Know What's Happening in Ecommerce
Know What's Happening in Ecommerce
Ecommerce Pulse
EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
Amazon fuels rural delivery with $4B logistics push
Amazon is accelerating its delivery network in rural America, raising same‑day or next‑day coverage to 16% of remote customers, up from 8% mid‑2024. The $4 billion logistics investment helped ship more than 13 billion items on same‑day or next‑day terms in February.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Grab acquires Foodpanda Taiwan for $600M
Amazon has launched an embedded QuickBooks Online app inside Seller Central, fulfilling a promise made last year. The multi‑year partnership with Intuit lets sellers import financial data, view profit‑and‑loss trends, and monitor inventory across channels, with a three‑month free trial for new users. While Intuit touts a 20‑point higher success rate for QuickBooks users, sellers express concern over sharing sensitive sales data with Amazon and warn of steep subscription price hikes. The service is not free beyond the trial period, adding a new cost layer for merchants.
VAT will kill your international margins if you don't price for it upfront. Here's the mistake I see all the time: Brand launches in the EU. Pricing stays the same as in the US. Orders start coming in, and revenue looks good...
UPS announced the completion of its strategic reduction of low‑margin Amazon package volume, cutting it by more than 50% as part of a multi‑year margin‑focused plan. The carrier is redirecting growth toward higher‑margin segments such as healthcare, small‑and‑medium‑business, automotive and...
Earned‑wage‑access providers DailyPay and MoneyLion have filed motions to dismiss New York Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuits alleging illegal, usurious loans. The companies contend their on‑demand‑pay services are not loans, referencing a CFPB advisory opinion that excludes many EWA products...
Asda’s income tracker shows that nearly six in ten UK households feel their weekly salaries stretch less than a year ago, with average discretionary income falling to £256 per week. Growth in disposable income stalled in December, erasing gains from...
Revolut Business has launched Subscriptions in the UK, an in‑app solution that lets merchants create, automate and manage recurring payment plans without additional billing software fees. The feature consolidates billing, payments and customer data, offering instant reconciliation, API access, free‑trial...
Ohio-based Kemba Credit Union, with 14 branches in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, has selected Velera to provide debit and credit card processing services beginning in August. Velera, a credit union service organization serving more than 4,000 financial institutions across North...
Leatherology introduced "Yours, Truly," an AI‑driven design tool that lets shoppers create or upload artwork for debossed leather products on its direct‑to‑consumer site. Launched in October ahead of Cyber Week, the feature helped the brand exceed its holiday sales goal...
Bolt announced a strategic partnership with Affirm, making the BNPL provider the default financing option across Bolt's U.S. checkout experience. The integration will appear alongside card payments for both logged‑in and guest shoppers without extra merchant development. Rollout begins with...
The article highlights that typical B2B enterprises rely on six to ten disparate systems to support a single customer journey, leading to fragmented experiences and slow commercial change. It argues that true unified commerce is not about consolidating all functions...
The episode explores Visa’s revamped Authorize.net platform, highlighting its new UI, AI‑driven support agent, and five specialized workspaces that streamline customer onboarding, payments, reporting, account management, and marketplace integrations. It emphasizes the platform’s flexibility, allowing merchants to adopt only the...
UK businesses report an 11.5% productivity boost from AI, outpacing job creation and intensifying labor concerns. Marketplace seller Simon used AI to automate routine ecommerce tasks, turning weeks of work into minutes. He migrated from legacy platforms to Base.com and...
African ecommerce faces unique logistics hurdles, from informal addresses to poor infrastructure, inflating delivery costs and eroding consumer trust. Cash‑on‑delivery remains dominant as shoppers demand inspection before payment, increasing operational risk for merchants. Local innovators counter these challenges by deploying...
eBay announced it will block autonomous AI-driven checkout functionality across its marketplace, effectively pausing the rollout of agentic commerce. The company will still allow AI applications that meet strict approval criteria, emphasizing a focus on marketplace fairness, pricing integrity, and...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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,...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
$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
