but I predict that in 2025, it will be one of the first spaces that lagging businesses will explore to increase revenue because it doesn’t require winning more people, but just getting more from existing customers. 

Relentless Ecommerce

This comes from the philosophy of, “If there are spaces that you could make a sale on, why wouldn’t you be there?” If I am thinking about it, companies will be, too.

The global live shopping market is expected to reach $0.6 Trillion by 2025. That’s pretty hard to argue with. I predict companies that didn’t use to believe in having an online presence geared towards sales will have a change of heart. They will explore lucrative avenues like live selling (especially for big-ticket products), new ecommerce websites, and links in their bios. Nobody will be too cool for school.

Who will thrive in 2025?

Those that can adapt quickly. You may have noticed how many of the things I’m predicting involve change, and that is because I believe that 2025 will usher in a new era that is separate from the early 20’s.

It might feel counterintuitive at first because “that’s not the way things are done.” But this is how things will be done by the mid-2020s. 

What are your human predictions for 2025?