OpenAI’s Plans to Make ChatGPT More Like Amazon Aren’t Going so Well
OpenAI announced it is pulling back the Instant Checkout feature that let users buy items directly within ChatGPT, shifting focus to product discovery. The original checkout tool, launched last September, struggled with flexibility and low user adoption, prompting the company to let merchants use their own checkout flows instead. OpenAI will now prioritize detailed product information and comparative metrics, leveraging its Agentic Commerce Protocol built with Stripe. The move repositions ChatGPT as a research‑oriented shopping assistant rather than a full‑service e‑commerce hub.
La Redoute Names Marie Mercier Briand Head of AI and Innovation
French e‑tailer La Redoute appointed Marie Mercier Briand as head of AI and innovation on March 16, 2026. The new role is designed to accelerate the retailer’s digital transformation and expand its agentic commerce capabilities. La Redoute, owned by Galeries Lafayette, generates about 90%...
Cannondale Parts Ways with UK Distributor
Cannondale has terminated its UK distribution agreement with Saddleback, opting for a direct‑to‑dealer model under Pon.Bike UK. Starting 16 April, retailers will access Cannondale products through Pon.Bike’s B2B platform, with the Pon.Bike sales team handling backorders and future inventory. The partnership,...
Ninja Explores Riyadh Listing as Saudi Market Holds Steady Despite Tensions
Saudi quick‑commerce startup Ninja, founded in 2022, is weighing a Riyadh IPO after posting roughly $1 billion in 2025 revenue and targeting $1.6 billion in 2026. The company secured $250 million of funding in 2025, lifting its valuation to $1.5 billion and joining Saudi...
Why Frictionless Checkout Is Quietly Undermining Customer Loyalty
Retailers are racing to eliminate checkout friction, but the push for speed may be eroding customer loyalty. Data shows that 82% of Britons join loyalty programs, and the initial account‑creation step creates a commitment moment that drives repeat visits. Studies...
Google Is Tightening Political Content Rules for Shopping Ads Starting April 16
Google will tighten political content rules for Shopping ads starting April 16, requiring merchants in nine countries to verify as election advertisers and banning certain political ads in India. The policy expands Google’s election‑integrity efforts from search and display into commerce...
Circa Resort & Casino Teams with VenHub on Autonomous Smart Store
Circa Resort & Casino in downtown Las Vegas has partnered with VenHub to install a 66‑by‑10‑by‑10‑foot autonomous smart store. The robot‑powered kiosk will let guests browse and buy food, snacks, alcohol and smokeless‑tobacco around the clock, eliminating checkout lines and...
Cart-Side Incentives in Social Checkout: What Actually Moves Shoppers
Social checkout conversions in 2026 are increasingly driven by cart‑side incentives that reduce friction rather than push harder discounts. Data from Shopify and CRO platforms show that free‑shipping thresholds remain the strongest lever, while 10‑20% off discounts are most effective...
Apparel And Footwear Brands Must Own Their Destinies To Survive
Forrester’s 2025 Digital Go‑To‑Market Review of apparel and footwear brands finds that companies owning sales, storytelling, and consumer relationships will outpace rivals in a fragmented retail environment. The shift from wholesale to direct‑to‑consumer and marketplace models gives brands unprecedented control...
How Foreign Brands Test the U.S. Market
Before spending big money, test the demand in two ways. The post How Foreign Brands Test the U.S. Market appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
Spanish Sportswear Brand Kelme Enters India with Noida Flagship, Targets 70 Stores in 3 Years
Kelme, the Spanish sportswear label, launched its first Indian flagship store in Noida, backed by local partner RSN Sports. The brand unveiled a national e‑commerce platform and announced a plan to open 70 exclusive outlets across India within three years....
Gap Launches AI-Powered Fit and Conversational Checkout on Google Gemini
Gap Inc. has launched two AI-driven features—a personalized fit recommendation tool and a conversational checkout—through a partnership with Google Gemini, making it the first major fashion retailer to embed the AI platform directly into its shopping experience. The new system...
Google’s Commerce Media Suite: Where Retailer Insights Meet the Power of YouTube
Google unveiled its Commerce Media Suite, integrating retailer‑derived audiences into Google Marketing Platform tools such as Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360, and Google Ads. The suite now lets brands activate Kroger shopper segments on YouTube and third‑party inventory, with SKU‑level...
Build with ReFiBuy Opens Commerce Intelligence Engine to Developers
ReFiBuy announced early‑access to Build with ReFiBuy, a developer platform that exposes its Commerce Intelligence Engine via REST API, MCP server and CLI. The service lets brands, retailers, partners and AI‑agent builders enrich, distribute and monitor product catalogs for AI‑driven...
Appcharge Reaches $1 Billion in Annualized DTC Transaction Volume | Exclusive
Appcharge announced that its customers’ direct‑to‑consumer (DTC) transaction volume has reached $1 billion as of March 23, 2026, up from $500 million in July 2025. The Tel‑Aviv‑based firm raised a $58 million Series B round in August 2025 to expand its web‑store and revenue‑pipeline tools for game developers....
What OpenAI’s 4% Checkout Fee Means for the Future of Commerce
OpenAI has added a 4 % checkout fee for Shopify merchants selling through ChatGPT, aiming to offset its roughly $400 million monthly cash burn. The fee undercuts Amazon’s 8‑15 % referral rates, positioning OpenAI as the first platform to monetize the emerging agentic...
Worldpay Becomes European Payments Initiative (EPI) Principal Member
Worldpay announced its admission as a principal member of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), the continent‑wide effort to build a unified, low‑cost payment scheme. The move gives Worldpay direct influence over EPI's governance and access to its expanding network of...
Polymaker Expands Consumer Webshop to Six European Markets
Polymaker has extended its direct‑to‑consumer webshop to six additional European markets—the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Czechia and Spain—offering faster shipping and localized support. The rollout also introduces a dedicated EU wholesale portal for VAT‑registered businesses, streamlining bulk orders across...
How to Ace Your Mega Sales Campaign: Best Practices for Merchants
E‑commerce’s double‑digit sales events such as 11.11 and 12.12 are intensifying competition, prompting merchants to adopt rigorous campaign planning. Alibaba’s Singles’ Day generated a record $84.5 billion in GMV, underscoring the revenue potential of well‑executed mega‑sales. Marketers are urged to follow...
Breaching the Customer Engagement Gap: How Retail Teams Can Finally Break Free to Innovate
Retail and ecommerce teams face a widening gap between consumer expectations for seamless, personalized experiences and their ability to deliver due to fragmented data and cumbersome tech stacks. InternetRetailing’s new bluepaper, created with imagino, identifies these operational bottlenecks and proposes...
The Most Innovative Retail Companies of 2026
The 2025‑2026 retail innovators used technology to address margin pressure, labor costs, and sustainability. Shopify opened its platform to AI shoppers through ChatGPT, while Walmart turned low‑price grocery strategy into profitable e‑commerce and advertising growth. Fanatics launched a content studio,...
Meesho Launches Gen AI Voice Shopping Assistant Vaani
Meesho, the Bengaluru‑based social commerce platform, unveiled Vaani, a generative‑AI voice shopping assistant that guides users through product discovery to checkout. The system leverages a multi‑agent architecture and edge‑based speech processing to keep latency low and costs down, while supporting...
Selectable, Not Just Seen: Why Brand Visibility Isn’t Enough in AI Commerce
The article argues that traditional brand visibility is no longer sufficient in AI‑driven commerce. Retailers must become "selectable" by ensuring their product data is structured, consistent, and aligned with the language shoppers use. Algorithms now act as the primary referees,...
Friar Tux AI Try-On Tool Offers Virtual Formalwear Shopping Experience
Friar Tux, a long‑standing formal‑wear retailer, introduced an AI‑powered virtual try‑on tool that creates a personalized tuxedo rendering in about 30 seconds after a customer uploads a photo. The feature lets shoppers compare styles and colors remotely, supporting wedding and...
Kids-Focused Quick Commerce Platform OZi Raises $6.2 Mn Led by RTP Global
Kids‑focused quick‑commerce startup OZi announced a $6.2 million Series A round led by RTP Global, with participation from existing backers and notable angels such as Kishore Biyani. The funding follows a $3.3 million seed round and will be used to deepen its presence...
The Pant Project Scales 40x in 4 Years; Eyes Rs 160 Cr by FY27, EBITDA Breakeven Ahead
The Pant Project, a digital‑first menswear brand, has surged 40‑fold from about ₹1 crore ($120k) in FY21 to ₹40.7 crore ($4.9 M) in FY25 and is on track to cross ₹80 crore ($9.6 M) this year, targeting ₹150‑160 crore ($19‑20 M) by FY27 with EBITDA breakeven. The...
DaVinci Commerce, Accenture Announce Global AI Transformation Partnership
DaVinci Commerce has secured a strategic investment from Accenture and launched a global partnership to embed its AI Commerce Experience Platform within Accenture Song’s transformation practice. The deal positions DaVinci’s Agentic BrandStore as an experience layer that converts product data...
A Summer of Worry for Food Delivery, Quick Commerce Companies
India’s food‑delivery and quick‑commerce platforms are bracing for a summer surge driven by the IPL season, but rider availability is uncertain as many gig workers return to rural areas for harvest work and elections. Demand for gig labor could rise...
Lowe’s Is Fighting to Prevent AI Agent Overload
Lowe’s is scaling its AI portfolio while battling what it calls “AI sprawl,” the uncontrolled proliferation of narrow, siloed agents. The retailer has instituted an AI Transformation Office, a taxonomy‑based governance model, and a human‑in‑the‑loop framework to vet new agents....
Amazon Pressures Walmart, Other Retailers with One-Hour Delivery
Amazon has launched a $9.99 one‑hour delivery service in hundreds of U.S. cities, adding a three‑hour option in more than 2,000 markets. The offering focuses on pantry, cleaning, health‑beauty items and OTC meds, leveraging Amazon’s existing same‑day hubs and AI‑driven...
AliExpress Says It Is Working to Comply with EU Laws
Alibaba-owned AliExpress announced it is tightening product‑listing controls to meet the European Union’s Digital Services Act after a formal investigation that began in March 2024. The platform, which ships low‑value parcels duty‑free to the EU, faced criticism following a Reuters...
Why Ecommerce Brands Should Revisit Their Content Generation Frameworks
E‑commerce brands are under pressure to produce vast amounts of product‑focused content across multiple channels, yet many still rely on slow, manual processes. AI‑assisted content systems now enable marketers to transform a single product brief into channel‑ready copy, automate bulk...
Study: Retailers Struggle to Serve Impatient Consumers as Fulfillment Costs Rise
Retailers worldwide are feeling the squeeze as global logistics and fulfillment costs have risen more than 20% over the past three years. At the same time, 66% of shoppers now bounce across two or more channels before buying, fragmenting the...
Rodd & Gunn Eyes Headless Ecommerce
Australian luxury retailer Rodd & Gunn is evaluating a headless ecommerce strategy to accelerate its global digital rollout. The company, now operating stores in 13 countries and a new restaurant line, currently launches sites in about three months using a...
Manitoba Moves Against Retailers Charging Different Prices for the Same Goods
Manitoba has introduced legislation that prohibits retailers from using personal data to charge different prices for identical goods, making it the first Canadian province to tackle algorithmic price discrimination. The move follows similar efforts in a handful of U.S. states...
Komerz Acquires Pathformance to Build the Commercial Growth Operating System for Global Brands
Komerz Ltd., a global commercial growth firm, announced the acquisition of Pathformance, a marketing measurement and attribution specialist, in a deal that values Komerz at $330 million post‑transaction. The merger combines Komerz’s end‑to‑end commerce platform with Pathformance’s unified measurement capabilities, creating...
China's AliExpress Tells EU Lawmakers It Is Working to Comply with Law
Alibaba‑owned AliExpress told EU lawmakers it is taking steps to meet the Digital Services Act after a formal investigation that began in March 2024. The platform pledged to limit default visibility of adult‑oriented products, ban illegal sellers such as the...
Mastering Risk: The Role of KYC in E-Commerce Businesses
Know Your Customer (KYC) processes are becoming essential for e‑commerce platforms to secure transactions, combat fraud, and meet evolving AML regulations. By collecting identity data and leveraging AI, machine learning, and biometric technologies, businesses can verify customers in real time...
Otto.de Opens up to Dutch Sellers
Otto.de has opened its marketplace to Dutch sellers that meet Dutch legal and VAT requirements, charging a flat €99.90 (≈ $109) monthly fee. Accepted retailers must handle German‑language customer service and can ship returns to designated EU warehouses. The move expands...
Bloomen Announces the Easiest Way to Send Fresh Flowers Across the Greater Toronto Area
Bloomen, a Canadian‑owned floral delivery service, announced enhanced same‑day delivery options across the Greater Toronto Area. Customers can order online and receive bouquets before 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. on weekdays, with no intermediaries involved. The company highlights its 4.8‑star Google rating...
New B2B Marketplaces Target Construction, Equipment and Data Center Sourcing
During Q1 2026, a wave of B2B marketplaces entered the U.S. targeting construction materials, equipment rental, and data‑center infrastructure. Platforms such as MatBook, DOZR, Kwipped and Start Campus Marketplace aim to replace phone‑calls and spreadsheets with real‑time pricing, inventory visibility, and...
From Sales Channel to Growth Platform: Rethinking Affiliate in Retail
Affiliate marketing is moving beyond vouchers and cashback to become a strategic growth platform, as illustrated by MediaMarkt Spain’s multi‑pillar programme. By aligning cashback, content, student, loyalty and B2B publisher segments under one framework, the retailer achieved a 15% rise...
Parcelhero Launches Market-Leading Live Tracking and Streamlined Booking Features
Parcelhero, the UK’s leading courier comparison platform, has rolled out the first phase of a major technology upgrade featuring AI‑powered live tracking and what it claims is the industry’s fastest booking interface. The new system automatically flags customs issues, pre‑fills...
Coveo Adds Conversational Product Discovery to Ecommerce Search
Coveo has launched a conversational product discovery add‑on for its Coveo for Commerce platform, embedding natural‑language interaction directly into ecommerce search. The feature lets shoppers describe needs in plain language, refine queries, compare items and build bundles while the system...
Britain’s Independent Takeaways Serve up £28 Billion Boost as Platform Hits 2 Billion Orders
Just Eat marks its 20th anniversary and hits 2 billion orders on its UK platform, showcasing over 100,000 menu options. New research commissioned by the company reveals that independent takeaway restaurants generate roughly $35.6 billion in annual gross value added and sustain...
Supercell Store Expands Gift Card Testing to Brazil After EU Rollout
Supercell has begun testing its Store gift‑card system in Brazil and Germany, extending the feature that debuted earlier this month in select European markets. The digital cards let players add prepaid balance to their Supercell ID, which can be combined...
First Shoppable TV Series ‘Bring My Pinterest to Life’ in UK
Pinterest debuted its first shoppable TV series, "Bring My Pinterest to Life," on Roku’s free channel in the UK, US, Canada and Mexico. The six‑episode lifestyle show transforms users' inspiration boards into real‑world makeovers while embedding QR codes that link...
AI’s $500 Billion Retail Bump and Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 3/23/26
AI-driven retail solutions are projected to generate an additional $500 billion in transaction volume by 2030, according to Manhattan Associates’ Global Unified Commerce Benchmark. Zero Gravity Labs introduced blockchain‑spawned AI agents, challenging the autonomy of centralized platforms. Accenture invested in DaVinci...
The Blueprint for Ambient IoT Adoption in Retail
Ambient Internet of Things (IoT) has moved from pilots to enterprise‑scale deployments in retail and logistics, leveraging battery‑free Bluetooth Low Energy tags powered by wireless power networks. The blueprint emphasizes using existing RFID or barcode systems, launching a single‑site pilot...
GoWit & Futura DDB Form Exclusive Retail Media Partnership in the Adriatic
GoWit and Futura DDB have announced an exclusive retail‑media partnership covering Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia. The deal combines GoWit’s AI‑first omnichannel commerce platform with Futura DDB’s regional creative and market expertise, delivering a unified dashboard for multi‑market campaign...