Today's Ecommerce Pulse
Target launches Circle Deal Days to challenge Amazon Prime Day
Target is launching its Target Circle Deal Days from June 23‑26, positioning the free‑to‑join program as a direct rival to Amazon Prime Day. New members who enroll between June 14‑22 receive a 15% discount on their first purchase, plus a free Starbucks coffee or Bullseye cookie on launch day, and a 50% discount on the first year of Target Circle 360.
Also developing:
By the numbers: FirstClub raises $55M Series B
Retail Returns Climbed to $850 Billion Last Year — Try These 3 Fixes Before Your Profit Margins Disappear
U.S. retailers processed about $850 billion in product returns in 2025, equal to 15.8% of total sales. E‑commerce returns are even higher, hovering around 24.5% of online orders, which strains fulfillment centers and erodes profit margins. Experts argue that treating returns as a predictable flow—using pre‑planned workflows, defined intake and triage, and speed‑focused processing powered by warehouse‑management systems—can protect resale value. Implementing these three fixes helps retailers move inventory faster, reduce waste, and safeguard margins as online sales keep expanding.
JioHotstar, Swiggy Turn Live Cricket Into an In-App Food Court
JioHotstar and Swiggy have rolled out an in‑app food‑ordering feature that lets cricket fans order meals without leaving the live stream, already used by more than 37 million users across 690 cities. The mobile‑only experience lets viewers browse restaurants, unlock match‑triggered offers,...
Target Launches 2-Tier Creator Program: One For Superfans, One For Pros
Target unveiled a two‑tier creator initiative aimed at boosting social commerce. Club Target rewards everyday creators and superfans with weekly challenges and gift‑card incentives, while Target Ambassadors, built on the LTK platform, courts professional creators with higher commissions and deeper...
EDI Meaning in Shipping: How EDI Shipping Works + Tips
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a standardized, computer‑to‑computer protocol that lets merchants, 3PLs, and carriers exchange shipping documents such as purchase orders, invoices, and advance ship notices without manual input. By translating internal ERP fields into industry‑wide formats and transmitting...
AWS Northern Virginia Data Center Overheats, Knocking Out E‑commerce Services
Amazon Web Services confirmed that an overheating incident at its US‑East‑1 data center forced a shutdown of a single availability zone, impairing EC2 instances and EBS volumes. The outage rippled through e‑commerce platforms and financial services, prompting emergency traffic shifts...
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Amazon Just Dropped New Outdoor Furniture—Shop Chic Seating, Porch Swings, Tiki Bars, and More Up to 68% Off
Amazon has launched a refreshed outdoor‑furniture collection, offering everything from patio seating and dining sets to umbrellas and storage solutions. Many items are already discounted, with price cuts of up to 68 percent. The lineup includes 7‑person conversation sets, recliners,...
Duluth Trading’s Entire Bags Lineup Is 20% Off
Duluth Trading is running a site‑wide promotion that slashes 20% off its entire bags and travel‑gear collection through Sunday. The discount pushes premium items like the Lifetime Leather Crossbody to $75.18 (down from $189.50) and the Fire Hose Bulldozer Backpack 2.0...
Gemini's Recommendations Need Built‑in Purchase Links
Gemini really needs click to buy links. Gave Gemini a picture of my face asked for recs for skin care routine. Gave excellent recommendations but had to go search each on Amazon. Would absolutely have just clicked to buy...
OTB Group and Google Cloud Deploy AI‑Powered Virtual Try‑On for Hyper‑Personalized Shopping
OTB Group and Google Cloud announced a strategic collaboration to launch AI‑powered hyper‑personalized shopping experiences using Google Cloud's Virtual Try‑On API. The service debuts with Diesel and Jil Sander in the United States and Europe, with plans to expand to...
Instacart Posts $1 Billion Q1 Revenue, Rolls Out AI‑Powered Ad Platform
Instacart announced $1 billion in first‑quarter revenue and unveiled a new AI‑driven advertising suite that now serves 9,000 brands across 310 Carrot Ads retailer partners. The grocery‑delivery leader also acquired fulfillment platform Instaleap to accelerate its international push.
Scaling a Jewelry Brand on Shopify: The Operational Decisions That Separate $250K Stores From $2M Stores
Jewelry brands on Shopify often stall at $250K‑$500K because they overlook five key operational decisions. These include miscalculating fully landed product cost, relying on a single supplier, spreading marketing spend across too many channels, treating packaging as a cosmetic add‑on,...
#520 - 15 Prime Day & AI Strategies to Maximize Amazon Sales – Part 1
In this hour-long episode, host Keri Miller convenes 15 Amazon experts to reveal Prime Day and AI-driven tactics for boosting sales, with a focus on Helium 10 tools. Destiny demonstrates how to leverage Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) audiences and aggressive...
EU De Minimis Is Changing — Here’s How To Protect Your DTC Margins
The EU is ending its €150 de‑minimis exemption, imposing a €3 flat customs duty on every low‑value parcel from July 1 2026 and moving to full tariff assessments by mid‑2028. The change targets the 4.6 billion parcels that entered the bloc last year,...
How AI Is Changing The Economics Of Amazon As A Retail Channel For Canadian Brands
Amazon.ca attracts 159 million monthly visits and holds roughly 41.5% of Canada’s e‑commerce market, making it a mandatory channel for Canadian brands. Most sellers still rely on manual, reactive processes, which hide costs such as missed keywords, wasted ad spend, and...
De'Longhi Teams with Unsociable to Roll Out Six TikTok Shops Globally
De'Longhi Group has partnered with social‑commerce agency Unsociable to launch six TikTok Shop storefronts across multiple markets. The collaboration marks the Italian appliance giant’s first coordinated foray into short‑form video retail, aiming to capture the platform’s fast‑growing shopper base.
Flashfood Hires CFO Rob Levy and CRO Steve Towarnicki to Accelerate Retail Expansion
Flashfood announced the appointment of Rob Levy as chief financial officer and Steve Towarnicki as chief revenue officer. The hires come as the surplus‑grocery marketplace scales its retail footprint to more than 2,000 North American stores, aiming to increase its...
Valve Opens May 8 Reservations for Second Wave of Steam Controllers
Valve announced a reservation system for the second wave of its Steam Controller, opening on May 8 at 1 PM ET. The first batch sold out within a day, prompting the company to limit each buyer to a single unit and give...
Zimbabwe’s Gold‑Backed ZiG Currency Stumbles as Merchants Favor US Dollars
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s gold‑backed ZiG legal tender is hitting roadblocks as retailers and online merchants default to US dollars, despite a recent policy lift that raised transaction limits to ZiG 13,000 (≈$9.30). Consumers face higher prices, settlement delays and...
Google Shopping AI Bidding Slashes E‑Commerce CAC by 61% and Boosts ROAS
Google’s new Performance Max for Shopping Campaigns 2.0 has cut e‑commerce customer acquisition costs by an average 61% and lifted conversion rates 43%, according to internal data. Early adopters like CookCraft and StyleLink report dramatic CAC drops and ROAS jumps,...
EP261: Maximizing Your Business Exit: 6 Key Buyer Checks
Episode 261 of the High Voltage Business Builders Podcast reveals why Amazon sellers receive vastly different exit offers despite similar revenues. Host Neil Twa contrasts a seller who secured a $1.8 million, 4.5× EBITDA deal with another who only earned a...
Stop Flying Blind on Sales Tax: How RJM Tax Exemption Protects Shopify Brands From a Compliance Crisis
RJM Tax Exemption, a specialist compliance firm, helps Shopify brands navigate the four sales‑tax nexus triggers—economic, physical, affiliate and click‑through—that can create hidden liabilities once a seller exceeds $100 K in interstate sales or uses Amazon FBA warehouses. The firm offers...
Best Marketing Tools and Platforms For Growth
The article spotlights four purpose‑built marketing platforms—Ravetree, Passionfruit, GeoTargetly, and ClickGUARD—each targeting a specific growth bottleneck for ecommerce brands. It frames the recommendation against a backdrop of martech overload, noting Gartner’s finding that 59% of marketers deem their stacks too...
Thailand Targets High E-Commerce Platform Fees
The Thai Commerce and Digital Economy and Society ministries are preparing talks with major e‑commerce platforms to lower the gross profit (GP) fees that merchants pay. Currently, fees average about 30%, which the government deems excessive, and officials suggest a...
Retail AI Has a Data Problem: Here’s How to Fix It
Retailers’ experiments with AI‑driven checkout, such as Walmart’s ChatGPT pilot, revealed conversion rates three times lower than traditional web checkout, prompting OpenAI to retreat from instant checkout and refocus on product discovery. Analysts at Bain project the U.S. agentic commerce...
Flipkart, Axis Bank, PayU Launch Biometric Card Authentication, Ditching SMS OTPs
Flipkart, Axis Bank and payment gateway PayU have deployed a fingerprint and Face ID based authentication system for card purchases on Flipkart, eliminating the need for SMS one‑time passwords. The device‑bound solution, built on Axis Bank’s Wibmo platform, aims to curb...
DoorDash Q1 Beats Estimates, Marketplace Sales Jump 37% on Grocery Growth
DoorDash reported first‑quarter earnings that topped expectations, with marketplace gross order value climbing 37% year‑over‑year to $31.6 billion. The surge was driven by its grocery delivery business, which now leads the market and is on track to become gross‑profit positive in...
Even Seasoned E‑commerce Pros Underestimate Dropshipping Complexity
Most of you probably don’t know this story. Before I started PDS lab (now dissolved and transitioned to Theanna) I had two drop shipping companies. I bro’d out so hard in this community to learn everrrrything about it. I’ve built...
5 Essential Copy Rules to Boost Conversions
Most ecommerce brands hire designers and ad buyers, then ask the intern to write the copy that decides whether anything converts. Here are 5 conversion copywriting rules you need to know: → Open with the buyer's problem instead of your founder story →...
GameStop's eBay Bid, Xbox's Leadership Reset and Candy Crush's Marketing Lessons | Week in Views
GameStop announced a $55.5 bn unsolicited offer for eBay, despite a market cap of $10.8 bn, raising questions about financing. Microsoft’s Xbox division is undergoing a leadership overhaul under Asha Sharma, bringing in AI and tech talent while veteran executives step back....
AI Search Leaders Debate Top Vs. Bottom Funnel
People that are leading or working on AI search efforts: Which of these are trying to solve for? Top or bottom of funnel? Or both? CC @JHTScherck @TheCoolestCool @lilyraynyc @Kevin_Indig @kristakdoyle https://t.co/sBfHaojBy5
New Seller Onboarding Tools Live on Agentic Market
Good demo Seller onboarding tools shipped on Agentic Market as well - try it out
Is AI Going To Take Retail Jobs? Maybe, But Not The Ones You Expect
Andon Labs launched Andon Market, an experimental retail store run by an AI chatbot named Luna. Luna immediately hired human staff to handle customer interaction, positioning the AI as a manager rather than a floor worker. The experiment highlights a...
High-Speed Automation Delivers Precise Package Sorting
Precision in Motion: High-Speed #Automated Package Sorting in Action by @amazingthings_ #EmergingTech #Technology #Innovation #Tech https://t.co/Hjv7ashwQf
Fulfilmentcrowd: ‘Stock Localization to Become More Important’
Fulfilmentcrowd, a logistics provider for online retailers, is urging a shift from single‑warehouse models to distributed, in‑country stock networks as order volumes and cross‑border sales rise. The company runs 16 fulfilment centres worldwide, serving more than 250 brands, and uses...
Apple Adds Verification Checks to Education Store After MacBook Neo Discount Surge
Apple is tightening its Education Store by requiring academic‑status verification for purchases in the United States, Australia, Canada, Chile and Hong Kong, using UNiDAYS as the vetting partner. The move follows criticism that the $499 education price for the newly launched...
Levanta Makes the Case That Creator Channels Belong Alongside Every Amazon Ad Budget
Levanta, the Seattle‑based affiliate and creator platform, announced the acquisition of Perch+, an early Amazon‑focused affiliate network. The deal brings hundreds of brands and publishers into Levanta’s marketplace, consolidating two of the longest‑standing players in the Amazon affiliate space. Levanta...
River Island Is Now Available on M&S's Marketplace
River Island has launched on Marks & Spencer’s online marketplace, joining more than 100 fashion labels on the platform. The move aligns with M&S’s 2026 plan to boost e‑fashion sales to half of its total fashion turnover, up from the...
Inside Beardbrand’s Expansion Plan
Beardbrand, the 15‑year‑old direct‑to‑consumer grooming brand, is confronting a revenue plateau and intensified competition. Founder Eric Bandholz outlines a growth plan that triples Meta ad spend, taps TikTok creator affiliates, and tests a $300 ultra‑premium beard trimmer. The company is revising...
How Ojamaker Is Powering Instant Online Stores in Africa with AI
African entrepreneurs face fragmented commerce built on Instagram, WhatsApp, and manual payments, limiting data ownership and scalability. Ojamaker, launched in November 2025, offers Africa’s first AI‑native e‑commerce ecosystem that creates fully functional storefronts in under five minutes. The platform embeds...
Amazon Brings Content-To-Commerce Technology Into Publisher Services
Amazon Publisher Services has added Shopsense, an AI‑driven content‑to‑commerce platform, to its Connections Marketplace. Shopsense analyzes images in articles, videos and photos, automatically generating product‑listing ads that link to more than 1,000 retailers. The integration requires no code and promises...
Montgomery County Woman Accused of $1 Million Victoria’s Secret Lingerie Theft, Reselling on eBay
Tiffany R. Halley, a 41‑year‑old from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, is charged with 293 felony counts after allegedly stealing nearly $1 million in Victoria’s Secret lingerie from stores in six states and reselling the items on eBay. The scheme generated $152,000 in sales...
Motorola Sets May 13 Launch for Razr Fold in India with Two Colors and High‑end Specs
Motorola India announced that the Razr Fold will hit stores on May 13, available in Pantone Blackened Blue and Pantone Lily White with 12GB + 256GB or 16GB + 512GB configurations. The foldable will be sold through Flipkart, the Motorola website and select retailers...
Omnichannel Grocery Fuels Shopper Choice – but Fragments Retailer Loyalty
Shoppers are increasingly distributing grocery purchases across digital and physical channels, eroding traditional retailer loyalty. Brands and grocers must adopt data‑driven stocking and omnichannel strategies to retain repeat trips in an attention‑fragmented market. Loyalty programs, targeted promotions, and consistent messaging...
Flowspace Rolls Out Omnichannel Fulfillment Platform for DTC, Retail and Wholesale Brands
Flowspace introduced its B2B Retail Fulfillment Solution, a unified omnichannel platform that adds Inventory Allocation Pools and Order Compliance Automation. The new tools let brands protect inventory, meet retailer compliance and reduce chargebacks as they sell across direct‑to‑consumer, retail and...
Inside Beardbrand's Expansion Plan
In this solo episode, Eric Bandholz, founder of Beardbrand, outlines the brand’s post‑crisis growth plan after years of legal battles, tax liens, and a $1 million loss. He explains that the traditional beard‑care market has plateaued and become a red‑ocean, prompting...
Inside the Growth of First-Party Fraud
First‑party fraud—where customers themselves commit scams such as de‑shopping and lost‑in‑transit returns—is exploding as e‑commerce scales. The practice has moved from isolated incidents to a systemic threat that drains merchant revenue and inflates operational costs. Fraudsters are leveraging artificial intelligence...
Flowspace Launches Omnichannel Fulfillment Solution for Brands Scaling Across DTC, Retail and Wholesale Channels
Flowspace unveiled its B2B Retail Fulfillment Solution, an omnichannel platform that gives brands a single operational view across direct‑to‑consumer, retail and wholesale channels. The offering introduces Inventory Allocation Pools and Order Compliance Automation to prevent inventory mix‑ups and automate retailer‑specific...
Jumia Leans on China Imports as Nigeria Becomes Top Market
Jumia is doubling down on Chinese-sourced inventory as it leans into Nigeria, now its biggest market, to hit profitability by the end of next year. International seller volume surged 87% year‑on‑year in Q1, led by China and Turkey, while revenue...
Paula's Choice Boosts India Presence with Tira Beauty Launch
Paula's Choice, the Seattle‑based skincare line owned by Unilever, is expanding its Indian footprint by launching on Reliance Retail’s omni‑channel platform Tira. The partnership gives the brand presence across both digital storefronts and select brick‑and‑mortar locations, debuting with three flagship...
OTB Group and Google Cloud Launch AI-Powered Hyper-Personalised Shopping Experiences
OTB Group, the owner of Diesel, Jil Sander, Maison Margiela, Marni and Viktor & Rolf, has teamed with Google Cloud to roll out an AI‑driven, hyper‑personalised shopping experience. The service uses Google Cloud’s Virtual Try‑On API, powered by Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform,...