• Home Living
  • Posts
  • Brands Pivot to Partnerships as Ad Costs Bite

Brands Pivot to Partnerships as Ad Costs Bite

Plus: Labor Day discounts signal a margin squeeze

Author

Rafe Houston
September 03, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Home Living

Here's what's happening this week in the world of home and living eCommerce:
- Partnerships rise as paid CPMs keep climbing
- Labor Day price cuts deepen across top retailers
- Holiday launches start early with candle calendars
- Interactive design trends move from art to retail
- Wayfair’s fall wreaths test sub-$50 door decor demand

😯Most brands will get Peak 2025 wrong…

They’ll overspend, chase platform ROAS, and miss the growth happening outside .com. The brands winning peak have already shifted using full-funnel measurement to invest earlier, plan smarter, and scale profitably across DTC and different marketplaces.

Fospha's Peak Playbook 2025 distills their strategies, benchmarks, and budget splits, built on billions of dollars of ad spend data, so you don’t make the same mistakes.

📌WEEKLY MUST-KNOWS

Affiverse reports brands shifting budget from crowded paid channels to brand-to-brand partnerships as CPCs rise, with examples showing 40 percent lower CAC and 60 percent higher LTV. This signals a structural move toward value-sharing ecosystems and multi-brand content that converts. Impacted teams: affiliate leaders, partnership managers, and DTC marketers looking for efficient acquisition beyond paid social/search.

Tom’s Guide aggregates deep Labor Day discounts from Amazon, IKEA, Home Depot, Wayfair and more, with category cuts up to 75 percent. The breadth and depth suggest retailers are clearing inventory and chasing price-sensitive demand ahead of Q4, raising margin pressure and making bundles/attach-rate strategies critical. Affected: merchandising, pricing, and performance teams calibrating promo depth and AOV tactics.

Yankee Candle released two advent calendars in late August following last year’s sell-out, spanning daily tealights and votives across core and festive scents. Holiday merchandising is pulling forward, extending the gifting window and creating daily-use rituals that lift repeat visits. Implications for home fragrance and decor brands: earlier launch cadences, limited-run scarcity, cross-room scent bundles.

⚡QUICK READS

September Design Trends Skew Interactive: Trend Hunter spotlights interactive furniture and emotion-led lighting, signaling demand for playful modulars and immersive fixtures in home assortments.(More)

B&Q’s Fall Palettes: Olive Drift, Warm Amber: The UK retailer’s new homeware themes reinforce earth tones and warm minimalism, useful for US color stories and bundle styling.(More)

Zara Home X Fanglu Lin Collaboration: Artist-led collection brings craft-forward storytelling to mass retail, a tactic driving differentiation and PR-worthy drops.(More)

ClickZ is a ClickZ Media publication in the DTC eCommerce division