Hey! Welcome back. Summer isn’t just heating up beaches, it’s firing up ecommerce too. This week we dig into record-breaking shipment volumes, rising shopper expectations, and the brutal truth behind why your cart leaks. Plus, a new retail media giant and why weekend deliveries now rule the game.

🧠 INSIGHTS:

🌞 Ecommerce Summer Records
🏗️ Why Your Cart Leaks
🎟️ Apple Loves Tickets, Android Loves TV, All Love Temu
🤝 Carrefour Builds Retail Media Giant
🧊 EU Retail Slows Down in May

📖 NEWS:

🇮🇳 Google brings AI ads to 7 APAC markets.
🇺🇸 ByteDance preps new TikTok app as US ban looms.
🇳🇬 Jumia shifts retail media to Mirakl Ads.
🇺🇸 Instacart and Pinterest team up for CPG retail ads.
🇺🇸 FedEx Cuts Asia-US Flights as Tariffs Hit Profits.
🇬🇧 DHL Invests £550M in UK Robots and New Health Hub.

+ 15 other handpicked news from the last week you need to know 🔥

LET’S ENTER THE MAZE!
- Artur Stańczuk, MarketMaze Founder

Scurri Unpacked’s latest report pulls back the curtain on how 200M+ shipments moved through Europe and the UK in Q2 2025. This isn’t guesswork—it’s hard data, charting everything from the impact of the heatwave to the Father’s Day effect. If you want to know who’s winning and why, this is your cheat sheet for eCommerce’s fastest quarter yet.

Hot Weather + Father’s Day = Record Growth 📈

Online shopping volumes grew 18% in Q2 vs last year, peaking with a 25% spike in June. The combo of one of the UK’s hottest Junes on record and Father’s Day gifting supercharged demand. Every month showed YOY gains, proving digital isn’t just sticky—it’s accelerating. When consumer confidence rises, digital carts fill up fast.

Winners and Losers: Mind the Gap

Germany grew 37%, Poland 28%, and Ireland 22% in Q2, as inflation cooled and logistics improved. The UK posted a steady 6%. But North America felt the pain—US volumes dropped 18% after new tariffs, while the Netherlands and France fell off a cliff, down 34% and 32%.

Delivery Wars: Weekends Win, Proof Sells 🚚

Shoppers want their stuff on their terms—fast, secure, flexible. Weekend deliveries soared 47%, next-day rose 29%, and signature-on-delivery hit 28% growth, powered by a mix of porch piracy paranoia and higher-value baskets. Two-day and standard barely budged.

Comfort and Lifestyle Crush Tech 🏡

Garden and outdoor orders exploded 48%, homewares 46%, pets and animal 39%, with sports, toys, and medical also booming. UK Father’s Day alone drove over £1.1B in spend. But not all is rosy: electronics sales fell 28%, gifting slipped 6%. The post-pandemic playbook has shifted—shoppers are investing in comfort, wellness, and meaningful moments, not just the latest gadget.

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Don’t blame weak sales on the economy or your competitors. The real enemy is inside your funnel. The 2025 Ecommerce CRO Report, with data from 1,000+ US shoppers and 600 Shopify stores, proves most bounces are fixable. Read on for the sharpest lessons from today’s best ecommerce minds—plus the math behind what truly moves the conversion needle.

Forget chasing coupon clippers. Most shoppers in 2025 buy for a reason—solving a specific need or problem, not just snagging a deal. "Feels good" and "love it" together outpace price-driven buys in every vertical except tech. Fashion shoppers care about comfort and fit; beauty buyers want solutions, not just a lower price. If you’re only running discounts, you’re missing 80% of the market.

If your marketing is all about discounts, you’re attracting bargain hunters with tiny baskets. The highest-spending customers are "mission shoppers"—those who buy for values, ethics, or a true need. They drop $240 per order, 4x more than first-timers and 1.5x more than discount chasers. Buyers who feel a connection to your brand or mission simply spend more and return more often. Translation: Lead with purpose, not price.

Silent customers rarely return, but talkers are gold. Shoppers who leave positive feedback come back at a 53% rate, while the mute majority returns just 20% of the time. Even customers with negative or neutral reviews are twice as likely to repurchase as those who say nothing. Want retention? Make leaving feedback frictionless, reward it, and reply fast. Reviews aren’t just social proof… they’re the engine of repeat revenue.

Here’s what really kills conversions: complicated exchanges (54%), missing product details (35%), inventory gaps (22%), and, way behind, price sensitivity (9%). That’s it. Nine out of ten exits are caused by headaches you can solve with clearer info, better returns, and smarter inventory. AI-powered cart recovery can nudge many of these shoppers back. Discounts alone won’t fix leaks if trust and convenience are missing.

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Apple users in Australia over-indexed on live event apps like Ticketek and Ticketmaster. Android users leaned into streaming with Disney+, Paramount+ and 10 Play. But Temu ruled both worlds—snagging ~1% of downloads in each store. 👉 ACCC Digital Services Report

Carrefour and Coopérative U launched Concordis, a €97.5B buying alliance set to start negotiations in 2026. Beyond supplier talks, Coop U joins Carrefour’s retail media network Unlimitail, pushing the group deeper into ad monetization. 👉 Carrefour x Coopérative U Alliance

Retail trade volume dropped -0.7% in the eurozone and -0.8% in the EU month-over-month. Year-over-year, however, sales rose +1.8% and +1.9% respectively. Portugal and Bulgaria led growth; Sweden and Belgium sank. 👉 Eurostat Retail Report

Billiger.de crunched 6 years of data across 1,300 shops to map when prices hit rock bottom. Need drills? Buy in March. Car parts? June. Ovens? October. It’s price-seasonality as a strategy. 👉 Billiger.de Price Calendar

🇮🇳 Google brings AI ads to 7 APAC markets in 2025. Google will add ads to its AI Overviews in search for seven Asia-Pacific markets including India, Japan, and Australia by the end of 2025. APAC digital ad spend is expected to pass $175 billion, with brands set to benefit from new ad placements. 👉 Campaign Indonesia

🇺🇸 ByteDance preps new TikTok app as US ban looms. ByteDance is building a new TikTok app for the US as lawmakers push for a ban unless the company divests. The US is TikTok’s biggest market with 170 million users and 2024 ad revenues estimated at $16 billion. 👉 The Heritage Times

🇮🇳 Google launches AI marketing tools in India post-tax. Google launched advanced AI-powered marketing tools in India after the repeal of the 6% Google Tax. The move comes as India’s digital ad market heads for $15 billion in 2025, giving brands better targeting and optimization. 👉 TechCrunch

🇺🇸 Meta rolls out AI chatbot for e-commerce use. Meta is testing a commercial AI agent for e-commerce on Facebook and Instagram, aiming to automate customer service and drive sales. E-commerce chatbots could generate $2.8 billion in revenue this year. 👉 DigiTimes

🇺🇸 Meta brings back Messenger marketing messages. Meta now lets businesses send personalized marketing messages on Messenger to users who opt in, targeting its 1.3 billion global users. This update helps brands drive sales using AI segmentation and compliance tools. 👉 Facebook Developers

🇩🇪 Productsup launches tools for Google Shopping ROI. Productsup launched new comparison shopping services to help brands maximize ROI on Google Shopping. Clients using these services have seen CPC drop 20% and CTR rise 15%. 👉 PRNewswire

🇳🇬 Jumia shifts retail media to Mirakl Ads. Jumia moved its retail media program to Mirakl Ads, giving sellers better targeting and analytics across the African marketplace. Jumia posted $234 million in revenue for 2024 with retail media as a fast-growing segment. 👉 ChannelX

🇺🇸 Instacart and Pinterest team up for CPG retail ads. Instacart and Pinterest have partnered to let brands target Pinterest users with shoppable CPG ads linked to grocery delivery. Their early tests show more people add products to carts and higher average order values. 👉 AInvest

🇺🇸 Onetext raises $4.5M to power shopping via text. Startup Onetext scored $4.5M from Y Combinator and Khosla Ventures to let people buy products by texting through apps like WhatsApp and iMessage. CEO Mikhail Seregine says the funds will help expand tech and onboard more brands targeting Gen Z shoppers. 👉 TechCrunch

🇨🇳 Alibaba.com and Wix team up for SME growth. Alibaba.com and Wix announced a partnership giving Wix users access to Alibaba's B2B marketplace in over 200 markets. Execs Daniel Shapiro (Wix) and Kuo Zhang (Alibaba) say the deal will help small businesses source, sell, and expand globally. 👉 Wix

🇺🇸 Perplexity launches Comet, an AI web browser. Perplexity rolled out Comet, an AI-powered browser that lets users summarize articles and manage citations right inside the browser. CEO Aravind Srinivas says the tool targets students and professionals looking for quick answers and easy research. 👉 TechCrunch

🇺🇸 Remark gets $16M for expert shopping help. Remark raised $16M from Index Ventures and Coatue to blend AI with human experts who help shoppers pick products and handle returns. CEO Max Blumenfeld says the cash will scale up their network and expand into new e-commerce verticals. 👉 TechCrunch

🇺🇸 GenAI set to drive Prime Day shopping boom. Over 30% of U.S. online shoppers are expected to use AI tools for Prime Day, says eMarketer. Amazon, Klarna, and Google are rolling out new features to help people compare prices and find deals, as consumer use of AI shopping assistants explodes. 👉 TechCrunch

🌏 E-commerce shares surge after Amazon, Alibaba Q2. Amazon posted $158.6B in Q2 revenue, up 12%, while Alibaba hit $41.3B, up 8%. Both companies raised outlooks after strong Prime Day and 6.18 festival sales, boosting global e-commerce stocks. 👉 MiTrade

🇺🇸 Amazon Q Business customizes AI for companies. AWS rolled out new tools letting Amazon Q Business adapt to company-specific workflows and compliance needs. Early clients report productivity gains of up to 25% using Q for customer service and analytics. 👉 AWS

🇺🇸 Finix launches WooCommerce plugin for payments. Payments platform Finix launched a plugin for WooCommerce, letting millions of merchants accept payments with more control and better reporting. CEO Richie Serna says this move levels the playing field with Stripe and Shopify. 👉 GlobeNewswire

🇺🇸 FedEx Cuts Asia-US Flights as Tariffs Hit Profits. FedEx reduced Asia-Americas air cargo by 35% after the US dropped the “de minimis” exemption for Chinese goods, losing $170 million in one quarter. CEO Raj Subramaniam says third-party capacity was halved, with Asia-US e-commerce volume down as much as 60%. 👉 Supply Chain Dive

🇬🇧 DHL Invests £550M in UK Robots and New Health Hub. DHL will deploy over 1,000 robots and build a life-sciences hub in Derby, expanding on €1 billion spent on automation in EMEA. Boston Dynamics robots will unload 700 boxes per hour, and new tech aims to serve fast-growing healthcare clients. 👉 Trans.INFO

🇿🇦 Temu Opens South African Warehouse for Faster Delivery. Temu’s new local warehouse enables same-day dispatch and next-day delivery for select goods, boosting speed and reliability. The move expands Temu’s local fulfillment model now seen in 90+ markets worldwide. 👉 TechCentral

🇪🇺 EU Agrees to Digital Customs Code for E-commerce. EU states adopted a plan for a new Union Customs Code to streamline digital processes and cut import costs, especially for online retail. The code will overhaul customs and enable trilogue talks before expected approval by late 2025. 👉 Trans.INFO

🇺🇸 Cart.com and FedEx Deepen E-commerce Data Partnership. Cart.com and FedEx expand their alliance with new data tools, shipping insights, and ShopRunner two-day delivery for merchants. CEO Omair Tariq says data from FedEx and Cart.com will drive better customer experience. 👉 The Paypers

🇺🇸 ShipStation Rolls Out AI Tools to Optimize Fulfillment. ShipStation launched automated rate shopping, a branded returns portal, and real-time inventory features to help businesses cut costs and improve speed. The July release includes advanced analytics and mobile scanning for warehouses. 👉 BusinessWire

That's it for today! Before you go we’d love to know what you thought of today's maze to help us improve!

See you next time in the maze!
MarketMaze team