Dash from “Dot Commerce”
“It’s because the other teams can’t stop looking at those damn pinstripes”. That’s Frank’s theory on the Yankees’ historic dominance quoted from the movie Catch Me If You Can. If the marketing landscape is baseball, then SEO is the pinstripes. While that metaphor might be a bit of a stretch, there does seem to be an overt proclivity for advertisers to focus on how search engine advertising is changing without looking at other very important cogs in the machine.
The battle between online publishers and AI search engines has been widely discussed. The dip in ad revenue is no joke and there’s a legitimate claim that AI summaries are more or less theft. This dynamic has begun to consume the metrics, strategies, and narrative for marketers. Let’s take a few steps back. Do CPG/retail companies even need a webpage?
The short answer is yes, but the changing dynamic suggests that might not be the case forever. If native ad placements on publishers’ websites are seeing diminishing returns, mass email outreach is not inboxing, and consumers are already shifting their buying habits, why isn’t there more of a spotlight on Mobile commerce (m-commerce)?
Consumers are not going to shop through websites forever. We know the metrics surrounding mobile marketing are very positive (98% Open Rate, 45% Response Rate, etc. per Gartner), but the general notion is that the barrier to entry is too high or complex. This is all under the guise that consumers will receive an ad via text, then move through the funnel and make their purchase on the company’s e-commerce platform. If there’s one thing we know, buyers like convenience above nearly all else. (Chowdhury, 2023) Removing these intermediate steps will happen – it's just a matter of when and how.
Right now the best “how” we have is through text message apps and the best “when” is, well, now. For some. Walmart recently rolled out its “Text to Shop” solution, giving customers the ability to shop directly in an MMS text chain with Walmart. With the prevalence of algorithmic AI customer service agents, the pairing with e-commerce seems natural, and the conversational nature of the interaction removes one hurdle for utilizing AI. A 2024 study for the Journal of Consumer Marketing noted that complexity was the only real barrier to adopting AI chatbots in apparel shopping for consumers. (Myin, 2024) While less sophisticated, Nordstrom’s TextStyle service combines real stylists with AI tools to give curated styling suggestions via text message. I foresee this strategy being used by many more, with varying weights placed on AI usage.
Apple has been laying the groundwork for this change for a while now. Messages for Business is a public feature in iMessage to connect companies directly to consumers. The iOS 26 update will mimic several current Android systems in creating a separate messaging tab for unknown numbers, or more specifically, promotional outreach. On top of that, there’s already incentives built into this system for Apple. Commission fees are tacked on when someone uses a credit card or Apple Pay directly on iMessage. They also get commission on the iMessage App Store, a smaller version of the App Store for iMessage widgets/apps. This kind of MMS widget functionality will continue to grow and pair with basic smart phone functionality: cameras, voice commands, consumer information, stored promotional e-vouchers etc. Most importantly, the ability to take away market share from internet browser rivals like Chrome will drive Apple. Other Android companies will see many of the same incentives too.
This is not the map to the Holy Grail. I didn’t uncover something nobody knows by saying this, most of it is known by marketers throughout the country. So why does it feel like no one is preparing for this change?
Well, there’s the aforementioned barriers to mobile marketing. These barriers are spearheaded by the ever-changing and increasingly strict TCPA compliance guidelines. Privacy is always a valid concern for consumers, and an omnipresent obstacle for marketers. It’s possible that this has solely discouraged the concept of m-commerce in most companies’ minds. But ask yourself this: Are consumers more likely to trust Apple or ‘the entire internet’? Despite the reputation that nearly every big tech company claims, Apple has actually made bigger strides than most with their privacy policies (Private Relay, Advanced Fingerprinting Protection, etc.). It’s more likely that consumers would trust the name-brand mobile provider they use daily to implement strict sending policies than they would trust cumulative internet policies to be effective and followed by millions of sites. This indicates an easier path from e-commerce sites to m-commerce operations.
“Super apps” are like Voldemort in the US. There’s a feeling that they hold the keys to a lot of power, but even their mere mention will draw sneers. Fusing the app that people talk to their family on and the functionality of online shopping almost sounds gross and starts to resemble apps like WeChat that everyone in the US, barring tech CEOs, generally hate. How super apps got that reputation - and their failure to launch in the US - is a much larger topic, but there’s a few key ideas that are worthy of discussion.
First and foremost is a free market. With so many competing companies, it’s hard to build one into a universally used app. A company like Apple, however, is already so massive in the US that it certainly has the best chance. Millions and millions of Americans are already indoctrinated into the Apple ecosystem; from phones, to computers, to TVs, to music, to even digital writing utensils. In a way, Apple is a super app spread out into different products and services.
The Build vs. Buy conundrum is another barrier for super apps. Many US companies have attempted to acquire enough small companies until they’re a multi-faceted super unit. Klarna is an example of this – trying to layer on live shopping, price comparison, travel planning, and more all through acquisitions. What they found is that this stretched them too thin, forcing them to operate in worlds they didn’t have expertise in. (Barkho, 2023) Ultimately, you need to build up the foundations yourself for any kind of “super app” to work. The order in which WeChat built itself was: mobile messaging, embedded payments, mini messaging apps, and then a shared public app store where developers publish and monetize Mini-Programs via commission incentives. Does that sound familiar? The point is, companies like Apple, Google, and Meta all think they have the capabilities to create this and are actively trying.
Deloitte predicts super apps will begin to emerge in the US in 2025. (Aron) About 57% of e-commerce sales already happen via the mobile channel. (Statista, 2025) Most of the biggest apps in the world are solely used for shopping. A lot of people point to the success of social media as a channel that promotes purchases. TikTok is the golden standard for this. What people confuse is one thing: TikTok’s competitors are not Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook. It’s Amazon. Whether that’s a positive thing or not, the trends indicate that shopping and online messaging will go hand-in-hand for a long time. It’s hard to imagine that we won’t see tech companies pool their existing resources, including AI LLMs, to integrate shopping within their own walls. With online publishing looking like a royalty-based all-in-one funded AI library sometime soon (see RSL Collective), there’s not much in the way of stopping it.
The fact that more companies aren’t building their mobile databases is surprising. If the current and clear benefits of the channel don’t resonate well for them now, it’ll likely be a gut-punch when online shopping tips the scale towards mobile entirely.
Walmart is one of the most notorious winners in American business. You could almost call them the Yankees of the category. While others are looking at the SEO pinstripes, it looks like they’re planting the seeds of another win.
Sources Cited
Aron, Zachary. “Super-Apps in the United States.” Deloitte, Deloitte, 2024,
Barkho, Gabriela. “Why Super Apps Have yet to Take off in the U.S.” Modern Retail, 29 Nov. 2023,
Chowdhury, Rupam. “Impact of Perceived Convenience, Service Quality and Security on Consumers’ Behavioural Intention towards Online Food Delivery Services: The Role of Attitude as Mediator.” SN Business & Economics, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 7 Jan. 2023,
Myin, Mon Thu. “Investigating Consumers’ Adoption of AI Chatbots for Apparel Shopping | Journal of Consumer Marketing | Emerald Publishing.” Emerald Insight, Journal of Consumer Marketing, 28 Mar. 2024
Payment for AI Content Scraping, Usage.” Real Simple Justice: New Standard Seeks Payment For AI Content Scraping, Usage 09/11/2025, MediaPost, 10 Sept. 2025,
van Gelder, Koen. “Global: M-Commerce Revenue and Share in e-Commerce 2017-2028.” Statista, 24 June 2025
By: Phil Brown | Account Assistant + Marketing Coordinator