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
Inflation and Fuel Costs Drive Grocery Shoppers to E‑commerce, Data Shows
New retail data reveal that inflation and higher fuel prices are reshaping grocery buying habits in 2026. Shoppers are visiting stores more often but buying fewer items, while online grocery sales continue to grow at double‑digit rates, offering a bright spot for retailers.
Cloud Inventory Unveils AI‑Native Platform to Streamline Warehouse Ops
Cloud Inventory announced the launch of its AI‑Native Inventory Management Platform, a cloud‑based execution layer that connects any ERP to warehouse operations without the need for a full WMS. The move aims to give retailers and fulfillment providers real‑time inventory...
Quezon City Taps TikTok Shop to Expand MSME Market Reach
Quezon City partnered with TikTok Shop to help micro, small and medium enterprises expand their market reach through digital platforms. Around 300 business owners and staff attended the Unlad Lokal Roadshow Caravan, receiving hands‑on training on e‑commerce, digital marketing and live selling....
Rokt Study: 74% of Shoppers See Free Shipping as Baseline, Brands Lag
Rokt’s new 2026 consumer expectations report finds that 74% of online shoppers now treat free shipping as a non‑negotiable, and that personalization, frictionless checkout, transparent delivery, post‑purchase relevance, sustainability signals and AI‑driven discovery have all shifted from nice‑to‑have to required....
Mastercard and Rabobank Execute First AI-Agent Payment in the Netherlands
On April 30, 2026, Mastercard and Rabobank completed the first consumer‑facing AI‑agent payment in the Netherlands, where an AI assistant booked a coffee tasting on Priceless.com and paid with a Rabobank Mastercard via Mastercard’s new Agent Pay infrastructure. The transaction...
Recharge Acquires Skio to Form $20 B Subscription Commerce Platform
Recharge announced the acquisition of Skio, merging two leading subscription‑management solutions into a single platform that now serves more than 20,000 merchants and processes over $20 billion in gross merchandise volume each year. The deal aims to combine data sets and...
How to Make Money With Print on Demand: The Ultimate Guide (2026)
Printify’s 2025 guide outlines how creators can monetize custom products through print‑on‑demand (POD) without inventory or upfront costs. It highlights the market’s rapid expansion, projecting growth from $8 billion in 2023 to $87 billion by 2033, and notes that roughly 24% of...
GameStop Moves Toward $45 Billion eBay Takeover Bid
GameStop is reportedly lining up an offer to acquire eBay, whose market value sits near $45 billion. The potential deal would dwarf GameStop’s $11 billion market cap and require significant leverage, shaking both stocks in after‑hours trading.
GameStop Mulls $45 Billion Bid for eBay, Raising Leveraged Deal Concerns
GameStop (GME) is reportedly preparing an offer to buy eBay, a transaction that would exceed $45 billion and dwarf GameStop’s $11 billion market cap. The potential deal would require heavy leverage, prompting analysts to weigh the strategic upside against financing risks.
Etsy Q1 2026 GMV Rises 5.5% to $2.5B as Services Revenue Jumps 10.5%
Etsy announced first‑quarter 2026 marketplace gross merchandise volume of $2.5 billion, a 5.5% year‑over‑year increase, while services revenue climbed 10.5% to $198.5 million. The growth reflects higher ad spend, stronger payments activity and early signs of renewed buyer and seller momentum.
ReConvert Rebrands as Upsell.com, Targeting Ecommerce Upsell and Retention
ReConvert announced today that it will operate under the Upsell.com name, a rebrand designed to highlight its core mission of driving higher average order values and longer customer lifetimes for ecommerce merchants. The change does not alter the underlying platform,...
Redditor Gambles $20 on a 4TB Temu External HDD — Receives a microSD Card Reader Hot-Glued Inside a Plastic Box
A Reddit user bought a $20 "4TB" external hard drive from Temu, only to discover it was a hollowed‑out microSD card reader. The genuine 4TB WD My Passport retails for roughly $720, underscoring the absurd price gap. Temu processed a...
XIXILI Launches 3D Avatar Fitting for Malaysian Lingerie Retail
XIXILI introduced a 3D Avatar Try‑On Tool that lets Malaysian women create a personalized digital model to virtually fit any bra or panty from its collection. The tool uses basic measurements—height, bust, hips and body shape—to generate an accurate avatar,...
Mother’s Day, but Make It Platinum
The National Retail Federation projects Mother’s Day spending to reach $34.1 billion in 2025, with 84 % of U.S. adults planning to celebrate. Online sales now account for 36 % of holiday purchases, reflecting a shift toward digital checkout. Luxury brands are capitalizing...
GameStop Wants to Buy eBay — Report
GameStop, led by e‑commerce entrepreneur Ryan Cohen, is reportedly preparing a bid for eBay, prompting a more than 15% after‑hours jump in eBay’s share price. The proposal could be presented directly to eBay shareholders if the board is unreceptive. GameStop’s...
How TikTok Shop Is Winning over Major Brands
TikTok Shop, now less than three years old, commands roughly 20% of U.S. social‑commerce sales and generated $500 million during last year’s Black Friday‑to‑Cyber Monday window. Sales from brands with at least $30 million in annual revenue surged 97% year‑over‑year, signaling growing...
Star Wars Day and Golden Week PC Deals Slash Prices up to 95%
Weekend discounts across Steam, Epic, and Amazon Luna celebrate May the 4th and Japan's Golden Week, with flagship titles like Star Wars Outlaws and Titanfall 2 dropping as much as 95% off. The sales wave also coincides with Sony's launch...
How To Use Your Data Warehouse To Power Personalized Marketing
Marketers are increasingly hampered by fragmented data, but Dotdigital’s new integrations with Snowflake, BigQuery and Databricks deliver a live, unified data stream directly into campaign tools. The real‑time sync lets teams launch segments in minutes, adjust journeys on the fly,...
This Week in Grocery News: DoorDash Adds Empire Stores to Network, High Oil Prices Fuel Change
DoorDash has inked a partnership to add 12 Empire banners, including Sobeys and Safeway, to its on‑demand grocery network, expanding its reach across Canada. Canada Packers (Maple Leaf Foods’ pork unit) disclosed a first‑quarter profit of C$43.8 million (≈US$32 million) and said...
Canton Fair Highlights Livestream Shopping Guides Linking China and Middle East
The Canton Fair debuted livestream shopping guides that directly connect Chinese merchants with buyers in the Middle East. The move reflects a broader surge in cross‑border ecommerce, as Visa reports double‑digit growth in online spend and Tradeweb notes a 56%...
Online Car Ordering Eliminates Need for Dealerships
you’ll never want to back to a dealership again after you’ve experienced ordering a car online
Amazon Expands Built-In Price History Feature to Show Product Prices Across the Past 365 Days
Amazon has broadened its built‑in price‑history tool to display up to 365 days of price changes, up from the previous 30‑ to 90‑day limit. The feature is reachable via a button in the mobile app or by asking the AI...
EP254: Amazon's First-Party Expansion: What It Means for Sellers
Amazon is accelerating its first‑party (1P) expansion, causing the share of third‑party sales on its marketplace to dip from 61% to 60% in Q1 2026. The shift, though numerically small, signals a structural change that pressures independent sellers, especially those earning...
AI Lets Brands Prototype Full Email Campaigns Before Design
Made this with ChatGPT Images 2.0 for Alo. With just one prompt and one edit request. I wanted to see if it could create a full ecommerce email that felt more like something from a premium fashion brand than a generic activewear...
Shopify Pursues Nationwide Money Transmitter Licenses to Push Deeper Into Fintech and Merchant Payments
Shopify is applying for money‑transmitter and prepaid‑access licenses in every U.S. state, adding to the 18 states and Puerto Rico where it already holds approval. The licenses would let Shopify directly hold and move merchant funds, reducing reliance on third‑party...
Meta-Owned Manus Runs Get-Rich-Quick Ads Promoting AI Website Tool as Easy “Side Hustle” With Creator Partners
Meta‑owned Manus, acquired for $2 billion, is running get‑rich‑quick ads that market its AI‑driven website‑building tool as an "easy side hustle" capable of generating up to $5,000 a month. The campaign uses TikTok, Instagram and YouTube creators who post nearly identical...
GameStop Gears Up For EBay Takeover Offer: WSJ
GameStop is reportedly preparing a bid for e‑commerce giant eBay, potentially as soon as this month. With a market cap of $11.2 billion and $9 billion in cash, the retailer has the financial heft to make a sizable offer against eBay’s $46 billion...
UberEats To Remove $5 Monthly Credit For UberOne Annual Users
Uber Eats is ending the $5 monthly credit that was bundled with the Uber One annual subscription, effective May 31, 2026. The promotional credit was a limited‑time benefit and will not be renewed for new annual members after that date....
EBay Growth Not a Fluke, GMV Grows 18% in Q1 2026
eBay reported first‑quarter 2026 gross merchandise volume of $22.2 billion, an 18% year‑over‑year increase and 14% on an FX‑neutral basis. Revenue rose 19% to $3.1 billion, driven by strong consumer‑to‑consumer sales and a surge in advertising income. The platform logged 136 million active...
Crocs Q1 Revenue Falls 2% as DTC Momentum Slows, Outlook Adjusted
Crocs Inc. reported a 2% drop in first‑quarter 2026 revenue, driven by a slowdown in direct‑to‑consumer sales and pressure from Middle East distribution constraints. The company raised its FY26 adjusted earnings outlook to $13.20‑$13.75 per share, signaling confidence in cost‑saving...
Shopify Pushes Ecommerce From Search to AI‑driven Conversation with New Chatbot Tools
Shopify announced a dual rollout—Agentic Storefronts in its Winter ’26 edition and a new integration with AiChat’s conversational commerce platform—aimed at moving online retail from traditional search to AI‑powered chat interactions. The moves promise up to 23% higher conversion rates...
Iran’s Internet Shutdown Costs $30‑40 M Daily, Halts Digital Marketing and E‑Commerce
Iran’s nationwide internet blackout, now in its fourth month, is wiping out $30‑40 million in daily economic output and halting digital advertising, e‑commerce and freelance work for an estimated 10 million people. The shutdown is forcing businesses to shut down Instagram shops,...
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ Inspires New Edit From Vestiaire Collective
Vestiaire Collective has launched a curated edit of over 500 pre‑loved luxury items inspired by the upcoming *The Devil Wears Prada 2*. The collection pairs vintage finds with red‑carpet pieces from Dior, Valentino, Mugler, Gabriela Hearst, Schiaparelli and others, including iconic looks like a Chanel...
Californians Hit Temu with Class Action Over Alleged ‘Spam Abuse’
Chinese e‑commerce platform Temu faces a California class‑action lawsuit accusing it of deceptive email tactics that mimic spam. The complaint alleges false subject lines, spoofed domains and hidden tracking pixels used to bypass spam filters and surveil recipients. Plaintiffs claim...
ECRS Launches Retail Success Story Contest
ECRS has opened its Retail Success Story Contest for all CATAPULT community members with active support contracts. Retailers must submit an 800‑1,500‑word narrative by May 31 describing how ECRS technology improved operations, customer experience, or profitability. The winner, announced June 17, will...
ChatGPT Finds Your Pizza but Loses the Checkout
ChatGPT recently added native ordering integrations for Starbucks and Little Caesars, letting users discover menu items within a conversational interface. In practice, the flow stalls when checkout requires a handoff to the brands' separate apps or websites, adding minutes of...
Fix This Overlooked SEO Gap Before It Costs You Another Month of Sales
Many e‑commerce brands overlook product pages, causing flat organic traffic. The article identifies five common SEO mistakes: duplicated manufacturer copy, absent product schema, keyword cannibalization across variants, mishandling out‑of‑stock pages, and thin category pages. It provides concrete fixes such as...
How Fast Shipping Impacts eCommerce Conversion Rates (2026 Data & Insights)
Fast shipping has shifted from a competitive perk to a baseline expectation in eCommerce, directly influencing conversion, cart abandonment, and customer lifetime value. Baymard Institute’s 2025 study shows 23% of cart abandoners cite slow delivery, while offering 2‑3 day shipping...
AI Prompts Slash Email Audit Time Tenfold
Most email audits burn half a day. Your rospect asks what you'd improve, you dig through their campaigns and flows, take screenshots, write notes, and half the time they ghost anyway. You can get a pretty good audit back from Claude...
Uber Turns Its App Into a Personal Shopping Service
Uber announced a “one app for everything” strategy, adding a “Shop for Me” feature that lets riders request items from any retailer and have an Uber driver deliver them. The service expands on Uber Eats’ 2023 grocery‑shopping capability and removes...
Why Most Online Stores Struggle to Scale Beyond Six Figures
Shopify stores that break $100,000 in annual revenue often stall because operational systems, not marketing, become the bottleneck. The article identifies three recurring infrastructure gaps—inventory‑fulfillment flow, fragmented data, and fragile tech stack—that cap growth before a store reaches seven figures....
It's Bandcamp Friday Again
Bandcamp Friday is back, offering artists a full 100% share of every purchase made on the platform for the day. The promotion, first launched in 2020 to help musicians whose live‑show income vanished during the pandemic, has become an annual...
DoorDash Now Accepts SNAP Benefits at Kroger Stores
DoorDash announced it will accept SNAP benefits for online grocery orders at nearly 2,700 Kroger Co. stores, including Mariano’s, Fred Meyer, Ralphs and Harris Teeter. More than 4.5 million customers have already linked SNAP cards, bringing the platform’s SNAP‑eligible locations to over...
Rokt on Post-Purchase Monetization and Why the Biggest Names in E-Commerce Are Betting on It
Rokt is turning the often‑ignored e‑commerce confirmation page into a high‑ROI revenue channel by serving real‑time, machine‑learned offers immediately after purchase. Its Brain engine crunches 1.95 trillion data points a year, enabling partners to capture incremental profit—up to $500 K per million...
Coles Group Q3 Sales Rise 3.1% YoY to A$10.7bn ($7bn) Amid Strong E‑commerce Growth
Coles Group posted total group sales of A$10.70 billion for the March quarter, up 3.1% year‑over‑year. Supermarket revenue grew 4.0% while e‑commerce surged 24.8%, lifting the retailer’s share price 3.5% on the news. The results highlight resilient consumer demand despite geopolitical...
Nordstrom Shutters Two Full‑Line Stores as $6.25 B Privatization Spurs Restructuring
Nordstrom announced the permanent closure of its full‑line stores at Christiana Mall in Delaware (April 30) and Galleria Dallas in Texas (May 16). The moves follow the family’s $6.25 billion buyout with El Puerto de Liverpool and a 3.7% drop in fourth‑quarter 2024 store...
Amazon Rolls Out AI‑generated Product Podcasts, Faces Backlash over Authenticity
Amazon introduced AI‑generated, podcast‑style audio segments that discuss individual products, but early users and commentators criticize the feature as disingenuous and poorly executed. The rollout highlights tensions between AI‑driven marketing efficiency and consumer trust.
AI Is Bringing Retail Media Closer to the Sale
Retail media is becoming more complex as brands juggle multiple channels and an explosion of shopper signals. At an ADWEEK House Possible panel, CVS Media Exchange (CMX) and Kenvue highlighted how artificial intelligence is being used to personalize offers, streamline...
Deciding Between In‑House Warehouse and 3PL? Here’s the Answer
If you want to know if you should run your own warehouse or outsource to a 3PL, this is the answer. 100% correct, no notes
Industry Email Benchmarks Hide Size‑specific Growth Realities
Your Shopify + Klaviyo Email benchmarks are misleading you. "Industry average YoY growth: 18%." Cool. But is that a $500K supplement brand or a $50M furniture brand? Blended averages aren't wrong. They're just not actionable. Here's the fix 🧵 https://t.co/WIv2FUdlsc