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
Instacart Promo Code: Save on Groceries in March 2026
Instacart is rolling out a suite of March 2026 promotions, including free delivery on a new user’s first three orders, a $50 credit for customers who obtain the Instacart Mastercard, and $10 discounts on Petco and Walgreens purchases. Existing members can earn up to $40 in referral credits and enjoy unlimited free delivery through an Instacart+ subscription priced at $99 per year. The offers target both first‑time shoppers and loyal users, aiming to boost order frequency and expand the platform’s market share in the competitive grocery‑delivery space.
Enterprise Open Source: The Real Cost of Free and When It Makes Sense (2026) – Shopify
Open‑source software underpins modern enterprise stacks, but its zero‑price license masks substantial hidden expenses. Shopify’s guide outlines a spectrum from raw community projects to fully managed platforms, showing how total cost of ownership expands across infrastructure, implementation, maintenance, security, and...
EBay Australia Shakes Up Fees and Policies
eBay Australia is moving its Buyer Protection fee to buyers for purchases from low‑volume sellers—those with $25,000 AU (≈$16,500 USD) or less in sales over the past year. Those sellers receive a "free‑selling" status but must purchase eBay shipping labels, except for...
Zara Teams with Willy Chavarría on VATÍSIMO, a Full‑Scale Menswear Collection
Zara announced a partnership with emerging designer Willy Chavarría to release VATÍSIMO, a nearly 100‑piece menswear collection that treats clothing as cultural narrative. The collaboration marks a shift toward high‑concept, story‑driven design in a mass‑market retailer, aiming to democratize elevated...
Magento 2 Loyalty Program: Build A Retention Engine
Magento 2’s loyalty program is evolving from simple discount codes to a sophisticated retention engine that blends data‑driven automation with experiential rewards. Merchants can leverage native GraphQL fields, real‑time webhooks, and virtual‑product attributes to recognize milestones, eliminate redemption friction, and capture...
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How eBay Generates Revenue: Key Streams Explained
eBay reported FY2024 revenue of $10.28 billion, driven by $74.67 billion in gross merchandise volume. The marketplace generated $1.98 billion in net income, down from $2.77 billion a year earlier, while active users held steady at 134 million. Revenue is split between marketplace fees, advertising,...
Requiem for Daydream
Julie Bornstein, veteran of Stitch Fix and Sephora, has launched Daydream, an AI‑driven fashion shopping app positioned as the industry’s answer to ChatGPT. After raising $30 million for The Yes and $50 million from Google and other VCs, Daydream entered beta in...
JBL’s Boombox 3 Drops to $300 and the Tour Pro 2 Earbuds Hit $140 During Amazon’s Big Spring Sale
Amazon's Big Spring Sale slashes JBL prices, with the Boombox 3 now $299.95—a $200 discount—and the Tour Pro 2 earbuds at $139.95, 44% off. The promotion also includes deep discounts on PartyBox, Charge 6, and a range of JBL headphones...
Imagine Affiliate Review: Is This the Right Affiliate Agency for Your DTC Brand?
Imagine Affiliate is a boutique agency that helps Shopify DTC brands earning $20K‑$500K per month build true customer‑acquisition affiliate programs, avoiding coupon‑driven revenue cannibalization. By recruiting SEM affiliates, content publishers, and media buyers, it shifts the channel from discount redistribution...
#508 - The TikTok Shop Playbook for Creator-Driven Growth
In this episode, host Shivali Patel interviews e‑commerce veteran Josh Hadley about scaling sales on TikTok Shop by leveraging small creators. Hadley shares how his brand turned a 25% revenue drop into a 100% YoY growth surge by building a...
EU Customs Union Overhaul Targets €90 Bn Modernisation, Boosts Trade Efficiency
EU finance minister Makis Keravnos and Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic announced a historic customs code reform worth €90 bn, creating a single data hub and new authority in Lille. The move seeks to streamline cross‑border trade, cut compliance costs and protect the single...
Human Social Structures, Not Payment Rails, Limit Commerce
I talked with @nlevine19 and @robbiepetersen_ about the future of commerce, and why the real bottleneck isn’t the payment rails. It’s human social structures. That shifted how I think about what agents actually need to solve for. Timestamps: 🔧 01:02 Why Noah thinks...
“No” Is a Complete Sentence: Why the Best Ecommerce Operators Say It More Than Anyone
The article urges Shopify and DTC founders to treat "no" as a growth lever, arguing that unchecked yes‑es drain time, energy, and opportunity cost. It cites Apple, Netflix and Warren Buffett to illustrate how disciplined refusal fuels compounding success. A...
Meta Acquisition of Moltbook Signals Shift to Agentic Commerce Infrastructure
Meta has acquired Moltbook and folded its agent‑to‑agent directory into Meta Superintelligence Labs, signaling a pivot from experimental autonomous buying to a core commerce infrastructure. The integration eliminates traditional human‑behavior signals at checkout, replacing them with "agentic telemetry" that validates...
Skullcandy Taps Riskified for Fraud Prevention
Skullcandy partnered with Riskified via the Shopify app to overhaul its fraud‑prevention workflow. By adding a secondary review layer and recalibrating AI‑driven thresholds, the retailer cut its fraud‑decline rate to about 0.1% and kept chargebacks around 0.06% over 12 months....
Integrate AI Now to Halve Ecom Workload and Dominate
How to run an ecom brand in 2026 using AI for half the work: - Use AI to generate 10x more ad creatives than UGC creators can produce - Build a custom GPT trained on your customer service FAQs so new...
Meta Aims to Position WhatsApp as the New Frontier in Customer Relations
Meta is positioning WhatsApp as a core channel for B2C customer relations, citing that 80% of users interact with brands weekly and a billion daily business‑consumer conversations occur. The platform now supports promotions, live‑shopping, abandoned‑cart recovery (15‑20% recovered), payments and...
This Pretzel Startup Turned a Viral TikTok Moment Into Months’ Worth of Sales—In Just Three Days
Baltimore entrepreneur Marcus Moore’s pretzel brand Moore Crunch went viral on TikTok after a news clip hit 2 million views, prompting a three‑day order volume normally seen over three to four months. The company, launched in October 2022, offers five flavors at...
Refurbed and GoPro Announce Exclusive Partnership in Ireland
Refurbed has sealed an exclusive partnership with GoPro to sell refurbished HERO9‑11 cameras in Ireland, Denmark and Sweden. The collaboration follows a pilot that saw GoPro sales on the platform jump 195%, and reflects a 329% year‑on‑year increase in camera...
PayNearby Introduces Integrated UPI Cash Withdrawal Solution Through Retail Network
PayNearby has become the first Business Correspondent in India to launch a fully integrated UPI cash‑withdrawal solution, allowing users to pull physical cash from nearby retail outlets. The service is built in partnership with IndusInd Bank and supported by YES...
Deals – Big Spring Sale Day 3: Lenovo Idea Tab Pro 40% Off, TCL 60 NXTPAPER $180, Snapdragon X Elite...
Day 3 of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale delivers deep discounts across tablets, smartphones, laptops and accessories. Lenovo’s 12.7‑inch Idea Tab Pro falls to $237.50, a 40% cut, while TCL’s 60 XE NXTPAPER phone starts at $180, 30% off. Microsoft’s Snapdragon X Elite Surface Laptop is...
Walmart Rolls Out Digital Shelf Labels Across All U.S. Stores by 2026
Walmart announced it will install electronic shelf‑label (ESL) displays in every U.S. store by the end of 2026, eliminating paper price tags. The move is pitched as a labor‑saving, error‑reducing tool, but lawmakers and consumer advocates warn it could enable...
Amazon Pilots Prime Shipping on Third‑party Sites without Login
Amazon has begun testing a new sales‑enablement capability that allows merchants on external websites to display Prime‑eligible shipping options without forcing shoppers to sign in to an Amazon account. The pilot, announced in early March, aims to boost conversion rates...
U.S. Sellers Ride 2026 World Cup Jersey Surge with No‑Warehouse Model
U.S. online retailers are leveraging the 2026 World Cup custom jersey frenzy with a no‑warehouse, no‑minimum fulfillment approach, allowing rapid scaling without inventory risk. The strategy, driven by the tournament’s broad qualifying field, promises higher margins but hinges on precise...
Brands For Less Shows up for Small Businesses with ‘By the Community, For the Community’
Brands For Less, a leading discount retailer in the Middle East, has launched the “By the Community, For the Community” platform to help UAE small businesses weather a slowdown in demand. The initiative offers rent‑free shelf space, in‑store activations, and exposure through...
In the Age of AI, Home Depot’s Stores Have ‘Never Been More Relevant’
Home Depot is embedding generative‑AI tools, branded as Magic Apron, into its omnichannel ecosystem to streamline product discovery and advice. A partnership with Google Cloud now lets shoppers converse in plain language, receiving personalized recommendations and compatibility checks. The retailer...
Best Canopy Management Alternatives for Amazon Sellers: Ranked and Reviewed
The article ranks the ten most viable Amazon agency alternatives to Canopy Management, highlighting Olifant Digital as the top overall choice. It evaluates agencies on client retention, senior‑level staffing, daily optimization cadence, and TACoS‑first reporting. Key pain points with Canopy—manager...
Commerce Media ‘Firmly in the Growth Phase’, Finds SMG’s New Maturity Index
SMG’s newly launched Commerce Media Network (CMN) Maturity Index reveals the sector is solidly in a growth phase, with 58% of networks classified as mid‑market and 28% reaching mature status. The Index evaluates networks across three dimensions—What (capabilities, data, inventory),...
Fashion E-Tailer Giglio.com Posts 14% Revenue Slump in 2025, Rallies in Europe in 2026
Italian luxury e‑tailer Giglio.com reported a 14% revenue decline in 2025, posting $43.5 million in sales versus $50.8 million the year before. EBITDA turned negative at $1.8 million, reflecting a –4.1% margin, while net loss widened to $2.8 million. Despite the downturn, the company...
Fonq, Dutch Home Decor Webshop, Declared Bankrupt
Dutch online home‑decor retailer Fonq, founded in 2003, announced bankruptcy after years of decline. The company once posted €66 million (≈ $71 million) in revenue in 2015 and was bought in 2016 by Ad Scheepbouwer, who hoped to expand sales to €200 million (≈ $214 million)....
25% Off Amazon Subscribe & Save Groceries With Promo
Amazon is offering a limited‑time 25 % discount on a single Subscribe & Save item, valid through April 1, 2026. The rebate is automatically applied at checkout for eligible products, encouraging shoppers to try the program without extra steps. Amazon advises customers to select the...
Amazon's Project Kobe Aims to Build Walmart‑Style Supercenters with Robots
Amazon announced its internal Project Kobe, a blueprint for 225,000‑sq‑ft supercenters that blend grocery, general merchandise and a warehouse‑scale fulfillment hub. The pilot stores in Illinois and New Jersey will rely on AI‑driven assortment planning and warehouse robots, a move...
Embrace Progress Says Sephora As ChatGPT Pilot Expands Across U.S.
Sephora has launched a U.S. pilot that embeds a dedicated beauty‑advisor experience inside the ChatGPT app, allowing shoppers to ask natural‑language questions and receive personalized product recommendations. The service taps into customers’ Beauty Insider loyalty data to tailor advice on...
Just Eat and Autotrader Among Firms Investigated in Fake Reviews Probe
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a probe into five companies—including Just Eat and Autotrader—over allegations of fake or misleading online reviews. The investigation will examine how reviews are collected, moderated and displayed, with particular focus on...
Google Merchant Center Will Highlight Vehicle Ads Data Quality Issues
Google announced that starting mid‑April 2026, Merchant Center will surface data‑quality issues for Vehicle ads directly in the account‑issues page. The new checks compare each vehicle's feed attributes—availability, condition, price, mileage, VIN, and landing‑page URLs—with the corresponding details on the...
Wish’s $10B Amazon Offer Rejection Fueled Its Collapse
In the 2010s, Wish took over the internet. Its founder turned down a ten billion offer from Amazon at the peak of the hype. Then the strange ads kept growing while the losses buried the company. Now the stock is...
Map All Four Customer Journey Stages with Tactics
The 4 Customer Journey Stages + the channels, tactics, and content types for each stage: https://t.co/WUxJLEJypr
EU Customs Overhaul Targets Fashion Parcel Surge
The European Union is revamping its customs code to tighten control over the flood of low‑cost fashion parcels entering the bloc. Under the new rules, online marketplaces such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress will be liable for customs duties, product...
Google to Flag Vehicle Ad Data Issues April 2026
Google will begin to highlight data quality account issues related to Vehicle ads within Google Merchant Center. This will begin in mid-April 2026 https://t.co/fF7ijXxPim https://t.co/GaNrfRdz0F
Samsung Browser to Auto‑Apply Discounts at Checkout
🛍️ Samsung Browser could soon save you some money while shopping Upcoming "Smart shopping" feature could automatically find and apply discount codes at checkout for you. ✅ Details - https://t.co/ytAqjxp4HW https://t.co/uoS5snu2cl
Amazon's Big Spring Sale Slashes iPad Air Price by $84.50, Sparking Tablet Frenzy
Amazon's third‑annual Big Spring Sale (Mar 25‑31) offers the 13‑inch M4 iPad Air for $714.50, $84.50 off its list price. The deep discount joins a wave of Apple markdowns that are reshaping spring‑season ecommerce traffic.
How to Protect Razor-Thin Retail Margins with AI
Retail margins are collapsing, with grocery net margins falling below 1.5%, echoing the 2008 crisis. A recent NVIDIA study shows 89% of retailers using AI report higher revenue and 95% see lower operating costs. AI delivers the strongest returns in...
Grocery Shopping via ChatGPT: How Carrefour Is Embracing AI
Carrefour has become the first European retailer to embed its product catalogue directly into ChatGPT, allowing French users to browse items, check stock, and build a shopping cart within the AI chat interface. The service launched Thursday and is instantly...
Tesco Beats Clubcard Copycats to Claim Loyalty Scheme Crown
Tesco’s Clubcard has been crowned the UK’s most valued loyalty scheme, scoring 8.38 out of 10 in HyperFinity’s index that surveyed over 50 retailers. The programme’s appeal stems from its straightforward discounts, including a 40 p (≈ $0.50) meal‑deal cut, and strong...
How to Achieve Seamless Shoppable CTV
At Streaming Media Connect 2026, leaders from Fuse Media, Disney, Spaceback and LG outlined the next wave of shoppable CTV innovations. They highlighted homepage tile ads as a low‑funnel performance tool, Roku’s phone‑number‑linked click‑to‑buy flow, and LG’s Shop Time platform that leverages...
Libas Hits Rs 1,000 Cr ARR; Eyes 30 Pc Growth with Offline Scale-Up and Quick Commerce Push
Libas, an Indian fast‑fashion ethnic‑wear D2C brand, has reached a Rs 1,000 crore (≈ $120 million) annual run‑rate while staying EBITDA‑positive. The company posted 30‑plus percent year‑on‑year growth and projects FY26 revenue of Rs 750‑800 crore (≈ $90‑$96 million). It is accelerating offline expansion, opening 28 stores in...
Just Eat: Consumer Protection Enforcement Case
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a formal investigation on 26 March 2026 into Just Eat’s compliance with consumer‑protection law. The probe focuses on whether the platform’s star‑rating system artificially inflates the scores of certain restaurants and grocers, potentially misleading...
Inside the Stream – Deloitte Streaming Data, CTV Commerce, Disney-OpenAI Ends
Deloitte’s latest Digital Media Trends report shows 68% of streamers are prioritizing ad‑supported SVOD plans while 61% say they would cancel a service if monthly fees rose by $5. Disney has scrapped its $1 billion investment in OpenAI after the AI...
From Side Hustle to Serious Brand: Lessons Every Ecommerce Founder Should Know
The article outlines a step‑by‑step playbook for ecommerce founders who want to transform a side hustle into a recognized brand. It stresses the power of an authentic founder narrative, a customer‑obsessed feedback flywheel, and scalable technology and logistics. It also...