SEO is pushing 30, and another upstart acronym could be coming for the search discovery throne—GEO, or generative engine optimization.

As consumers are increasingly utilizing large language models like ChatGPT—72% use these tools regularly, per Accenture—they’re often using them for product recommendations, making these engines “the new influencers," and creating the need for brands to make themselves visible.

While the tools are new, they’re quickly gaining momentum. The traffic AI sources are driving to retailer websites has risen 1,200% between July 2024 and February 2025, per Adobe Analytics, and grew 3,300% year over year during Amazon’s Prime Day event last week. For generative AI users, 18% say it’s a top tool for purchase recommendation, behind only physical stores and ahead of social media, according to an Accenture survey.

And the engines themselves are leaning into commerce. In April, OpenAI added shopping options assisting consumers in product research through ChatGPT, while Perplexity and PayPal linked up in May to power in-chat shopping.

“It’s going to change the way people shop,” Jill Standish, global retail lead at Accenture, told Retail Brew, and retailers and brands may need to shift their marketing strategies to keep up.

Keep reading here.—EC

As the noise around a US recession grows louder, advertiser demand is expected to take a hit, and retailers banking on ad revenue from retail media might need to look elsewhere for spare change.

Retail media, growing at roughly 20% YoY, has become a core component of planning between brands and retailers, making it less susceptible to media market volatility. However, since it’s a relatively new marketing channel and hasn’t been through a significant recession yet, it’s hard to say definitively, experts told Retail Brew.

Separately, advertising research firm World Advertising Research Center (WARC) has cut its global advertising forecast by $19.8 billion, citing overall macroeconomic uncertainty.

As advertisers face intense scrutiny to justify ad spend, three experts told Retail Brew that while retail media isn’t immune from a recession, it may be more resilient compared to other advertising channels. The throughline is advertisers tend to rely on performance-based ad channels with measurable ROI during economic downturns.

“I don’t think it’s recession proof, but retail media is more recession resistant than other channels,” Andrew Lipsman, independent analyst at Media, Ads + Commerce, told Retail Brew.

Keep reading here.—VC

Every other TikTok seems like it’s selling something these days, so getting a product to cut through the mindless scrolling and pause consumers’ thumbs for just a second isn’t as easy as it sounds. Videos of appliance company SharkNinja’s constantly viral innovations, whether it be mixing at-home treats with the Ninja Creami or achieving on-trend blowouts with the Shark FlexStyle, have repeatedly managed to do just that.

The latest to take over TikTok is its TurboBlade fan, with a video of it oscillating in front of a bed—soundtracked by Anna Nalick’s Y2K classic “Breathe (2 AM)”—amassing more than 32 million views since April, becoming its most-viewed product of all time, Lana Sanleandro, global CMO for Shark Home, told Retail Brew. Its 100+ million impressions on TikTok have translated into strong sales for the product, its CEO Mark Adam Barrocas said in May.

The company is what Sanleandro calls a “social-first organization,” prioritizing storytelling and marketing in tandem with product innovation.

Keep reading here.—EC

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