🛍️ What's up E-commerce – December 05, 2025

The e-commerce news of the week not to be missed! Trends, events & tools, all in less than 5 minutes 🛒

👋 The Editorial of the Week While Black Friday shattered records with $11.8 billion online in the US and sustained activity in France, it is artificial intelligence that is pulling the strings, now influencing more than one in five purchases worldwide. But the euphoria of the numbers hides a palpable tension: the price war is raging in Europe where Amazon is lowering its fees to counter China, while the French Senate and the EU unleash heavy fiscal artillery against small parcels. Between logistics restructurings (Kroger/Ocado) and luxury nominations at LVMH, the sector is reconfiguring itself for a year 2026 that promises to be as technological as it is legal.

📢 E-commerce & Shopping

🇺🇸 Black Friday & Cyber Week: AI propels global records Cyber Week 2025 enters history with $11.8 billion spent online in the US for Black Friday (+9.1%) and $17.3 billion on Cyber Monday. Key fact: Agentic AI drove $263 billion in global sales (21% of orders), while Shopify recorded a historic peak of $14.6 billion (+27%) despite a critical outage on Monday, and Global-e notes a 36% increase in cross-border trade. (www.adobe.com)

🇫🇷 France Report: +22% in Revenue but stagnating volumes In France, Black Friday offers a contrasting picture: while revenue jumped by 22% compared to 2024, order volume retreated slightly (-1%), a sign of persistent inflation and a higher average basket (+7%). Interestingly, seniors have become major adopters of the event, aligning with other age groups, while physical retail is enjoying a renewed interest via gift cards (+47% in-store). (www.fevad.com)

🤖 Agentic AI generates $263 billion in global sales Artificial intelligence influenced 21% of all global orders during Cyber Week. Chatbots increased conversion rates by 45%, and 60% of younger generations used AI for their purchases. (www.salesforce.com)

🛍️ Shopify: historic record at 14.6 billion despite an outage Shopify merchants achieved their best lifetime performance (+27%), with 94,900 sellers beating their own personal records. A shadow on the board: a major outage affected the platform for several critical hours on Cyber Monday. (www.shopify.com)

👴 French seniors, new champions of Black Friday A striking sociological fact of this 2025 edition: seniors massively adopted the promotional event. Two out of five consumers in this age group took advantage of the offers, catching up with other demographics. (www.groupebpce.fr)

🎁 Physical stores resist thanks to gift cards While e-commerce shined, French physical retail revitalized itself thanks to gift cards, sales of which exploded by 47% in-store (vs +53% on the web), confirming a winning omnichannel strategy. (www.neomag.fr)

📱 Social Commerce: TikTok Shop hits a milestone, Whatnot triples the stakes Social commerce is exploding in the US where TikTok Shop generated over $500 million in just four days during Cyber Week, attracting 50% more buyers. The live shopping platform Whatnot is not to be outdone, tripling its sales to $75 million, confirming that the live video format is the new engine of growth. (www.emarketer.com)

🛡️ Security & Data

🔨 Leroy Merlin France hit by a cyberattack The DIY retailer notified its clients of an intrusion affecting personal data and loyalty program data. An attack that fits into a wave touching European retail. (www.rescana.com)

🇰🇷 Coupang: massive leak of 33.7 million accounts The "Korean Amazon" revealed a major security breach. Data (names, addresses, orders) of 33.7 million users were exposed following an unauthorized access detected late. (www.firecompass.com)

⚖️ Regulation, Taxes & Legal

🇨🇳 Platform war: Amazon strikes back, Shein and Temu cornered Amazon announced a drastic reduction of its seller fees in Europe starting December 15 (5% on fashion <€15) to counter the Chinese giants. The latter are under the spotlight: the French Senate voted a €5 tax per parcel (vs €2 planned), the EU wants to remove the customs duty exemption under €150, and in the US, Senator Tom Cotton is demanding a federal investigation for espionage and counterfeiting.

⚖️ Shein facing justice and the French parliament Tension is mounting in Paris: Shein once again "skipped" its summons to the National Assembly on December 2, leading to the seizure of the public prosecutor. In parallel, the hearing regarding the potential suspension of the platform for selling illicit products was postponed to December 5, with the State demanding firm sanctions. (www.lemonde.fr)

🏢 Corporate Movements & Retail Strategies

🇪🇸 Inditex (Zara) crushes forecasts and targets America The Spanish giant displays insolent health with sales up 10.6% in November and a third quarter at €9.8 billion, propelling its stock to a record level (+14%). Strengthened by this dynamic which resists ultra-fast fashion, the group is preparing the arrival of its Bershka brand in the United States for 2026, starting with Miami. (www.inditex.com)

🇮🇪 Primark storming the United States The Irish retailer unveiled an aggressive plan targeting 60 stores in the USA by September 2026, including a flagship in Manhattan, taking advantage of the potential weakening of Chinese pure-players via customs regulations.

🏢 US Retail: Macy's breathes, Kroger suffers, Primark attacks The American landscape is divided: Macy's raises its annual targets thanks to luxury (Bloomingdale's), and discount chains (Dollar General) are seeing the arrival of a wealthier clientele. Conversely, Kroger falls in the stock market and restructures its logistics by separating from Ocado warehouses, while the Irish Primark announces a major offensive with 60 new stores targeted in the US by 2026.

💼 Employment: 1.17 million job cuts in the USA The Challenger report is somber: American companies announced 1.17 million layoffs in 2025, the worst figure since 2020. Retail cut 91,954 jobs (+139% year-on-year) and seasonal hiring is at its lowest in 15 years. (www.cbsnews.com)

🌏 Expansion and Movements: IKEA and JD.com moving lines Ingka Group (IKEA) is reorganizing its global leadership for 2026 and has just opened its first store in New Zealand. In Asia, JD.com launched the IPO of its industrial subsidiary in Hong Kong for $420 million, while LVMH confirms its confidence in China with new major openings planned in Beijing this month. (www.ingka.com)

📣 Marketing & Ads

🤖 PayPal transforms Perplexity AI into a supermarket In an unprecedented merger between search and commerce, PayPal launched a feature allowing purchases directly via the AI assistant Perplexity. Brands like Abercrombie or NewEgg are already integrated, marking a key step towards "interface-less commerce" where conversation replaces the click. (www.paypal.com)

🎯 Reelevant and personalized marketing "Made in France" The French gem Reelevant is making waves with its SaaS solution that adapts marketing content (email, SMS) in real-time at the moment of opening. A technology that meets the crucial need for hyper-personalization highlighted this week by the massive adoption of AI at Le Bon Marché to manage customer relations. (www.ecommerce-nation.fr)

💳 Klarna moves upmarket with paid subscriptions The "Buy Now Pay Later" giant is seeking profitability before its IPO by launching "Premium" and "Max" subscription plans in the US. For a few dollars, users access exclusive services (airport lounges, partner discounts), moving away from the pure transactional model. (www.klarna.com)

📱 Local battle: the Instagram vs Facebook guide A new comparative study published this week helps local merchants decide: Facebook remains the king of volume in France (38M users, target 35-55 years old), but Instagram (28M) offers three times higher engagement for 18-35 year-olds, redefining local drive-to-store strategies. (www.shine-digital.fr)

🤖 AI & Tech

🧠 The Era of Agentic AI: Levi's and Snowflake accelerate It's the heavy trend: Levi Strauss is allying with Microsoft to create an AI "super agent" managing everything from HR to store inventory, planned for 2026. In parallel, Anthropic and Snowflake signed a $200 million deal to deploy "Claude" autonomous agents at the heart of corporate data, promising to automate complex workflows. (www.microsoft.com)

📦 Robotic Logistics: Walmart Drones and MIT Robots The supply chain is futurizing at a forced march: Walmart launched drone delivery in Atlanta (less than 5 minutes per order), while an MIT spin-off unveils robots capable of unloading entire trucks (up to 1500 boxes/hour) autonomously, already tested by UPS and DHL. (www.mit.edu)

🚛 Logistics Records: DHL and ID Logistics under pressure The mechanics held up: DHL Germany processed a historic record of 12.4 million parcels in 24h on December 2. The French ID Logistics also reports record volumes (+60% on the peak), illustrating the resilience of logistics chains facing demand hyper-concentrated over a few days. (www.dhl.com)

🛡️ Security & Data: The CJEU strikes hard on Marketplaces It's a legal earthquake: the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that marketplaces (Amazon, eBay) are "joint controllers" of GDPR data, obliging them to verify user content before publication. A decision that comes at a bad time while Coupang (Korea) and Leroy Merlin (France) have just revealed massive data leaks touching millions of customers. (www.taylorwessing.com)

🦄 Startups & Funding: French Tech holds strong Despite a gloomy climate, French Tech raised 351 million euros in November. Note this week the fundraising of Chilean startup Vambe ($14M) for its conversational AI, and the announcement of Apple's App Store Awards crowning apps integrating AI like Tiimo, underlining that innovation remains the primary driver of funding. (www.journaldunet.com)

📺 Must-Watch Videos & Podcasts Capital M6: Shein, Temu, what the giants are hiding from us. A general public investigation broadcast this week that reignited the powder keg on the practices of Chinese marketplaces. (www.6play.fr) Generative AI in Retail. Discussion on the concrete impact of AI agents observed during Black Friday, beyond the buzz. (www.youtube.com)

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