Elias Chedid, Performance Associate Director,
Hearts & Science – DubaiE-commerce is still a major discipline in today’s ever-evolving digital landscape. For some people, it’s a one-way ticket out of the nine-to-five. For others, it’s an experimental side project to try their luck at making a quick buck.
One thing is certain: digital marketing success requires a lot more than simply being present online. It’s about winning attention, building loyalty and driving measurable return on investment (ROI).
While there are many challenges in this space, specifically in direct-to-consumer-led campaigns, three stand out as the biggest obstacles holding brands back in e-commerce.
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Cost of acquisition is rising
Cost per thousand impressions (CPMs), cost per click (CPCs), click through rates (CTRs), and CPMH (cost per mental health; digital marketers know what I mean) are the usual suspects in measuring campaign success. But above them all sits the most important metric: customer acquisition cost (CAC). Advertisers everywhere are watching CAC climb, and panic is slowly setting in across screens and dashboards. Higher acquisition costs mean shrinking profit margins and, for many brands, ads are becoming unsustainable in the long run.
Why is this happening? Simply put – competition. The first big e-commerce wave began in the early 2000s, but the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the social media boom of the late 2010s and early 2020s, permanently shifted consumer behaviour. Shoppers moved from brick-and-mortar reliance to an online-first mindset. Every brand jumped on board, and the clutter is very real.
Think about it: during a 30-minute Instagram scroll – from personal experience – it’s plausible that a user sees anywhere from 10 to 30 ads. When you’re competing for attention against that many messages, how do you stand out? How do you pull your audience’s gaze away from everything else? The truth is: it’s harder than ever to stay efficient and profitable.
Creative fatigue and the content crunch
With rising CAC comes another unavoidable challenge: creative fatigue.
Keeping audiences engaged while staying relevant to ever-changing trends is exhausting for both advertisers and creative teams.
The short-form video boom, thanks to TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, has accelerated this problem. Attention spans are shrinking, content duration is getting shorter, and users are consuming an endless stream of entertainment daily. For brands, that means ads wear out quickly, CTRs drop, return on ad spend (ROAS) dips, and CAC climbs even higher. Marketers are now forced to churn out creatives at lightning speed to keep up. But this process isn’t sustainable without new approaches.
The smartest brands are finding ways to scale content through user-generated content, influencer partnerships and repurposing assets across platforms while tailoring them to each channel. Others are leaning on AI-driven creative testing to produce variations faster.
However, the challenge isn’t just making content, it’s making content that consistently feels fresh, authentic and aligned with performance goals while keeping up with the latest trends across social media.
The omnichannel e-commerce challenge
Another hurdle: today’s shoppers don’t follow a linear path. They might discover your brand on TikTok, research it on Google and complete their purchase on Amazon. This fragmented journey creates headaches for marketers trying to piece the customer experience together.
Without true omnichannel integration, brands face disconnected touchpoints, inconsistent messaging and, worst of all, wasted media spend. Measurement becomes murky, attribution gets messy and opportunities to deliver a seamless brand experience slip through the cracks.
The solution lies in unifying data and strategy. Investing in customer relationship management (CRM) or customer data platform (CDP) tools to build richer customer profiles is no longer optional. Brands need to connect the dots between channels, deliver consistent storytelling and rethink attribution beyond the last click. In today’s environment, if your media presence isn’t integrated, you’re only scratching the surface
of what’s possible.
So, what can we do now? E-commerce marketing is crowded, competitive and constantly evolving. Rising CAC, creative burnout and fragmented omnichannel experiences should be treated as hurdles rather than roadblocks. They’re invitations to adapt.
The brands that will win aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets, but the ones that balance efficiency with creativity, and performance with authenticity. They’ll be the ones investing in retention as much as acquisition, scaling content smartly instead of endlessly, and building truly connected customer journeys.
Because, in the end, e-commerce isn’t about just showing up in the feed; it’s about standing out, being remembered and building loyalty in a world that’s scrolling faster than ever.
By Elias Chedid, Performance Associate Director, Hearts & Science – Dubai
