Meta Wants to Turn Your Ads Into Carousels

Ads are awesome. Ignorance is expensive. And the American dream is alive on the wild web.

Today, Meta is switching on an AI setting that can turn your best ad into a catalog carousel, Shopify opened its stores to any AI shopping agent, and this holiday's growth is partly just higher prices. Nate Lagos is back as guest host, and we've got four guests in the saddle: Alex Greifeld, Victor Luzzi, Lauren Huttner, and Ryan Garrow. Here's what we're riding into at noon.

✶ PAID SOCIAL

Meta is turning on "product browsing" for existing ads. It's an AI setting that can send clickers to a browsing experience built from your catalog instead of the landing page you picked. David Herrmann's warning: "Meta wants to turn all your ads into DPAs prior to BFCM. Don't let them! OPT OUT OF PRODUCT BROWSING" (David Herrmann on X).

He says he's seen it happen on several brands: an ad that looked like a winner was mostly getting traffic from a collection ad on Instagram Reels, not from the creative. He's asking Meta to delay the change until January, and to add a column that shows when product browsing is driving sales (David Herrmann on X). Even Meta's own AI assistant, Muse, says to turn it off if you want full control over where clicks land (David Herrmann on X). One media buyer said it started pushing $1 products at a big loss once he left the product set open (Tudi on X).

✶ AGENTIC COMMERCE

Tobi Lutke launched shop.md, a "shop skill" that turns "any existing Agent into the world's best personal shopper" (Tobi Lutke on X). Behind it, shop.dev gives agent and app builders Shopify Catalog, search, checkout, and order status through one API (Shopify Developers on X). Harley Finkelstein: "The difference between your agent and mine is shop.md" (Harley Finkelstein on X). Phillip Jackson isn't sold yet: "it feels like this is the metaverse of 2026" (Phillip Jackson on X).

✶ HOLIDAY 2026

Mastercard forecasts holiday retail sales up 5.5% from November 1 to December 24, but 2.8 points of that comes from inflation. Circana says shoppers plan to spend $779 on average, down from $796 last year, and 74% plan to save money somehow. Adobe still expects a record $275.1 billion online, with discounts peaking around 30% in electronics (Advertiser Intelligence).

✶ WATCH & REACT

A clip with more than 190,000 views claims Chinese factories now use computer-vision cameras to track every worker's movements in real time, score their efficiency minute by minute, and generate reports used to decide who stays (Koki on X). The post doesn't name the factory or the software, so treat it as a claim, not a report.

FOUNDER, SHOOTIN' DOUBLES

Nate is back riding shotgun as guest host. He founded Shootin' Doubles, which he describes simply: "We sell hats for whiskey guys" (Practical Ecommerce). He also runs Bottoms Up Copywriting (LinkedIn).

FOUNDER & ECOMMERCE GROWTH ADVISOR, NO BEST PRACTICES

Alex writes the No Best Practices newsletter and has worked in ecommerce since 2011. She started in fashion design, including a line in the Jessica Simpson collection, then worked at a Fortune 500 media brand, a footwear brand in a PE turnaround, and a house of brands (No Best Practices).

FOUNDER & CEO, AKI; FOUNDER, LUZZI FILMS

Victor runs Aki, a marketplace for street and beach vendors, and recently founded Luzzi Films, a white-label AI film unit that makes launch films, 3D product twins, and ad cutdowns for agencies. Before that he led product at Meetmo.io and Radiant Images, which worked with Nike, Formula 1, and Meta (LinkedIn).

FOUNDER, PEBBLE

Lauren started Pebble in 2022 while at Northwestern. It builds data-driven creator programs, recruiting and training creators who post for a brand. Forbes says Pebble's clients have gotten more than 200 million views and 6 million downloads, and named her to its 2026 30 Under 30 list (Forbes).

DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIPS & CLIENT SOLUTIONS, LOGICAL POSITION

Ryan has nearly 15 years in digital marketing. He was CEO of TQE Marketing, which Logical Position acquired, built and sold a seven-figure consumer brand, and co-hosts the Drive and Convert podcast with Jon MacDonald (Ryan Garrow).

Follow the guests: Alex Greifeld on X ✶ Victor Luzzi on LinkedIn ✶ Lauren Huttner on X ✶ Ryan Garrow on X

Intelligems is now a Shopify Certified Technology Partner, one of only about 100 apps to earn it. Shopify reviews performance, privacy, and support, and each partner has to pass an independent security assessment (Drew Marconi on X).

Minor Figures co-founder William Rixon says the analog way of building distribution is "the biggest money I see being left on the table." His advice: "More meetings. More face to face. More demos" (William Rixon on LinkedIn).

After sponsoring the fictional APXGP team in F1: The Movie, SharkNinja signed a five-year deal with McLaren Racing covering F1, F1 Academy, IndyCar, and endurance racing. "We're in this to ignite our fans and make some really cool content," said SVP Laura Dyer (Marketing Brew).

His point: when a competitor's ads get more aggressive, your CAC rises, so you either match them or move your edge to retention and subscriptions (Zarak on X).

She adds that they chase volume, so they end up serving more people, but worse (Codie Sanchez on X).

Someone made a cowboy hat out of an egg carton, eggs included. One reply: "I need this hat!!!" (i like food on X).

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