Is the “Zero-Click” shopping era finally here, and are European retailers ready for a three-way war between Amazon, Temu, and JD.com’s Joybuy?

In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller unpack a huge week in e-commerce. First: Meta’s new Stripe partnership for in-app checkout. With OpenAI and Google both struggling to make native checkout work, can Meta finally crack the “zero-click” model and keep shoppers fully inside its platform?

Then comes the real clash of the titans. JD.com has launched Joybuy in Europe, going straight after Amazon and Temu. We share exclusive Google Ads data showing how aggressively Joybuy is already outranking incumbents. But unlike Temu, Joybuy isn’t just burning cash for growth. It’s building a sustainable base and investing in local logistics, making it a serious hybrid threat.

Finally, Mike shares updated market penetration numbers for Amazon and Temu across Europe. The picture is clear: Amazon dominates wealthy Western European markets, while Temu has seized the Central and Eastern European markets Amazon largely ignored.

📊 Key Takeaways & SEO Insights:

• Meta’s In-App Checkout: Meta is working with Stripe on native checkout via ACP instead of Google’s UCP. If it works, platforms gain even more leverage by keeping both shoppers and customer data in-house.
• The Joybuy Threat: JD’s Joybuy is taking a more disciplined, Amazon-like route into Europe. It’s setting efficient growth baselines while aggressively outranking established retailers in Google Ads.
• The Amazon/Temu Divide: Comparing Monthly Active Users to total internet users reveals a sharp split. Amazon leads in high-GDP Western Europe, while Temu dominates much of Central and Eastern Europe, including striking penetration in Poland.
• The Chinese “Involution”: Intense competition in China is pushing giants like JD, Alibaba, and PDD (Temu) to seek growth in Europe—raising the pressure on local retailers..

Resources & Links:

• Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
• How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/

About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):

Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.

The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.

As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.

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