A new report has found that Reddit likely has a more significant influence on purchase activity than is generally recognized when taking in the totality of the modern purchase journey.
According to Fospha’s State of Retail Commerce 2026 report, which compared engagement data from Fospha’s user base of retailers in Jan-Dec 2025 versus Jan-Dec 2024, Reddit now drives more purchase activity, as users turn to the platform for real human insights on potential purchases.
Using marketing mix modeling data, Fospha’s team has been able to better map retail conversions to their source, which provides more insight into how exactly modern shoppers are discovering new products that they then go on to buy.
Within this, Reddit showed the largest hidden impact, with ROAS increasing by 82% once Amazon sales are included.
So, Reddit discussion has a big influence on purchase decisions, which has likely also been enhanced by the strong presence of Reddit results in AI chatbot responses.
Indeed, the report found that in 2025, revenue influenced by Reddit increased 257%. That could make it a bigger factor in marketing plans.
Fospha concluded that Reddit is the most undervalued channel in the mix, with its influence is often missed due to reliance on last-click attribution, which fails to recognize the expanded purchase path.
Fospha’s data also showed that short-form video consistently drives significant uplift in purchase activity, while Google Demand Gen drove a 53% increase in purchase actions.
Fospha’s report also noted that Pinterest saw one of the fastest adoption jumps of any channel in 2025, with spend up 131% year-over-year (though, again, last click attribution captures just 5% of Pinterest’s total impact), while Snapchat is also driving significant results for beauty brands, in particular.
However, Meta remains the leader in new customer conversions.
Fospha said that Meta’s unmatched scale, underpinned by consistent, proven performance, sees Meta maintain the top spot in most media plans. “A full-funnel engine for acquiring new customers, Meta’s reach across Facebook and Instagram enables brands to generate and capture demand within one platform,” the report noted.
The report also looked at the increasing use of artificial intelligence powered automation in digital ads, with Meta’s Advantage+ offerings driving significant increases in retail ad performance.
Fospha’s data showed that brands using Advantage+ saw a 41% higher ROAS and a 17% lower cost per purchase (CAC) on average compared to those running manual campaigns.
The report also found that TikTok’s AI-powered Smart+ and GMV Max ads are also driving significant uplift in sales.
