Sustainability sells | ClickZ eBay Insights Newsletter

Time to make it central to your influencer strategy

Author

Zihan Lyu
April 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

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Welcome to eBay Merchant Insights, your trusted source for updates and analysis on eBay’s latest developments.

Editor’s Pick 🌟

Marketing thought leadership has a tendency towards binaries. The funnel is either completely dead or very much alive. Brand marketing is either pointless or the solution to all your problems, and ChatGPT is ending 30 years of search overnight.

At Fospha, we love the measurement challenge of any new channel that offers our clients ways to reach more customers. However, Google is still very much the biggest advertising platform. Performance Max (PMAX) and Search products alone represent around 30% of our clients’ digital share of wallet.

In uncertain times, it’s more important than ever for brands to nail these core channels, so we produced the definitive best practice guide on PMAX and Paid Search. Here were our top findings:

  • ⚖️ Best performing brands allocate 55% of Google budget to PMAX and 12% to Paid Search.

  • 🏆 Brands that pair Search and PMAX with ~50% of their budgets in YouTube, Demand Gen and Paid Social see optimal results.

  • 🎨 Especially for PMAX, high-volume creative is key for AI-powered optimization.

Sector Spotlight 🎥

SUSTAINABLE INFLUENCER STRATEGY

Integrating sustainability into influencer marketing is now essential, as consumers demand authentic, eco-conscious campaigns over disposable, trend-driven content.

By partnering with purpose-driven creators, emphasizing product longevity, intentional gifting, and leveraging affiliate links for ongoing engagement, marketing professionals can drive brand credibility and social impact.

SUSTAINABLE FASHION STRATEGIES

Photograph: lechatnoir/Getty Images

Secondhand shopping is gaining momentum among both industry insiders and consumers, driven by the pursuit of unique, affordable fashion and increasing concerns about environmental sustainability.

Strategic use of filters, alerts, and marketplace platforms, combined with a disciplined “buy less, buy better” approach, empowers consumers to maximize value while minimizing waste. Marketers should note the rapid projected growth of the global secondhand clothing market, outpacing traditional apparel.

RESALE MARKET SURGE

eBay’s strong performance amid rising tariffs and electronic prices positions it as a critical eCommerce channel for value-conscious consumers, evidenced by a 2% year-over-year increase in both revenue ($10.3 billion) and gross merchandise volume ($74.4 billion) for 2024.

The platform’s focus on refurbished goods—now nearly 40% of sales—reflects a growing consumer shift to recommerce. Marketers should note eBay’s robust positioning in the expanding second-hand electronics market, offering actionable opportunities for campaign targeting and partnership.

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY MARKETPLACE

A robust secondhand solar panel market is emerging on platforms like eBay and Craigslist, driven by individuals upgrading their home solar systems and reselling functional panels.

Marketers should note this trend signifies expanding consumer demand for affordable solar solutions and creates opportunities for brands to target DIY enthusiasts and sustainable consumers. Leveraging this market could inform new eCommerce strategies and messaging around accessibility and environmental impact.

Influencer Corner 📢

Meta Ads vs. Google Ads: Which One is Better for D2C Brands?

Meta ads excel at:
👉 Building brand awareness.
👉 Nurturing new customers with engaging content.
👉 Retargeting cold leads who didn’t convert initially.

Google ads are great for:
👉 Capturing demand when people are actively searching for solutions.
👉 Generating high-intent traffic with low CPC.
👉 Converting cold leads into paying customers quickly.

Which one should you focus on?
👉 Meta ads work best if you’re focusing on top-of-funnel and brand-building.
👉 Google ads work best when you’re ready to convert customers actively searching for your product.

Rumour has it that OpenAI might be quietly working on a native Shopify checkout inside ChatGPT.

Apparently ‘leaked’ code shows:

👉 'shopify_checkout_url'
👉 'buy_now'
👉 'product_offer_ratings'

No redirects. No search. Just chat, compare, and buy in one flow. Unconfirmed, but catching attention.

If this happens?

Google, TikTok, even product pages as we know them are all about to change.

Optimization Hub ⚙️

SEARCH INNOVATION

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) integrates traditional SEO with AI-focused strategies, ensuring content is both visible in classic search results and cited by AI models like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Marketers must structure content to answer specific questions, prioritize authority, and track AI-driven citations. Adapting to GEO is essential for maintaining discoverability in an AI-driven search landscape.

DISCOVERY COMMERCE INNOVATION

TikTok Shop’s newly released playbook, developed with Accenture Song, provides marketers and brands actionable frameworks for driving growth through discovery commerce, leveraging real-time creator content and robust measurement. With TikTok Shop rapidly capturing eCommerce market share, ignoring these trends risks falling behind competitors capitalizing on content-driven online retail.

INNOVATIVE PERSONALIZATION STRATEGIES

Cookieless personalization is reshaping digital marketing by requiring brands to use first-party and zero-party data, contextual targeting, and server-side solutions instead of third-party cookies, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. This shift enables marketers to maintain effective, consent-driven customer engagement while safeguarding user privacy. Marketers must adapt quickly to sustain relevance and trust.

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