[Shopify × Growth Meetup Report] Dec. 17 (Wed.) Event: 2025 E-Commerce Marketing Recap — Where Are Ads and Vertical Video Headed?

Growth Meetup is a monthly event where speakers and attendees come together to share know-how on continuously growing their businesses with Shopify.

For the final session of 2025, held on Wednesday, December 17, Mr. Tanaka from Yuwai Co., Ltd. and Mr. Nishimura from Anagram Co., Ltd. took the stage to discuss the year's e-commerce marketing landscape.

With two front-line practitioners in attendance, the session was packed with candid, insider insights that even those of us running the event found ourselves hanging on every word.

The Key to Google Ads Lies in "Data Resolution"

Hiroki Tanaka, CEO, Yuwai Co., Ltd.

The first session featured Mr. Tanaka, a Google Ads specialist, who explained how to succeed with Google Shopping ads as AI integration accelerates — using clear, easy-to-understand analogies.

• The "Shopping Graph" — Where Information Quality Determines Visibility One particularly memorable point: "Even if two stores sell the same product, the one with richer data — attributes, reviews — will be chosen over the one with sparse information." In 2025, "data resolution" — how well you train AI to correctly recognize your products — is what separates winners from losers.
• The Shocking Reality: Most E-Commerce Stores Can't Accurately Measure Conversions Due to browser restrictions and increasingly complex settings, many stores are struggling to capture accurate data. The session was full of immediately actionable checkpoints — including how a minor Shopify configuration change can fragment your data — that any operations manager should review right away.

Rather than leaving everything to AI, the core lesson was this: how carefully you do the "homework" of feeding AI the right information is what matters most. Getting the fundamentals right is your greatest competitive advantage — a deeply practical insight from this session.

TikTok Shop Has Outgrown Its "Youth Trend" Label

Yusuke Nishimura, Head of Vertical Short Video Division, Anagram Co., Ltd.

Next, Mr. Nishimura — who is at the cutting edge of vertical video — gave an unvarnished look at the real state of TikTok Shop, which has now officially launched in Japan.

• The Average User Age Is "36" The image of "TikTok as a playground for Gen Z" is now firmly in the past. Users in their 30s and 40s are already the core demographic, and everyday household goods and electronics are moving in the hundreds of millions of yen — a fact that clearly came as a surprise to many attendees.
• Honest Advice: "You Can't Win by Doing This Half-Heartedly" Brands succeeding on TikTok Shop are investing significant resources, spanning creator partnerships and fulfillment quality. The professional perspective — "The opportunity is huge, but if you're going to do it, you need to commit fully" — carried real weight.

Even major corporations are still feeling their way forward, which means now is exactly the time for D2C brands to find their foothold and learn to hack the vertical video format. The session gave attendees a clear view of what that concrete strategy looks like.

Real-World Challenges Collide in Q&A and Networking

The Q&A session after the talks produced a stream of forward-looking, pressing questions: "What metrics should you prioritize over follower count when selecting influencers?" and "How do you balance AI's potential in live commerce against the irreplaceable energy only a human can bring?"

At the networking session that followed, attendees could be seen gathered around both speakers throughout the room, consulting them directly. Being able to get firsthand, on-the-ground insights that you simply cannot find in any online article is the true essence of this Meetup.

Next Time: A Deep Dive into Hit Product Development and E-Commerce Strategy Rooted in Customers' "Latent Needs"!

This event received rave reviews in our post-event survey, with attendees praising the abundance of concrete, practical operational tips.

For our next session, we're moving to a larger venue on the 2nd floor and focusing on how to develop hit products starting from customer insights. Drawing on success stories from the brands we support, we plan to go beyond advertising operations and explore the core foundations of sustainable business growth.

If this sounds interesting to you, we'd love to see you at the next Growth Meetup! The entire organizing team looks forward to meeting you.