AI, Google, TikTok: are you familiar with the new challenges for e-commerce?

Forget yesterday’s rules. The world of e-commerce is undergoing a radical transformation, faster and more profound than any previous change. It is no longer just about having a good product or a fast website, but about knowing how to navigate a digital ecosystem now dominated by Artificial Intelligence, where everything is hyper-accelerated and anyone who stands still for even a quarter of a year inevitably falls behind. The real challenge is to remain visible, relevant, and chosen in an environment where Artificial Intelligence dictates the pace, the rules, and the results, because strategy passes through a filter: that of algorithms. And at the top of the chain is Google, which is evolving from a search engine into an engine for answers, recommendations, and—increasingly—purchases. Those who fail to read this change of phase correctly risk working for traffic that will never arrive.

The competitive environment: a growing market, but with new rules

Let’s start with some good news to lay solid foundations: the market is not in crisis, quite the contrary. According to data from the B2c Netcomm eCommerce Observatory – School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, e-commerce of products in Italy will reach $40.1 billion in 2025, with growth of +6%. This is a healthy sign, but it hides a profound change in consumer habits.

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The real battlefield has definitively shifted to the palm of their hands. Sales via mobile apps now account for 42.1% of the total, and in sectors such as fashion, they exceed 75%. This means that a flawless mobile experience is no longer an option, but the core of the sales strategy. The user experience must be designed not only to be usable, but to encourage quick, simple, and intuitive actions. According to a Shopify report, “the average perceived speed of an app affects the conversion rate by up to 27% in high-impulse purchase sectors.”

Growth is mainly driven by sectors such as Food & Grocery and Beauty & Pharma. The increase in average per capita spending in these categories is supported by increasingly recurring, loyal, and omnichannel consumption patterns. In 2025, 61% of users who buy beauty products online do so after seeing short content on social media or search engines

The two sides of AI: a threat to traffic, an opportunity for strategy

Artificial Intelligence is the undisputed protagonist of this revolution, a coin with two sides that must be observed.

The first side is the most frightening. According to the latest analyses, AI Overview could cause a drop in organic traffic to websites of between 15% and 50%, depending on the sector. The reason is simple: Google responds directly to the user’s query, making it unnecessary to click on an external website to obtain the information.

This also impacts the ability to react, because the goal of SEO is changing radically. It is no longer just a fight for the “first blue link,” but to become the authoritative source cited by AI. This requires high-quality content, semantically organized with structured data markup, based on experience and trustworthiness (in line with EEAT principles). Above all, you need pages designed to solve problems, not chase keywords. To sum up, we can say that it is not the best writer who wins, but the one who becomes necessary for Google in generating its AI responses.

The opportunity: AI as a strategic ally

The other side of the coin is brighter, because it presents numerous opportunities. Artificial intelligence provides powerful tools for

• Operational efficiency

Automating the creation of product descriptions, blog articles, and social posts with generative AI frees up time for strategy.

• Advanced customer care

Implementing intelligent chatbots, voice modules, and predictive systems that offer personalized assistance 24/7 reduces customer service costs by up to 30%—and, according to various concrete testimonials, reduces resolution times and significantly improves perceived customer satisfaction. This frees up internal resources and, above all, creates a more fluid and continuous user experience, which is essential in mobile and omnichannel contexts.

• Real personalization

Analyzing browsing data allows you to offer a “commerce everywhere” experience tailored to each individual user, on every channel. Salesforce reports that brands that use AI to personalize customer journeys achieve an average 32% higher repurchase rate.

New strategies for new behaviors – from “commerce everywhere” to second-hand

While Artificial Intelligence is transforming the technical foundations of e-commerce, it is user behavior that is dictating the new map of digital commerce. The classic “search – product page – shopping cart” sequence is becoming the exception: discontinuous, cross-channel purchasing paths driven by content, interactions, and context are becoming the norm. Online retailers must respond to this evolution with equally fluid, adaptive, and distributed strategies.

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“Commerce everywhere” has become the norm

It is no longer about being present on multiple channels: it is about being sellable wherever the user decides to stop. This means transforming every piece of content, every notification, every digital touchpoint into a potential point of sale. The concept of commerce everywhere implies an organization designed to manage not only the e-commerce site, but also social commerce, live streaming, messaging apps, and recommendation engines.

According to Statista, the global value of social commerce will exceed $700 billion by the end of 2025, driven in particular by short videos and native mobile content. And while the role of social media in discovery was already well established in the fashion and beauty sectors, today purchases are increasingly made without ever leaving the feed.

TikTok Shop is an ecosystem, not just a channel

In 2025, TikTok Shop established itself as an autonomous e-commerce platform, capable of generating integrated purchasing flows that are difficult to replicate elsewhere. According to YouGov (May 2025), 30% of US TikTok users have made at least one purchase on TikTok Shop in the last year, and the trend is growing steadily.

The best-performing brands are not only those that are digitally native, but those that are able to design video content consistent with the platform’s language (also working on SEO for TikTok); activate creators strategically, not occasionally; build catalogs optimized for TikTok Shop (titles, images, time-limited offers, dynamic bundles).

The result? Competitive conversion rates, especially on products under $50, and a significant impact on brand consideration, especially in the 18–34 age group.

Sustainability and second-hand: from ethical value to commercial leverage

Second-hand is no longer just a niche: it is a structural lever in the construction of brand identity. From refurbished electronics to certified “pre-loved” clothing, more and more companies are incorporating resale into their business model.

The push comes from a convergence of factors:

• growing demand for environmental transparency;
• social pressure on ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) issues;
• economic incentives for users and companies to give products a new life.

In fashion, for example, Zalando, H&M, Adidas, and Patagonia have already launched integrated second-hand sections. In the tech and furniture sectors, vertical marketplaces for refurbished goods (Back Market, Swappie, Rebuy) are growing at double-digit rates, even in Italy.

Headless, AI-ready, and performance: what to consider when choosing a platform

To support this new distributed commerce model, agile architectures are needed; the choice of e-commerce platform therefore becomes a strategic decision that affects visibility, conversions, and operational flexibility.

More and more companies are choosing headless-ready architectures, which separate application and management logic from the front end and, above all, allow the user experience to be completely customized on every channel (website, app, smart TV, voice assistants, AI panels) without having to rewrite the entire system. At the same time, they allow for the rapid integration of AI systems and advanced advertising modules and enable quick adaptation to new formats and purchasing paths.

A case in point is VoltScend, a global electronics retailer, which saw a +40% increase in mobile conversions after migrating to Shopify Plus with headless architecture, going from >5 seconds to 1.2 seconds mobile load time, as part of a process managed by Lucent Innovation.

Performance is equally important. Technical sources from Google PageSpeed Insights and UX white papers confirm that over 30% of mobile users abandon pages that take longer than 1.5 seconds to load. As a result, the new operating standard is clear: less than 1 second of perceived load time, especially in highly competitive industries.

The 5 Google revolutions your e-commerce business needs to take advantage of today

Google is no longer a search engine, it is an answer engine and, increasingly, a shopping engine. Ignoring its new features means becoming invisible. Here are the 5 most important ones and how to use them to your advantage.

1. Infinite creativity with AI in Performance Max

• What it is: Google has integrated generative AI directly into Performance Max campaigns. A short description is all it takes to generate unique headlines, copy, and ad images.
• Practical action: use this feature to test dozens of creative variations at almost no cost. Launch micro-experiments to find out which image and message convert best for your target audience, optimizing your budget scientifically.
• Plus: Google reports that campaigns with AI-generated assets achieved an average +17% conversion rate in global testing in May 2025.

2. The Smart Shopping Graph that Understands Context

• What it is: The “Shopping Graph” is Google’s brain for digital commerce, connecting over 50 billion products to users, contexts, intentions, and visual cues. Now, thanks to AI, it can understand a product’s attributes even if they are implicit and not written down. It sees a jacket made of a certain fabric and “understands” that it is ‘waterproof’ or “lightweight,” showing it to those looking for those characteristics.
• Practical action: Make sure your product listings are rich, but above all, make sure your images show the product in real-life contexts. AI will notice this and reward you—for example, if you upload a photo of a jacket being worn in the rain, it will link it to the “waterproof” attribute, even if it is not written in the title.

3. From photo to purchase with Google Lens and “Circle to Search”

• What it is: visual search is the new impulse to buy. Users can now circle a product in any photo or video on their phone and Google will instantly show them where to buy it.
• Practical action: Optimize every single image on your site with descriptive file names (e.g., black-leather-shoulder-bag.jpg) and relevant alt text. Invest in high-quality photography for each product variant. It’s your new storefront.

4. The power of short videos in product listings

• What it is: Google is integrating short YouTube Shorts videos directly into search results and Google Shopping listings. A product shown in a video has a hugely greater impact and conversion rate.
• Practical action: Create 15-30 second videos showing the product being unboxed, how it is used, or answering a frequently asked question. Upload them to YouTube Shorts and link them to your Google Merchant Center.
• Data: Products with videos increase interactions during the decision-making phase by 34%.

5. The showcase: shopping links in AI Overview

• What it is: it’s the new “position zero” for online sellers. AI-generated responses now include carousels of purchasable products, with photos, prices, and direct links. Being there is the highest possible visibility.
• Practical action: the key to this showcase is a flawless product feed on Google Merchant Center. Competitive prices, up-to-date availability, optimized titles, and complete data are no longer an option, they are a fundamental requirement.
• Note: this feature is currently only available in the US, but will be extended to Europe by the end of 2025 according to the announced roadmap.

Checklist for future-proof e-commerce

The message is clear: change is already here, it is profound, but it is not an invincible Goliath. It is a new game with new rules, and those who learn them first will win. Google, with its own tools, offers us the opportunity to ride the AI wave instead of being overwhelmed by it.

Here is your to-do list for the next three months:

• Product feed check-up: Give your Google Merchant Center a thorough clean-up. Titles, descriptions, prices, availability. Is everything perfect?
• Experiment with generative AI: Launch a test Performance Max campaign using assets (images and text) automatically created by AI. Measure the results.
• Image and video inventory: Plan to create photos optimized for visual search and at least 5 Shorts videos for your top products.
• Optimize your best-performing product pages: Identify the 20 items that generate the most revenue and work on titles, images, variants, and reviews to improve their conversion rate and visibility on Google channels.
• Brutal mobile UX analysis: Is it really fast and smooth? Ask 5 people who don’t know your site to try to complete a purchase from their smartphone. Watch silently and take notes. It will be the most valuable lesson you’ll learn this year.