December always feels like a short month, but this time it seemed to pass by even faster. Personally, the downtime over the holidays was a much-needed reset after what felt like a tough and relentless year. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season and have entered 2025 feeling refreshed and optimistic.
From a business perspective, we ended the year as anticipated, welcoming some fantastic new clients who are already shaping up to keep us busy in Q1. The pipeline for the first quarter looks especially promising, with many conversations in December pointing towards plans to grow teams in the months ahead.
As ever, software engineering remains a key focus for hiring, but we’re also seeing growing demand for roles in sales, partnerships, delivery, and product. Encouragingly, many of these positions are now being signed off, which suggests a broader appetite for growth across the board.
Challenges with direct hiring have been a recurring theme in recent discussions. These often centre on how time-consuming the process can be, but there’s also increasing concern about the shortage of suitable candidates in certain areas.
From an end-customer perspective, we’re expecting continued investment in areas such as sustainability, personalisation, loyalty, and promotions. Additionally, industries like manufacturing are preparing for significant digital transformations. Re-platforming to improve functionality or reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) is also expected to gather momentum as the year progresses.
These trends, combined with a general sense of optimism, mean we’re heading into 2025 with high hopes for a strong year. On top of this, we’ve been focusing on expanding our presence with digital commerce ISVs across Europe. If you’re in this space—whether as a potential candidate or client—we’d love to hear from you.
Market Spotlight + Top 5 eCommerce Stories This Month
- TikTok Shop achieved “record-breaking” sales over Black Friday, with a 179% YoY rise in sales over the Black Friday period, and a 131% annual increase in the number of shoppers driven by live shopping. Best-selling categories spanned beauty, home and living and fashion READ MORE
- John Lewis Partnership opened six in-store Caffè Nero cafés including Westfield, White City. The cafés complement Waitrose’s free hot drinks programme for loyalty members, with further expansion opportunities planned READ MORE
- Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS is in talks to take over Ted Baker’s former Regent Street store, marking its first UK physical store READ MORE
- Accessorize launched on-demand delivery with Deliveroo for over 700 products across London, with orders delivered in 25 minutes or less. This partnership, starting with eight stores, aims to expand UK-wide READ MORE
- Amazon and Asda launched parcel pickup and label-free returns across 700 UK Asda stores. Customers can combine weekly shopping with parcel services, enhancing convenience and reducing packaging waste READ MORE
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