Beyond the Basket - 07/10/25

Tuesday 7th October | #45 | Join Free

Hello and welcome to your Tuesday Beyond the Basket brief. Duolingo is launching an in-house ads platform, and if you've been struggling to reach Gen Z, 128 million monthly users with actual engagement might be worth a look. More on that below, plus ChatGPT's new checkout button and what Prime Day's $9B forecast means for your Q4.

In today’s beyond the basket:
🤖 Conversational Commerce: When the Funnel Collapses
🛍️ Adobe Sees $9B Fall Prime Day Surge
📦 DHL: AI, Social Commerce & Sustainability Dominate 2025 Trends
📱 Duolingo launches ads platform to woo Gen Z with character charm

+plus four longer reads that cover everything from the shifts in customer loyalty to how AI is rewriting the marketing rule book.

Let’s get into it 👇 - Mike Callachan (BtB Founder)

ChatGPT just turned into a storefront, and your funnel may never look the same.

News that OpenAI now supports checkout inside ChatGPT sent ripples through the ecommerce world last week.

For now, it’s U.S.-only, linking Etsy listings directly, with Shopify integrations coming soon. But the direction of travel is clear, the traditional customer journey just got rewritten.

In this new flow, a user can type “artisanal candle under £30” and buy the top result without ever leaving the chat. No homepage, no product page, no funnel. Just one conversation that moves from discovery to purchase in a single message.

That collapse changes everything. The funnel we’ve spent twenty years perfecting, discovery > consideration > conversion, now happens in one place, controlled by an AI. And that means visibility inside the model becomes the new battleground.

Enter GEO, Generative Engine Optimisation. It’s the AI-age version of SEO.

If you want your products surfaced when someone asks for “eco-friendly candles” or “personalised pyjamas,” you need to make them machine-readable. Clear, consistent titles. Structured data. Real attributes. Accurate stock and pricing feeds. If the crawler can’t interpret it, it won’t recommend it.

The ecommerce homepage is becoming less relevant by the day. Your first impression may soon live inside a chatbot’s answer box, not on your website.

💡 Your Move: Start treating AI discovery as its own sales channel. Run product-style prompts and see what appears. Tune your listings like you’d tune SEO: structured, complete, machine-readable. And assume platform costs will come, price them into your margins early to avoid being caught out.

TL;DR: Adobe forecasts $9B (+6.2% YoY) in U.S. online spend for Amazon’s Oct. 7–8 “Prime Big Deals Days,” up 6.2% YoY, with strong mobile and BNPL growth.

Why it Matters: This marks the unofficial kickoff of holiday 2025, and it’s starting earlier than ever. BNPL is set to drive over $700M in sales, and mobile will account for 50.5% of total spend. But the bigger picture is mixed: Adobe and Deloitte see online sales growing modestly through Q4, while PwC expects sharp drops in consumer and gift spending, especially among Gen Z.

Your Move: Treat this as the real start of Q4. Tighten campaigns now, not later. Test BNPL integrations and mobile UX ahead of peak. And if you’re targeting younger shoppers, rethink your gifting pitch: value and utility may outperform trend and novelty this year.

TL;DR: DHL’s first global e-commerce business report finds AI, social commerce, and sustainability are top priorities for brands scaling online in 2025.

Why it Matters: The report surveyed 4,050 ecommerce businesses across 19 countries, revealing that nearly half now use AI, 61% in B2B. Social platforms like TikTok and Instagram are driving commerce, and 76% expect social sales to grow in the next 5 years. Sustainability is no longer optional: 85% of brands say it matters, with many turning to circular models and plastic reduction.

Your Move: If AI still feels experimental in your stack, this is a nudge to move faster, especially on content and CX. Don’t just “do” social; design with intent to convert. And with sustainability now a competitive baseline, transparency in logistics and packaging could be your brand’s differentiator.

TL;DR: Duolingo Ads is live, a new mobile-first platform using in-app characters and humour to deliver rewarded video and native ads without disrupting lessons.

Why it Matters: With over 128 million monthly users and a lock on Gen Z attention spans, Duolingo isn’t just selling ad space, it’s selling cultural fluency. The platform turns brand placements into playful story moments, not banner intrusions. For ecommerce brands, it opens a path to high-quality engagement in an app users want to open daily. And unlike traditional social, these ads don’t fight for attention, they’re baked into the user experience.

Your Move: If you’re targeting Gen Z, look beyond Meta and TikTok. Consider placements in apps they use daily, and tailor creative to the tone of the platform, not just the demographic.

Curated deep dives, longer reads and analysis shaping the future of ecommerce and marketing.

Consumer loyalty is shifting from discounts to belonging
RetailWire (4 min read) Read here
Why points and perks aren’t enough, loyalty now means identity, not incentives.

Why hustle culture is back, and AI is to blame
Inc. (5 min read) Read here
AI tools were meant to ease workloads, but for many, they’ve only raised expectations.

Is the funnel dead? Kantar says shoppers now decide in a blink
The Drum (3 min read) Read here
Decision-making is collapsing into instinctive micro-moments, and brand mental availability is key.

How AI changed Kellanova’s view of its customers
Modern Retail (6 min read) Read here
The CPG giant is using AI not just for targeting, but to rethink who its core customers really are.