£36bn Abandoned at Checkout as Mystery Shop Exposes Delivery Failures
A joint study by Retail Economics and GFS found that roughly £36bn (about $45bn) of non‑food online sales were abandoned at checkout in 2025 due to delivery‑related issues. High‑value shoppers—those who spend the most online—left 29% of their carts, compared with 22% across all shoppers. Retailers averaged only 2.6 delivery options, far short of the five options shoppers expect, and 77% charge fees above the $4.45 ceiling most consumers deem acceptable. The research shows missed delivery promises erode trust, with 73% of shoppers less likely to return after a failure.
Closing the Trust Gap Starts at the Opt-In
Intuit Mailchimp’s new research reveals a widening trust gap in e‑commerce opt‑ins. While 65% of brands request phone numbers, only 28% of consumers are willing to share them, and fewer than 8% achieve conversion rates above 20%. The study shows...
The Last Mile Reputation Gap
Retailers have focused on checkout speed and product content, neglecting the post‑purchase journey, creating a "last mile reputation gap" between promised and actual delivery experiences. Customers now judge brands on reliability, transparency, and how exceptions are handled, not merely on...
Mark Foy’s Department Store Plots Return After 46 Years
Mark Foy’s, the historic Sydney department store that shuttered in 1980, is launching a digital boutique to sell European designer fashion online. The revival will feature curated collections from luxury brands such as Celine, Saint Laurent and Valentino, with discounts...
Marks & Spencer Chairman Blames Self-Service Checkouts for Rise in Shoplifting
Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman blamed self‑service checkouts for a rise in shoplifting, saying they remove the human link and make it easy for honest shoppers to slip items. M&S installed 800 self‑checkouts in 2023, aiming to save about...
Amazon Focused on Protecting the Shopping Experience
Amazon unveiled its first Trustworthy Shopping Experience Report, detailing a holistic strategy to safeguard the buyer journey. In 2025 the company seized and destroyed more than 15 million counterfeit items and has pursued over 32,000 bad actors since the Counterfeit Crimes...
Can D2C Be ElasticRun’s Most Profitable Bet Yet?
ElasticRun, the Indian logistics unicorn, is pivoting from traditional B2B FMCG distribution to a D2C‑focused quick‑commerce model. The company now handles close to 5 million orders a day across 500+ cities, supported by 900+ delivery stations and about 100 fulfilment centres....
Peak 2026: Where Retail Performance Is Won or Lost
Retailers face a narrow window to prepare for the November‑December peak, where Black November and Boxing Day sales drive a 45% YoY surge in e‑commerce volume. Shiperoo’s new report warns that planning must begin in April‑May, not months before the...
Amazon and Walmart Push AI Deeper Into the Shopping Aisle
Amazon and Walmart are racing to dominate the emerging "decision layer" of retail, where AI‑driven recommendation engines, conversational agents, and dynamic pricing shape what shoppers see and buy. Walmart is pairing generative AI tools with its vast network of physical...
Diamonds-USA.com: Luxury Jewelry. Personal Attention. Real Trust
Diamonds‑USA, founded by gemologist David Braverman in 1997, blends boutique‑level service with online convenience, ensuring every diamond order is personally inspected by experts. The company’s hands‑on approach yields a near‑zero return rate and a 100 % money‑back guarantee, reinforcing trust in...
Using Shopify Bundle Builders to Grow Revenue
Shopify bundle builders let merchants create fixed or mix‑and‑match product bundles, boosting average order value and conversion rates. By syncing inventory, applying tiered pricing, and using UI elements like progress bars, merchants can reduce friction and increase repeat purchases. Benchmarks...
Louvelle Links Lenders And Renters Of High-End Fashion
Louvelle, founded by former finance professional Tanya Tamer, is an invitation‑only ecommerce platform that lets members lend and rent high‑end luxury fashion pieces. The service transforms idle wardrobes into income‑generating assets while giving borrowers access to rare, archival items without...
Returns Management Has Become a Core Omnichannel Discipline
Reverse logistics has moved from a peripheral service to a core omnichannel discipline as e‑commerce return rates stay high. Retailers now must manage returns across transportation, labor, inventory, fraud control, and working‑capital dimensions, not just issue refunds. NRF predicts 19.3%...
She Raised $2.5 Million From Friends and Family — And Saw Zero Sales. Then She Leaned Into a ‘Hunch.’ Now...
Mariam Naficy founded Minted in 2007, raising $2.5 million from friends and family. After an initial model of selling established stationery brands flopped, she allocated $100,000 to a crowdsourced design competition that quickly became the company’s core offering. The artist‑driven marketplace...
Ecommerce Trends: AI’s Key Conversion Metric Is Improving
Adobe Digital Insights reports that AI‑driven traffic to North American retailers converted 42% more often than non‑AI traffic in March 2026, overturning a year‑earlier deficit. AI‑referenced visits surged 393% year‑over‑year, while visitors stayed 48% longer, viewed 13% more pages and...
Sam’s Club Delivers in Less than 12 Minutes
Sam’s Club has launched an Express tier that guarantees delivery in under one hour, joining Amazon and Walmart in the ultra‑fast fulfillment race. The service carries a flat $10 fee for Plus members and $22 for Club members, with a...
Flipkart May Launch Standalone App for Quick Commerce Business Minutes
Flipkart is set to launch a dedicated quick‑commerce app for its Minutes service, targeting a pilot in July and a full rollout before year‑end, ahead of its Big Billion Days sale. The move mirrors Swiggy’s Instamart app and aims to...
3 Easy Ways to Shop for Spring with Google
Google is promoting three AI‑powered shopping features to help consumers capture and buy spring fashion trends. Circle to Search lets users snap an outfit on‑screen and instantly find similar items. AI Mode in Search compares products, pulling review data and personalized...
Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail Merch Is Now Available in the Google Play Store, but Good Luck Getting It
Google Play Store has added redeemable merchandise for miHoYo’s hit titles Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, accessible through the Play Points rewards program. Items range from 280 to 7,000 Play Points, with examples like 1.5 k standees and 5 k plush...
Ecommerce Founders Who Ignore This Type of AI Will Lose Their Best Customers — Here’s Why
Agentic commerce—AI agents that autonomously shop for consumers—is moving from concept to reality, with 20% of ecommerce orders during Cyber Week 2025 driven by AI, generating roughly $70 billion in GMV. Retail giants such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Amazon...
Online Grocery Sales Will Near $500B by 2028, FMI Report Says
Online grocery sales are projected to reach $452 billion by 2028, growing at an 11.6% annual rate and representing about one‑fifth of total grocery spend. Omnichannel shoppers now account for 94% of the market, but retailers face hurdles such as high‑cost...
Ethiopian Adds Hong Kong-Prestwick E-Commerce Freighter Flights
Ethiopian Airlines has begun scheduled freighter flights between Hong Kong International Airport and Glasgow Prestwick, operating three times a week. The service supports the surge in e‑commerce shipments, complementing Prestwick’s recent upgrade that saw Terminal E handle 25 million parcels in February. The...
Amazon India to Invest Rs 2,800 Cr to Boost Worker Safety, Expand Logistics Network
Amazon India announced a $300 million (Rs 2,800 crore) investment in 2026 to strengthen associate safety, health and financial well‑being while expanding its logistics footprint. The funding follows a Rs 2,000 crore spend in 2025 that added 17 fulfillment centres, six sortation hubs and 75...
Home Depot Adds AI Phone Agents to Field Store Calls
Home Depot announced the rollout of an AI‑powered voice‑agent system to handle inbound customer‑service calls, initially piloted at 50 stores and slated for nationwide deployment within a year. The AI can interpret a caller’s intent in roughly ten seconds and resolve...
How Marketplace Sellers Are Using AI
A recent Marketplace Pulse 2026 Seller Index shows 83.4% of sellers—representing over $2 billion in annual revenue—have incorporated AI into their operations, averaging 3.2 use cases each. The majority of AI effort focuses on content tasks such as listing optimization (63.5%)...
‘Ikea, Jysk and H&M Best-Performing Cross-Border Sellers’
The eighth edition of the TOP 500 B2C Cross‑Border Retail Europe report shows Sweden’s Ikea, Denmark’s Jysk and Sweden’s H&M as the three best‑performing cross‑border ecommerce sellers in Europe. All three stem from traditional brick‑and‑mortar roots, while pure‑play Zalando is the only...
Marketplace Briefing: Amazon’s Seller Count Falls as Revenue Concentrates Among Top Sellers
Amazon disclosed that its marketplace saw a second‑quarter dip in active sellers, while revenue grew increasingly concentrated among the platform’s largest merchants. The top 1% of sellers now account for more than 70% of marketplace sales, a shift driven by...
What’s the Key to Unlocking Retail Media?
PI LIVE Europe is expanding its agenda with a new Retail Media & Commerce Summit, aimed at helping brands and agencies integrate retail media with affiliate and performance marketing. The retail media channel is projected to reach $300 billion by 2030,...
Rethink Your Product Detail Pages
E‑commerce product detail pages must now serve three AI‑centric goals: rankable in traditional search, extractable for answer engines, and understandable as structured entities. An AI‑driven audit of Amazon, Walmart, Target, L.L.Bean and various D2C sites shows marketplaces and large retailers...
StubHub to Refund $10 Million in Fees: Do You Qualify?
The Federal Trade Commission sued StubHub for concealing mandatory fees at checkout, prompting a settlement that includes a $10 million refund to affected buyers. The refund covers U.S. ticket purchases made between May 12 and May 14, 2025, and will be issued automatically within...
AI Agents Won’t Kill Shopping – but Agentic Commerce Could Make Most of It Redundant
Klaviyo’s co‑CEOs describe a shift from traditional e‑commerce to "agentic commerce," where AI agents handle product discovery, evaluation, and purchase on behalf of shoppers. During the 2025 holiday season, their customer‑agent pilots helped tens of thousands of consumers find gifts...
CDON AB (CDOAF) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
CDON AB, a leading Nordic marketplace with 3 million active customers, reported a solid Q1 2026 performance. Gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew 14% while gross profit after marketing (GPAM) rose 9%. The company posted a rolling 12‑month EBITDA of SEK 27 million (≈$3 million) and...
Coll-8’s Drop2shop Expands Choice for Vinted Ireland Shoppers
Drop2shop, the fast‑growing Irish parcel collection and returns service owned by Coll‑8, announced a partnership with European fashion marketplace Vinted. The collaboration lets Vinted buyers and sellers in the Republic of Ireland send and receive parcels via Drop2shop’s network, starting...
Asos Makes “Steady Progress” On Topline in H1 as Losses Narrow
ASOS reported an 8% increase in first‑half revenue, reaching £1.4 bn (about $1.78 bn), while its adjusted loss narrowed to £45 m ($57 m) from £70 m a year earlier. The online fashion retailer added 5% more active customers, pushing the base to roughly 27 million....
StubHub Refund 2025: Can You Get Money Back for Hidden Fees?
The Federal Trade Commission has forced StubHub to issue automatic refunds to U.S. ticket buyers who purchased live‑event tickets between May 12 and May 14, 2025, after the company failed to display mandatory fees up front. The settlement creates a $10 million redress fund,...
Don’t Look Now, Amazon. Walmart Is Coming for Your Customers
Walmart has quietly transformed into a digital powerhouse, leveraging its Walmart+ subscription to offer free two‑day shipping and a rapidly expanding same‑day delivery network. The retailer’s marketplace sales grew faster than Amazon’s U.S. third‑party volume in Q1 2024, while grocery...
Custom vs Standard Shipping Boxes: What’s Better for Your Business?
Choosing between custom and standard shipping boxes hinges on cost, branding, and operational needs. Standard boxes are mass‑produced, low‑cost, and quick to restock, making them ideal for high‑volume, price‑sensitive shipments. Custom boxes, while pricier and slower to source, offer precise...
Q&A: Kingfisher’s David Jaffe Talks Marketplaces – and Making the Most of Opportunities
Kingfisher is leveraging its B&Q and Screwfix stores as fulfillment hubs, with roughly 90% of online orders shipped from physical locations. The retailer’s Marketplace initiative is scaling third‑party merchant onboarding and aims to enable cross‑border sales across Europe. Click & Collect times...
From Small Affiliate to Big Audience: Why Ignorance Is Not Affiliate Bliss!
Olivia Davson, co‑founder of Cubbi, turned a newborn‑parent discount app into a fast‑growing affiliate channel, securing a £50,000 (≈$63,500) Dragon’s Den investment while amassing 45,000 verified users. She personally reached out to a thousand brands, converting thirty into long‑term partners...
Marketplace Leaders Take the Stage at Tradebyte’s ECD Munich 2026
Tradebyte announced the 2026 edition of its flagship Munich ECD, scheduled for May 12, marking the event’s second decade after a record‑breaking 2025 edition that hosted over 600 guests and 300 one‑to‑one meetings. The conference will feature top marketplace executives—including...
Amazon India to Invest Rs 2,800 Cr to Boost Logistics, Quick Commerce Push
Amazon India announced a Rs 2,800 crore (~$300 million) investment to upgrade its logistics network and accelerate its quick‑commerce vertical, Amazon Now. The funding will double Amazon Now’s footprint, add new micro‑fulfilment centres and expand warehouses and last‑mile stations nationwide. Part of a...
Temple & Webster Names Susie Sugden CEO, as Founder Changes Role
Temple & Webster has appointed former chief marketing officer Susie Sugden as its new chief executive, effective July 1. Co‑founder and ex‑CEO Mark Coulter will move into an executive chair role, while Stephen Heath shifts to lead independent director and Conrad Yiu...
Investors Bet €3.2M on the Second-Hand EV Market
Dutch startup Eccasion, founded by the creators of Swapfiets, secured €3.2 million (about $3.5 million) in a funding round led by Playfair VC and Rethink Ventures. The capital will fund team expansion and technology upgrades as the company targets selling more than...
EBay / Depop Merger Inquiry
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued a Phase 1 invitation to comment on the proposed merger between eBay and fashion‑focused resale platform Depop. The comment window runs from 23 April to 8 May 2026, allowing any interested party to submit views...
Exclusive: Gauri Khan Family Trust to Re-Invests in Sleepy Owl
Sleepy Owl, the Indian D2C coffee brand, announced a fresh Series C2 funding round of Rs 12 crore (approximately $1.5 million). The round was led by Optiscape Network Holdings with a Rs 5 crore ($0.6 million) investment, and included contributions from Pramod Bhasin, the Gauri Khan...
6 Retail Tech Trends That Will Redefine Shopping Forever
Retail is moving from pure transaction spaces to experience‑driven environments, propelled by rapid tech advances and evolving shopper expectations. AI‑powered personalization and data analytics now enable retailers to predict behavior, optimize layouts, and deliver tailored experiences at scale. Self‑service kiosks...
Bites CEO Calls 3PD ‘Broken,’ Says AI Will Fix It
Bites, a San Francisco food‑ordering startup founded by Bala Subramaniam and Deepak Tirumalasetty, argues that the current third‑party delivery (3PD) model is broken due to high commissions and data control. The company operates on a $1 flat fee per order,...
TikTok, Sea, Alibaba-Owned E-Commerce Corner ASEAN Markets
A Momentum Works report shows Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop will dominate 99 % of ASEAN e‑commerce by 2025, with Shopee holding over 50 % market share and $83.2 billion GMV. TikTok Shop doubled its sales to $45.6 billion, while Lazada stayed at $18 billion....
"Long-Term Agency Partnerships Deliver the Magic": ITC’s Shuvadip Banerjee
ITC, a Rs 73,000 crore (≈ $8.8 bn) conglomerate, is accelerating its digital‑first agenda across its FMCG arm, which now generates roughly Rs 22,000 crore (≈ $2.6 bn) in revenue from brands like Aashirvaad, Sunfeast and Bingo. The company relies on an internal AI‑driven engine called "Sixth Sense"...
An Auction Without Bidding: Loïc Gouzer’s Latest Bet on How to Sell Art
Art tech founder Loïc Gouzer is launching "No Warning," a new sales format on the Fair Warning auction app that eliminates traditional bidding. Buyers see a fixed price, can either purchase instantly or submit a single, binding offer that remains...