The Biggest Commerce Stories of 2025, From Amazon’s New Ad Pitch to Instacart’s Deal With TikTok

In 2025, tech giants like Amazon, Meta and Google made inroads into commerce media.

ADWEEK’s top commerce stories of 2025 highlight big, industry-moving news, our scoops, and our analysis. Readers flocked to stories about new products from Amazon, a leaked pitch deck from The Trade Desk, and Meta’s quiet bet on retailers.

Below are our top 10 articles of the year, ranked by pageviews from highest to lowest, as well as an explanation of why they stuck out to readers.

Google Unveils New AI Marketing Tools Ahead of Holiday Season 

Was it even 2025 if AI wasn’t mentioned in a new product?

This year, Google rolled out the ability for advertisers to turn on AI search ads through its AI Now product. And on YouTube, advertisers can optimize campaigns that promote in-store products with local offers.

Despite Google’s dominance in digital advertising, Google is notably smaller in retail media. But retail observers still watch Google’s moves closely, given the tech giant’s size.

Amazon Advertisers Can Now Measure How Livestreamed Broadcasts Drive Sales

ADWEEK’s readers love stories about Amazon.

Amazon launched its livestreaming product in 2019, and has since given marketers a closer look at how people shop from livestreams.

In June, Amazon launched a feature that lets marketers look at Amazon Live signals from its data clean room, Amazon Marketing Cloud. The story is another example of how Amazon has steadily built out its data clean room to be used by more advertisers.

CPG Advertisers Can Now Target Instacart Shoppers on TikTok

As retailers try to snap up bigger ad budgets, they’re signing deals with big social giants, pitching their data for targeting.

In one such deal, Instacart partnered with TikTok to target people looking to buy CPG products with shoppable ad formats.

Any Amazon Seller Buying Sponsored Product Ads Can Now Use Amazon’s Clean Room

Amazon heavily pitched Amazon Marketing Cloud — its data clean room — to advertisers this year.

In September, Amazon opened the floodgates to Amazon Marketing Cloud, allowing sellers of all sizes to cross-reference their data with Amazon’s data. Previously, small and midsize brands could also access the product through a third-party tech company like Intentwise or Pacvue.

Amazon Is Selling Its Adtech to Other Retailers, Taking Direct Aim at Firms Like Criteo

Did we already mention that ADWEEK readers love Amazon?

At the beginning of the year, Amazon announced that it would begin selling its own adtech to other retailers, marking a significant change in its advertising ambitions. The move put Amazon in direct competition with Criteo and retail media startups.

Leaked Doc Shows How Much Walmart, Best Buy, and DoorDash Charge For Retail Media Ads on The Trade Desk 

Offsite advertising holds a lot of promise for retail media, but how much do retailers really charge advertisers to access their data?

A leaked pitch deck from The Trade Desk revealed the specifics for retailers like Best Buy, Albertsons, Home Depot, and Target. The story resonated with readers not only because of those specifics, but it also highlighted The Trade Desk’s big retail ambitions.

American Eagle Ad Controversy Hasn’t Driven Sales, Early Data Suggests 

If there’s one retail story that dominated the ad industry in 2025, it’s American Eagle’s ad campaign with Sydney Sweeney.

After the campaign became controversial when critics accused it of promoting eugenics, initial data that ADWEEK collected found that the campaign did not shift market share or change consumer perception.

In the months since, American Eagle reported that the campaign as well as a campaign starring NFL star Travis Kelce grew its loyalty program by 4%.

Walmart Taps Walton Goggins to Prove It Sells More Than You Think 

Walmart upped its marketing this year to prove to shoppers that it now offers a wider assortment and also more upmarket products.

Walton Goggins became the brand’s spokesman touting these changes with a big campaign this fall as well as a holiday campaign.

Meta Is Racing for Retail Media Budgets

Meta quietly upped its pitch for retail ad dollars this year, through sharing more data with retailers, rolling out new products, and updating old products.

The move shows how Meta is facing more competition from other social platforms for retail ad dollars. Notably, Meta’s new push focuses on driving ecommerce and in-store retail sales.

EXCLUSIVE: HP Is Launching an Ad Business With Laptop-Targeted Ads and a Streaming Service

Everyone has an ad business these days — even Hewlett Packard.

The tech company started up an ad business called HP Media Network this year, pitching advertisers data about its global monthly audience of 830 million people.

HP is selling ads that appear on HP’s own computers and apps as well as offsite ads.