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
Brands Can Now Deploy Their Own Agents Inside Publisher Chatbots
Dappier unveiled Sponsored Conversations, a new ad format that inserts brand‑specific AI agents into publisher chatbots. The agents engage users in real time, pulling from the site’s own content and, for brands like Miku, driving qualified leads with roughly 50 % of engaged users clicking a purchase CTA. Early publisher trials, such as Lilly Broadcasting, show about 5 % reader interaction, suggesting a viable revenue stream that complements existing programmatic ads. The approach aims to boost monetization without disrupting the user experience.
8 Best E-Commerce Analytics Software I Recommend for 2026
Hasitha Varre’s G2 guide identifies the eight top e‑commerce analytics platforms for 2026, including Stackline, Glassbox, Luigi’s Box, Edrone, Fullstory, Decodo, Lucky Orange and Hotjar. The selections are based on G2’s Winter 2026 Grid Report, user reviews, and criteria such as KPI coverage, integration...
Secondhand Apparel Growing Twice as Fast as Rest of Market
The global secondhand apparel market is forecast to hit $393 bn by 2030, expanding at twice the pace of the broader clothing sector, according to ThredUp research. This rapid growth reflects a shift from a linear to a resale‑centric model, where...
Amazon to Take ‘Now’ Quick-Commerce Service to 100 Cities at Rs 2,800 Cr Investment
Amazon is investing over Rs 2,800 crore (about $300 million) to roll out its ultra‑fast delivery service, Amazon Now, across 100 Indian cities. The plan includes building more than 1,000 micro‑fulfillment centres to enable minute‑level deliveries of groceries, personal care items and other essentials....
Complete Guide to Building a Revenue-Generating eCommerce CX
Retailers seeking to grow eCommerce revenue must first audit the customer journey, which spans awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy. Optimizing each stage—through SEO and emerging GEO tactics, streamlined checkout, personalized upsells, and robust loyalty or gamification programs—directly lifts conversion...
In Commerce Media, the Hardest Part Is Getting to “Ship It”
Commerce media still offers abundant opportunities, but the era of easy, incremental dollars is ending. Retailers like Foot Locker are expanding into new channels such as same‑day delivery with DoorDash, creating fresh monetization prospects. However, the growing complexity of multiple...
Zalando to End Its Connected Retail Program
Zalando announced it will retire its Connected Retail program, which has enabled brick‑and‑mortar partners to list inventory on its marketplace since 2018. The service will be replaced by a new, integrated platform called zDirect that promises tighter data integration. The...
TikTok Shop US Sales Surge 84% in 2025
TikTok Shop’s US sales surged 84% year‑over‑year between March 2025 and February 2026, propelled mainly by health and beauty products that now generate over $44 billion, or 81% of platform revenue. The average American spends about $118 annually on the platform, and roughly...
Amazon’s New Label Rules Aim to Block Counterfeit Goods
Amazon has revised its Transparency Program labeling policy to tighten product authentication. Each enrolled item receives a unique code that must appear on a label or packaging and be uploaded by sellers when listing. The new rules require scanning of...
Agentic Commerce Forces a Rethink of Card Infrastructure
Agentic commerce—AI agents that initiate purchases—is moving from concept to reality, with nearly 50% of consumers expressing interest in autonomous shopping. Existing payment card infrastructure, built for human‑driven, linear transactions, struggles to handle the speed, scale, and parallelism of machine‑initiated...
Australia’s Addiction to Amazon Is Set to Blow Past $5 Billion
Amazon’s Australian arm posted AUD$4.77 billion (≈US$3.15 billion) revenue in 2025, topping the $5 billion mark for the first time. Growth was driven by a 62% surge in advertising, a 32% jump in Prime subscriptions and a 36% rise in third‑party merchant fees,...
Guide to eBay Video Ads Promoted Listings
eBay has launched video ads for Promoted Listings using its priority strategy, currently in beta. Sellers can attach a 5‑60 second video that autoplays in eligible placements, with no change to cost‑per‑click pricing. The new format adds video‑specific metrics such...
VanillaGift.com: 100% Off Purchase Fees Visa Gift Cards (VGMOM26)
VanillaGift.com is repeatedly offering 100% off purchase fees for its Visa gift cards through a rotating series of promo codes, the most recent being VGMOM26 valid until May 10, 2026. The site publishes frequent updates, each code targeting specific spend thresholds and...
Platforms, Brands Accelerate Agentic Commerce Push as Fintechs Plug Payment Gaps
Digital platforms and brands such as Flipkart, Bigbasket, Ajio and Firstcry are building AI storefronts to enable agentic commerce—AI‑driven shopping where agents autonomously search, select, order and pay. Fintechs like Razorpay and Cashfree have introduced payment protocols, with Razorpay piloting...
Welcome to the Golden Age of Thrifting
A recent eBay pop‑up in New York forced attendees to list a personal item before they could browse curated resale selections, highlighting the merging of thrifting and resale into a single shopping journey. Savers Value Village reported a 20.6% revenue jump...
Williams-Sonoma Relaunches Dormify a Year After Acquiring IP
Williams‑Sonoma, Inc. has relaunched the Dormify dorm‑room brand after acquiring its intellectual property for about $1 million in May 2025. The new Dormify website features a wishlist, a 3‑D bed visualizer and fresh products such as the $149‑$199 GellyRoll Mattress Topper,...
Built to Adapt: How Modular POS Powers the Future of Retail
Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions released an infographic highlighting how modular point‑of‑sale (POS) systems enable retailers to adapt quickly to changing market demands. The modular approach combines interchangeable hardware and flexible software, allowing seamless updates, faster checkout, and uninterrupted operations. Insights...
Giordano’s CEO on the Company’s Reset and Why He Thinks Its Best Chapter Is Still Ahead
Giordano International reported a 3.9% revenue increase for the quarter ended March 31, with same‑store sales climbing 8.2% – its strongest growth in years. Mainland China e‑commerce surged 46.7%, while Southeast Asian markets delivered double‑digit gains. CEO Colin Currie, appointed in...
Pine Labs Pays $10.5 M for Shopflo to Add D2C Checkout Tech
Pine Labs has agreed to buy 100% of Shopflo for up to ₹88 crore ($10.5 million) in an all‑cash deal that will close within three months. The acquisition adds a proven D2C checkout solution to Pine Labs’ payments suite, aiming to boost...
Smart Vend Group Acquires Voda American Tran, Boosting R&D by 200% to Scale AI Retail Infrastructure
Smart Vend Group Ltd. completed the acquisition of U.S. tech firm Voda American Tran LLC, raising its AI‑driven R&D capability by roughly 200% and enhancing market credibility by 150%. The deal underpins a broader rollout of its three‑in‑one retail terminals,...
Temu and Shein ‘Hollowing Out’ German Retail
A new report finds Chinese ultra‑fast‑fashion platforms Temu and Shein are draining Germany’s retail economy. The study quantifies an annual net value‑added loss of €2.4 billion (about $2.6 billion). While EU retailers shoulder costly compliance with the Packaging Act, GDPR and product‑safety...
Amazon Launches GLP‑1 Weight‑Loss Program, Targeting $100 B Market
Amazon announced a GLP‑1‑focused weight‑management program through its One Medical platform, letting patients order injectable and oral GLP‑1 drugs with same‑day delivery. The move pits the tech giant against pharma leaders Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk as the market races toward a...
Commerce Media Awards Spotlight Growth, Fragmentation and Trust Challenges
The Drum’s first live Commerce Media Awards in Miami brought industry leaders together to flag growth as the sector’s toughest test. Executives warned that rapid expansion is creating fragmentation, while a lack of uniform measurement erodes trust and hampers accountability.
Transformer Table Targets Retail Partners After $150M E‑commerce Surge
Transformer Table, the Montreal‑based maker of space‑saving tables, announced a shift to B2B sales after posting $150 million in 2026 direct‑to‑consumer revenue—a 50% jump from the prior year. The company will lean on its digital‑marketing engine to partner with U.S. retailers...
Ecommerce LLM Visibility: PR & Influencer Guide
E‑commerce brands are facing an "Empty Digital Shelf" as generative AI assistants replace traditional search results, leaving many products invisible to high‑intent shoppers. The article introduces Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), a strategy that prioritizes off‑site consensus—PR mentions, influencer content, and...
CLS Score: How Google’s Cumulative Layout Shift Metric Works
Google’s Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) metric quantifies unexpected visual movement on a page during load, and it is a core Web Vital that directly influences search rankings. A CLS score below 0.1 is deemed good, while scores above 0.25 signal...
Optimove Insights: Nearly Half of Mother's Day Shoppers Use AI Tools, and 64% Are Open to Buying From a Brand...
Optimove’s 2026 Mother’s Day Shopping Report finds that 49% of U.S. shoppers use AI tools to discover gift ideas, while 64% are open to buying from a brand they have never tried. The study of 648 consumers with incomes above...
Serge Blanco Migrates to Shopify Plus, Unifies 50‑Store Retail Network
Serge Blanco, the French premium menswear label, completed a migration to Shopify Plus that links its 50‑plus physical stores with its online shop, delivering a single source of truth for inventory and sales. The move replaces legacy Magento and WShop...
Overstock.com Boosts Data Science Velocity 500% to Power Hyper‑Personalized Shopping
In a recent interview, Craig Kelly, group product manager at Overstock.com, detailed how the retailer amplified data‑science velocity by more than 500%, halved the cost of moving models to production and now launches new models five times faster. The changes...
Amazon Pilots 'Builder' Titles in Ring and Blink Units to Streamline Hierarchy
Amazon is testing a single "Builder" job family for staff in its Ring and Blink divisions, removing senior and lead titles. The experiment, overseen by chief product officer Jason Mitura, seeks to focus on customer value and reduce internal bureaucracy...
GetHookd Unveils Tiered Plans to Democratize AI‑Generated Facebook Ads
GetHookd announced tiered subscription plans that give small and medium‑sized businesses access to its AI‑powered Facebook ad generation platform. The pricing shift aims to lower entry barriers while the company touts performance gains of 50% higher ad profitability and 24%...
First Sale Made in 24 Hours: Dropshipping Challenge
How Much Can I Make Dropshipping in 24 Hours? (I Locked Myself In Room) WATCH HERE 👉 https://t.co/cgnv3V1vs6 In this Dropshipping challenge, I lock myself in a room for 24 hours and try to build a Shopify store from scratch with one...
Amazon, Walmart Face $12.8 B Porch‑Piracy Loss, Triggering Logistics Overhaul
Amazon and Walmart are shouldering an estimated $7.9 B in refunds after a $12.8 B annual loss from porch piracy, according to a new Omnisend report. The scale of the theft is forcing both retailers to redesign delivery networks, add security KPIs...
Home Depot Deploys AI Phone Agents, Cutting Call Times Fourfold
Home Depot launched AI‑powered phone agents built on Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise, reporting a four‑times faster resolution in a 50‑store pilot. The move targets a long‑standing shopper pain point—time spent on phone menus—while signaling the retailer’s broader AI push after...
Microsoft Adds Real‑time Shopify Integration via UCP
Focus on ecommerce? -> Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) Supported in Microsoft Merchant Center "For advertisers on Shopify, the Shopify Catalog integration with Copilot automatically structures, enriches, and syndicates product data in real time, giving agents access to accurate pricing, inventory, and...
At 55, Email Is Vital for Marketers
Email celebrated its 55th anniversary, yet it remains a cornerstone for ecommerce marketers as one of the few truly owned media channels. In an AI‑driven landscape where social and search algorithms dominate, email offers a direct, controllable line to customers....
Google AI Tests Auto Catalog & Site Builder for SMBs
Wix and Squarespace should take note -> Google tests Catalog (for ecommerce) and Website generation for Pomelli Experiment Catalog: "Two further capabilities now appear to be taking shape. The first, referred to as Catalog, would let merchants point Pomelli at a...
EBay Still Rakes $10B—Who’s Actually Buying?
I Haven’t thought about eBay in over 10 years. They’re still doing $10B+ in revenue. Serious question: Who is actually using it?
The Best of the Way Day Sale—All Under $100
Wayfair’s three‑day Way Day Sale showcases more than 20 home‑goods items priced under $100, ranging from dinnerware sets and premium knives to bedding, pillows, and decorative accents. The promotion bundles full four‑person dinnerware sets for $57, high‑quality Zwilling and Henckels...
True E‑commerce Flex: Automated Freedom, Not Luxury Cars
The ultimate ecom flex isn't a Lambo. It's a month-long vacation where you don't check your phone once because your systems are running the business for you. Build for freedom, not for flexing.
Open‑source CubeCart Powers Your New Online Store
If you're ready to create an online store, consider using this open-source solution, CubeCart. https://t.co/XaKQkKZOaC
BigCommerce Is Renaming Its Plans and Adding an Open Payment Provider Fee for Non-Embedded Payment Processors Starting June 1, 2026
BigCommerce will rename its subscription tiers to Core, Growth, Scale, and Performance on June 1 2026, keeping base prices for Core and Growth unchanged. The Scale plan will shift from fixed per‑block fees to a continuous 0.9% gross merchandise volume (GMV) overage...
UBS Predicts 40,000+ U.S. Retail Store Closures over the Next Five Years as E-Commerce, AI, and Tariffs Squeeze Physical Retail
UBS analysts project that more than 40,000 U.S. retail stores will shutter over the next five years as e‑commerce climbs from roughly 20% of sales today to an estimated 27% by 2030. AI‑enabled shopping experiences are accelerating the shift, hitting...
Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Stripe Joined the Universal Commerce Protocol Tech Council for Agentic Commerce Standards
Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce and Stripe have joined the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) Tech Council, expanding the body that defines an open standard for AI‑agent commerce. The council now includes founding members Google, Shopify, Etsy, Target and Wayfair, creating a...
EBay Is Piloting a Host-Matching Program Letting Sellers Hand Off Livestreaming to Third-Party Hosts to Scale Its Live Commerce Push
eBay announced a streaming‑as‑a‑service pilot that will match sellers who prefer not to appear on camera with third‑party livestream hosts. The program is slated to launch within six to eight weeks, letting sellers focus on inventory while hosts handle the...
One‑Click Post‑Purchase Upsell Can Add $500K
True Classic added $500k in revenue with a simple post-purchase upsell. No extra traffic needed. Meanwhile you're sending customers to a generic thank you page instead of offering a one-click upsell. That's the gap.
Hyundai Department Store's Curation Strategy Drives 843% Online Growth and 120% Offline Sales
Hyundai Department Store's "curation" approach has sparked a surge in both its online platform The Hyundai Hi and its offline gift‑focused store The Hyundai Gift, adding 140,000 new members and hitting 120% of sales targets within weeks. The results signal...
Etsy Shares Plunge 78% as Growth Stalls and Profitability Wanes
Etsy's stock has tumbled 78% from its November 2021 high as gross merchandise sales fell 4% in 2025 and net income slumped 67% since the pandemic peak. Rising operating expenses and a slump in consumer confidence have deepened profitability concerns,...
Amazon Shifts Ad Fees to Proceeds First, Sparking B2B Seller Backlash
Amazon announced it will start deducting advertising fees from sellers' retail proceeds before credit‑card billing, a change delayed to Aug. 1 2026 and accompanied by a $2,500 promotional credit. The move has ignited a wave of criticism from B2B sellers who say...
Flipkart Promoted Kunal Gupta, Head of Its Quick Commerce Arm Minutes, to SVP as the IPO-Bound Company Doubles Down on...
Flipkart promoted Kunal Gupta, head of its quick‑commerce unit Minutes, to senior vice president. Minutes, launched in August 2024, now runs about 750‑800 dark stores and is adding roughly 100 per month, targeting 1,200 locations by June. The unit plans...