Today's Ecommerce Pulse
Updated 2h agoAmazon automation offers semi‑passive income but demands disciplined oversight
Amazon automation can generate profitable, semi‑passive income in 2026, but success hinges on disciplined execution and seasoned oversight. Modern automation relies on advanced software for research, pricing, inventory and ad optimization, while strategic decisions remain human‑driven. Investors now expect transparent reporting, compliance and sustainability.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Edeka raises €430M to increase stake in Picnic
Blog•Jan 27, 2026
What’s a Good Ecommerce Conversion Rate? Benchmarks + How to Improve Yours in 2026
Neal Schaffer outlines the 2026 ecommerce conversion landscape, noting a global average of 2.5‑3% and top performers reaching 4‑5% or higher. The article breaks down industry‑specific benchmarks, device disparities, and channel performance, highlighting that food & beverage exceeds 6% while luxury stays below 1%. It also exposes the 70% cart‑abandonment rate and stresses that profitability per visitor outweighs raw conversion numbers. Practical tactics—checkout friction removal, mobile optimization, trust signals, and systematic A/B testing—are presented to lift rates and revenue.
By Neal Schaffer’s Blog
News•Jan 27, 2026
Walmart Connect Mexico Taps Advertima for In-Store Retail Media Strategy
Walmart Connect Mexico has teamed with Advertima to deploy Audience AI sensors across hundreds of Walmart Supercenters, creating a large‑scale in‑store audience intelligence network. The 3D sensors capture shop‑floor activity over 30 meters and support multi‑zone zoning, feeding data to both digital...
By Retail Customer Experience
News•Jan 27, 2026
Virgin Wines Reports Strong Christmas Trading
Virgin Wines UK posted a 5% year‑on‑year revenue increase during the Christmas period, driven by a 40% surge in new customers. In the six months to 2 January, total revenue rose 2% to £34.7 million, with commercial partnerships and corporate gifting outperforming...
By The Retail Bulletin
News•Jan 27, 2026
Gap Growing Between Retail AI, Consumer Trust
A new VoCoVo report finds a widening gap between retail AI deployments and consumer trust. While 250 U.S. retail leaders are accelerating AI to combat labor shortages, rising costs and shrinkage, 500 recent shoppers remain focused on speed, service quality...
By Retail Customer Experience
News•Jan 27, 2026
9 Self-Service Tech Trends to Watch
At the Automated Retail & Kiosk Innovation Show, Blue Sky Robotics CEO Steven King outlined nine AI‑driven self‑service trends reshaping retail and hospitality. While fully autonomous robots remain years away, computer vision, digital agents, edge computing, cobots, biometrics, predictive modeling,...
By Retail Customer Experience
News•Jan 27, 2026
Global Trade Shifts Show Why Retailers Need Agile Tech Stacks
New tariffs and shifting trade routes are compelling retailers to treat technical agility as a competitive advantage. Companies that can integrate ERP, logistics, or e‑commerce systems in days rather than months gain resilience against supply‑chain disruptions. Integration platforms such as...
By Retail Customer Experience
News•Jan 27, 2026
No More Royal Mail Returns to Northern Ireland on eBay
Royal Mail will stop offering Returns and ParcelForce Returns labels for shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland on eBay after Jan 31, due to the Windsor Framework’s new customs data requirements. The change only affects cross‑border returns to NI; domestic...
By ChannelX (formerly Tamebay)
News•Jan 27, 2026
Just Eat Launches AI Voice Assistant to Tackle ‘Choice Overload’
Just Eat has introduced an AI‑powered voice assistant on iOS and Android in the UK, launching on 27 January. The conversational tool lets users speak naturally to the app, receiving personalised recommendations from its 100,000‑partner network that spans meals, groceries, pharmacy...
By Retail Gazette
News•Jan 27, 2026
MoneyHash Aligns with Tap Payments
MoneyHash, a leading payment orchestration platform, announced a partnership with Tap Payments, integrating Tap’s gateway across nine MENA markets. The integration lets merchants route, monitor, and optimize payments through a single control layer while accessing Tap’s extensive local payment methods...
By Finextra
News•Jan 27, 2026
EBay UK Up & Running Grants Awarded
eBay UK has announced the winners of its Up & Running Grants, selecting 25 businesses to receive a £10,000 cash grant, £1,000 in advertising credits, and personalised account management support. The programme, launched last year, attracted over a thousand applications...
By ChannelX (formerly Tamebay)
News•Jan 27, 2026
Poundland Joins Retail Trust to Protect Staff Mental Health
Discount retailer Poundland has teamed up with the Retail Trust to extend mental‑health support to its 12,000‑strong workforce. Employees will gain access to a dedicated wellbeing helpline, counselling, financial assistance and resources for young dependents. Store managers will receive CPD‑accredited...
By Retail Gazette
News•Jan 27, 2026
Visa Urges Banks to Rethink Loyalty Beyond Credit Card Rewards
Visa is urging banks to move beyond credit‑card‑centric loyalty programs toward contextual, data‑driven rewards. Margin pressure on interchange fees and the proliferation of consumer loyalty accounts are forcing banks to seek new funding sources, such as merchant‑backed offers. Visa’s suite...
By PYMNTS
News•Jan 27, 2026
Fiserv and Affirm Expand Partnership to Bring Pay-Over-Time to Debit Cards
Fiserv and Affirm announced an expanded partnership that will embed Affirm’s pay‑over‑time (BNPL) solution into debit card programs. The integration will be available to thousands of U.S. banks, allowing debit cardholders to access installment financing at the point of sale....
By PaySpace Magazine
News•Jan 27, 2026
CFOs Prepare for AI by Modernizing Payments
CFOs are accelerating payment modernization as AI becomes mainstream, according to Boost Payment Solutions founder Dean Leavitt. The COVID‑19 pandemic forced a rapid shift from checks and wires to digital platforms, boosting transaction volumes and highlighting the need for flexible,...
By PYMNTS
News•Jan 27, 2026
95% of Shoppers Research Influencer Picks Before Buying
A new PYMNTS Intelligence study of 3,196 U.S. consumers finds that influencers act more as discovery catalysts than direct sales drivers. While 56% of shoppers purchase an influencer‑recommended item at least once a year, 95% conduct additional research before checkout,...
By PYMNTS
News•Jan 27, 2026
OPINION: Peak Gets Everyone Excited – but January Is Much More Revealing for Retailers
Retailers often treat Black Friday as the ultimate test of customer experience, yet the true test arrives in January when peak‑season buffers disappear. The post‑holiday period exposes weaknesses in returns processing, inventory synchronization, and delivery speed that were masked by...
By InternetRetailing
News•Jan 27, 2026
OneBill and Linked2pay Partner to Streamline Billing and Payments for Merchants
OneBill and linked2pay announced a strategic integration that unifies billing and payment processing for merchants. The partnership embeds linked2pay’s gateway into OneBill’s cloud‑based revenue platform via real‑time APIs, supporting credit‑card, debit‑card and ACH transactions without separate systems. It promises faster...
By PaySpace Magazine
Blog•Jan 27, 2026
What Is a Minimum Viable Brand? How To Develop an MVB
In this episode, Jen Hasty explains the concept of a Minimum Viable Brand (MVB)—a stripped‑down brand identity that includes only the essentials like a logo, name, colors, and basic messaging so a company can launch quickly, test the market, and...
By eCommerce Fastlane
Social•Jan 27, 2026
E‑commerce Founders Prioritize Metrics over Resolutions
Everyone at the gym: New year new me. Ecom founders at the gym: Thinking about that 3.2% cart abandonment spike. Different mindset. Different life.
By Kamil Sattar
News•Jan 27, 2026
Dr Martens Boosted by Turnaround Progress
Dr Martens reported progress in its turnaround, with full‑price direct‑to‑consumer (DTC) sales up 2% year‑to‑date, while overall group revenue fell 2.7% to £253 million in Q3. The company’s wholesale channel rebounded, growing 9.3% as DTC revenue slipped 6.5% due to a...
By The Retail Bulletin
News•Jan 27, 2026
Ecer.com: Driving Foreign Trade Into the Era of ‘Mobile Transactions’
Ecer.com’s mobile marketplace is reshaping cross‑border B2B trade by enabling end‑to‑end transactions on smartphones. Guangzhou Dinghao Furniture reduced a week‑long order cycle to a single call, leveraging instant messaging, real‑time video and 360° factory tours. Platform data shows response times...
By MarTech Series
News•Jan 27, 2026
Canadian Retailers Urged to Build Trust and Personalization Through Technology: SOTI Study
Canadian retailers are under pressure to rebuild consumer trust and deliver personalized experiences as inflation curtails spending, according to SOTI’s latest global retail tech study. The survey of 1,000 Canadians shows 83% are shopping more carefully, while 53% expect retailers...
By Retail Insider Canada
Podcast•Jan 27, 2026•29 min
Charming Commerce Ft. Rembrandt Charms
In this episode, host interviews Eric Lux, President of Rembrandt Charms, about the booming online market for charms and the factors driving high conversion rates. Lux explains how vertical integration ensures consistent inventory on retail shelves and streamlines fulfillment. He...
By In the Loupe
News•Jan 27, 2026
Aligne Appoints Ellie Dickinson as Global DTC Director
Aligne, the London‑based contemporary womenswear label, has named Ellie Dickinson as its global Direct‑to‑Consumer (DTC) director. Dickinson arrives from a commercial director role at Australian brand Dissh, where she oversaw the UK, EU and US markets since September 2024. Her...
By The Retail Bulletin
Blog•Jan 27, 2026
PDD Subsidiary Fined by Shanghai Tax Authorities
Shanghai tax authorities fined PDD Holdings' subsidiary Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology 100,000 yuan for failing to submit required tax information for Q3 2025 under China’s new platform reporting rules. The penalty, roughly US$14,000, is modest relative to PDD’s scale but...
By EcomCrew
News•Jan 27, 2026
What’s In Your Cart?: E.l.f. Beauty’s Chief Brand Officer Laurie Lam on Her Obsession with Black Sesame, Hotel Experiences and...
Laurie Lam, chief brand officer of e.l.f. Beauty, shared her personal shopping habits, emphasizing a preference for minority‑owned and female‑founded brands. She highlighted recent impulse buys such as a black‑sesame crunchy butter from Rooted Fare and sustainable travel experiences at...
By Modern Retail
News•Jan 27, 2026
Michael Hill Expects Strong Earnings Uplift as Sales Grow
Michael Hill International forecast a 12‑24 percent rise in comparable EBIT for the half year to December 28, targeting $27‑30 million. Group sales increased 3.1 percent to $370.3 million, led by a 6.2 percent surge in Canada and modest gains in Australia and New Zealand. Same‑store sales...
By Inside Retail Australia
News•Jan 27, 2026
C&I Expo Returns to Sydney as Convenience Retail Decision Makers Gather
The Convenience & Impulse Retailing Expo returns to Sydney on March 17‑18, gathering Australia’s petrol, convenience and independent grocery decision‑makers. Organisers project 1,200‑1,800 senior attendees and more than 120 exhibitors showcasing food, beverage, technology and store‑fit solutions. The event emphasizes...
By Inside Retail Australia
News•Jan 27, 2026
Enhancing the E-Commerce Experience: Innovative Approaches to Customer Interaction
The latest PaySpace Magazine roundup highlights three pivotal fintech and e‑commerce developments. NEXA Lending introduced a Chat & Social AI platform to streamline loan originators' customer interactions. A European footprint firm closed a €76 million fund targeting 30 climate‑focused and deep‑tech...
By PaySpace Magazine
Blog•Jan 27, 2026
Customer Acquisition Strategies That Drive Ecommerce Growth
The episode breaks down modern ecommerce customer acquisition, warning that focusing only on first‑time sales wastes budget and emphasizing the need to capture email and SMS contacts for ongoing marketing. It outlines ten tactics—including AI‑driven personalization, email/SMS list building, content...
By eCommerce Fastlane
News•Jan 27, 2026
PODCAST: What to Look Out for in 2026!
In a recent podcast, analyst Miya Knights outlines the retail technology landscape poised for 2026. She highlights AI‑powered personalization, edge computing for instant inventory visibility, and immersive AR/VR shopping as key drivers. Knights also stresses the growing importance of sustainable...
By Retail Technology (Magazine)
News•Jan 27, 2026
McCabes Goes Digital
Ireland’s leading pharmacy chain McCabes announced a transformative digitisation programme that has streamlined operations across its 150 stores. The initiative automated inventory tracking, prescription processing and workforce scheduling, delivering thousands of staff‑hour savings. It also secured more than €100,000 of...
By Retail Technology (Magazine)
News•Jan 26, 2026
U.S. B2B Sales Top $15 Trillion, Ecommerce Redefines How Companies Buy
U.S. manufacturing and wholesale distribution sales reached $15.12 trillion in 2025, marking a modest 0.4% year‑over‑year increase. After a post‑pandemic surge of over 14% in 2021‑22, overall B2B demand has plateaued, while digital commerce channels are expanding at double‑digit rates. The...
By Digital Commerce 360
News•Jan 26, 2026
Nike to Lay Off 775 Employees as It Accelerates ‘Automation’ at US Distribution Centers
Nike announced it will lay off 775 employees, primarily at its distribution centers in Tennessee and Mississippi, as part of a broader automation drive. The cuts follow a previous reduction of 1,000 corporate roles announced last summer and reflect CEO...
By Total Retail
News•Jan 26, 2026
Secret Service Foils Card Skimmers
The U.S. Secret Service’s fraud‑prevention unit partnered with local law‑enforcement to locate and deactivate 411 illegal point‑of‑sale card‑skimming devices in 2025. Across 22 coordinated operations, agents inspected roughly 9,000 businesses and examined about 60,000 terminals, potentially averting $428.1 million in fraudulent...
By Payments Dive
News•Jan 26, 2026
How Groupe Dynamite Is Personalizing Its POS With Agentic AI
Groupe Dynamite has deployed an agentic AI platform across its point‑of‑sale network to deliver real‑time, personalized product recommendations and dynamic pricing. The system integrates shopper data, inventory levels, and local trends, allowing cashiers to suggest items tailored to each customer’s...
By Total Retail
Blog•Jan 26, 2026
How to Turn Off eBay Live Notifications
eBay Live is the marketplace’s livestream shopping feature that sends push notifications to buyers. Users on both iOS and Android have reported that these alerts can freeze the eBay app and become a daily annoyance. eBay’s help center outlines seven...
By EcommerceBytes
Blog•Jan 26, 2026
It’s Planning Season, Don’t Let Your Tech Stack Lock You Into Another Year
The episode highlights why early Q1 is the ideal time for founders to reassess their email and SMS platforms, emphasizing that many stay on suboptimal tools out of fear of disruption during peak seasons. It explains that switching during low‑traffic...
By Smart Marketer
Blog•Jan 26, 2026
Tariffs Changed How Buyers Shop, with Some Advice for Online Sellers
Support for tariffs among American shoppers jumped to 46% this year, up from 34% a year earlier, according to Omnisend’s January 2026 survey. Nearly three‑quarters of respondents say tariffs influence their buying choices, with 57.5% deliberately seeking Made‑in‑USA products. However,...
By EcommerceBytes
News•Jan 26, 2026
Equifax Offers Verified Employment and Income Data Alongside Credit Reports
Equifax launched Income Confirm, a service that bundles verified employment and income information with its traditional consumer credit reports. The product pulls data from The Work Number and the recently acquired Vault Verify, delivering details such as employee name, Social...
By PYMNTS
Blog•Jan 26, 2026
SkyPilot at Shopify: Multi-Cloud GPUs without the Pain (2026) – Shopify
In this episode, the Shopify ML Platform team explains how they use the open‑source SkyPilot framework to run multi‑cloud GPU workloads at scale, routing jobs across Nebius and GCP based on resource requirements. They detail a custom SkyPilot plugin that...
By eCommerce Fastlane
Blog•Jan 26, 2026
How Top Brands that Sponsor Podcasts Drive ROI in 2026
The episode explains why podcast sponsorship has become a core marketing channel in 2026, highlighting its high trust, engagement, and proven ROI, with 88% of listeners acting on ads. It profiles the top spenders—BetterHelp, Amazon, Unilever, Shopify, Toyota, and others—showing...
By eCommerce Fastlane
Social•Jan 26, 2026
Pre‑order Ads Succeed only for Truly Unique Products
I had a friend recently ask me if he should run ads for pre-orders while he's out of stock until March. His raw material sources are backed up from Chinese New Year, and he can't manufacture again for weeks. But when it...
By Davie Fogarty
Social•Jan 26, 2026
Brands Must Prioritize Analytics over High CPM Confidence
$60CPM's... No conversion tracking... "confident in unique ad value despite limited analytics" Ugh. Brands need to learn from AppLovin's rollout to new ad channels. https://t.co/v4qSx7wveH
By Taylor Holiday
News•Jan 26, 2026
Float Raises $73 Million for Canada-Focused Working Capital Tools
Float Financial, a Canada‑based business finance platform, announced C$100 million (≈US$73 million) in new debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank, First Citizens and a tier‑1 Canadian bank. The facilities allow Float to continue offering up to 4 % interest on business accounts—the highest...
By PYMNTS
News•Jan 26, 2026
Signet Jewelers Names Carter’s Exec as New Chief Digital and Technology Officer
Signet Jewelers appointed Raghu Sagi, former Carter’s EVP and chief information and technology officer, as its permanent chief digital and technology officer, succeeding Shawn Cornelius who moves to the CIO role. The hire is part of Signet’s "Grow Brand Love"...
By Digital Commerce 360
Blog•Jan 26, 2026
How Can You Maximize LinkedIn Lead Conversion Using Automation?
The episode outlines how to boost LinkedIn lead conversion through automation, covering personalized connection requests, timed follow‑up messages, and lead segmentation. It explains building a simple funnel that includes automated profile visits, skill endorsements, and data‑driven adjustments to messaging. Integration...
By eCommerce Fastlane
News•Jan 26, 2026
The New Retail Reality: Using Site-Level Intelligence to Build More Resilient Supply Chains in 2026
Retailers are confronting mounting ethical, labor and environmental risks that threaten continuity, with 43% lacking visibility beyond Tier‑1 suppliers. Site‑level SMETA audits now reveal roughly 1,000 critical issues each week, including wage violations at 46% of sites and excessive hours...
By Total Retail
News•Jan 26, 2026
How to Implement Effective Payment Plans for High-Ticket Retail in 2026: A Guide for Retailers
Retailers of high‑ticket items face declining conversions as consumers balk at large upfront costs and rising credit‑card rates. Offering flexible installment financing—especially 0% or low‑interest plans—creates a clear path to capture otherwise lost sales. The guide outlines a three‑step framework:...
By Retail Insider Canada
Blog•Jan 26, 2026
Facial Recognition Payments Gain Traction in South Korea
South Korea’s facial recognition payment ecosystem is expanding rapidly, driven by AI and 3D imaging technologies. Viva Republica’s Facepay has surpassed one million users and is now supported by 240,000 merchants since its September debut. Naver Financial’s competing solution reports...
By Shopifreaks