Cashless Payments Gain Ground at Self-Serve Laundries
A recent poll shows that more than half of U.S. self‑serve laundries now earn the majority of their revenue from cashless payments, with 52.3% reporting a significant rise in digital transactions over the past three years. While two‑thirds still accept coins, only 37% rely on them for most of their income, and nearly half have added mobile‑app payment options. Operators cite customer convenience, data insights, and streamlined operations as key drivers, despite hardware costs and processor fees. Reported revenue lifts range from 17% to 22% after adopting card or app payments.
Shirofune Launches Real-Time Amazon Ads Automation
Shirofune has added a real‑time automation layer to its Amazon advertising platform, targeting high‑traffic sales events such as Prime Day and Cyber Monday. The new feature tracks cost and performance metrics on an hourly basis, allowing advertisers to either maximize...
Consumer Anxiety Is Reshaping Retail. Technology Is the Antidote
Consumer anxiety, fueled by rising fraud and economic uncertainty, is reshaping retail behavior, according to SOTI’s global survey. Over half of U.S. shoppers have experienced fraud, and 69% say inflation and supply‑chain issues have altered their purchasing habits. Retailers must...
People Spent Over $20,000 On Records From GLENN DANZIG, MAYHEM & TOOL Last Month
Rare vinyl collectors spent more than $20,000 on high‑value records in February 2026, according to Discogs Marketplace data. The standout sale was Glenn Danzig’s ultra‑rare 1983 purple‑and‑black pressing of “Who Killed Marilyn?” which fetched $10,000, a first‑time listing on the platform....
Wizard Partners With Stripe on ACP to Enable Agentic Commerce for Leading Retailers
Wizard announced a partnership with Stripe to accelerate the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), an open standard that links AI shopping agents with ecommerce platforms. The collaboration will streamline merchant onboarding, enable secure checkout via Shared Payment Tokens, and let retailers...
Global Trade at Your Fingertips: How Ecer.com Is Powering the Mobile Revolution in B2B
Ecer.com is spearheading the mobile B2B revolution by consolidating messaging, AI‑driven translation, and transaction tools into a single smartphone app. The platform enables real‑time negotiations, illustrated by a Spanish buyer finalising a deal with a Chinese supplier in under 24...
3 Practical Ways Vertical AI Reshapes Fashion Retail Operations
Vertical AI is reshaping fashion retail by aligning inventory with hyperlocal demand, preventing costly markdowns, and accelerating trend analysis. Predictive models ingest local sales data, social signals, and logistics metrics to forecast store‑level needs, reducing out‑of‑stock incidents. AI agents recommend...
Darwinium Launches Agent Intent Intelligence to Tackle Fraud in AI-Driven Commerce
Darwinium UK Ltd. unveiled an intent‑based authentication and orchestration platform aimed at securing AI‑driven commerce. The solution identifies whether a request originates from a verified AI agent, a human, or malicious automation and applies one of four adaptive responses—permit, verify,...
US Importer Crackdown Bid Could Trigger Shift in Ecommerce Logistics
The U.S. Senate introduced the Securing Accountability in Foreign Entries Act, tightening importer‑of‑record rules by requiring a genuine physical U.S. presence and verified bank accounts. The legislation also raises the minimum continuous import bond to $100,000. By targeting non‑resident importers,...
How Do You Fix Thin Content Across Similar Ecommerce Product Pages? – Ask An SEO via @Sejournal, @Rollerblader
The article advises ecommerce sites facing thin‑content penalties to stop individually optimizing every product page. Instead, it recommends implementing variant schema, focusing SEO effort on category or collection pages, and using robust internal linking. Authority is built through high‑quality blog...
TikTok Shop Launches Fine Art Category
TikTok Shop has introduced a Fine Art category, enabling original artwork to be sold directly on the platform. The launch includes a live sale on March 11 featuring independent artist Sophie Tea, who will showcase a 20‑piece oil collection priced at...
Jollof Boss Launches WhatsApp-Paystack Pilot Testing Chat Commerce for African SMEs
Adlore Business Enterprise launched a live pilot of Jollof Boss, a conversational commerce platform that merges the WhatsApp Cloud API with Paystack payments to let Nigerian SMEs browse products, place orders and pay within chat. The test processed ten real orders,...
EBay and Liberis Launch Flexible Growth Financing for UK Small Businesses
eBay UK has teamed with finance provider Liberis to launch Flexible Growth Financing, a new product under the Seller Capital programme that will be available to eligible UK sellers from 6 April 2026. The offering provides data‑driven, on‑demand working capital with limits...
How Brits Are Redefining Shopping Habits
Britons are reshaping retail, blending physical stores, online marketplaces, social commerce, and second‑hand platforms. Adobe Express’s survey of 2,000 consumers shows digital purchases grew 29% while visits to independent stores fell 23%, and second‑hand clothing trips rose to 29%. Social...
What Can We Do to Improve the Chances of Our Target Plus Application Being Approved?
Target Plus remains an invite‑only, highly curated marketplace that evaluates sellers on brand alignment, category fit, operational reliability, data quality, and compliance. The guide outlines concrete steps—streamlining operations, cleaning product catalogs, building strong performance on other platforms, researching category gaps,...
Ocado Might Disagree, but Kroger’s Tough Decisions Around Its E-Commerce Re-Think Were the Right Thing to Do. New CEO Gregory...
Gregory Foran, Kroger’s new CEO, has backed the company’s 2023 decision to scrap its Ocado‑run automated fulfillment centers and pivot to a hybrid model that uses stores as local hubs and partners with UberEats, DoorDash and Instacart. The move is...
Mobile Basket Abandonment Surges Past 85% as Retailers Shift Recovery Tactics Beyond Email and SMS
Mobile basket abandonment has surged past 85%, up from a 75% global average last year. Retailers find traditional email and SMS recovery methods increasingly costly and less effective. New data from MobiLoud shows native push notifications, especially when used first...
Wickes Adds Buy Now, Pay Later Option for Customers
Wickes has introduced a buy‑now, pay‑later (BNPL) service for its TradePro customers through a partnership with Berlin‑based fintech Billie. The new option lets tradespeople purchase materials online or via the TradePro app and defer payment for 30 or 60 days,...
Reputation at Checkout: How Predictive AI Helps Retailers Maintain Trust in a Crisis
Predictive AI is reshaping retail crisis management by spotting sentiment shifts and anomalies before they explode online. Retailers that reply within an hour are 85% more likely to keep consumer trust, while delays can cost billions, as seen with United...
Why Chrome’s HTTPS-First Policy Matters for Retail Media
Google Chrome’s new HTTPS‑First policy forces browsers to load sites over encrypted connections by default, warning users when only HTTP is available. Because Chrome commands a dominant share of global browsing, the change compels retail media networks to ensure every...
Amazon Spring Deal Days Returns With Seven Days of Savings
Amazon launched its seven‑day Spring Deal Days promotion, offering up to 45% off everyday essentials and up to 60% off select Amazon devices. The event runs through March 16, 2026 and features new deals every morning and evening across categories...
Disruptors & Innovators in Retail 2026 Report Launched
Retail Insider and the Retail Technology Show released the 2026 Retail Disruptors & Innovators Report, naming Perfect Ted co‑founder Marisa Poster as Retail Disruptor of the Year. The report ranks ten pioneers, from matcha‑tea brand Perfect Ted to AI‑driven Kingfisher...
Waitrose Deploys AI Route Optimisation to Improve Delivery Efficiency
Waitrose has teamed with AI specialist Satalia to deploy an AI‑powered route optimisation platform across its home‑delivery network. The system analyses traffic, vehicle capacity and time windows in real time, producing more efficient routes. Early data shows an 8 % reduction...
Building the Marketplace of Tomorrow: How Lowe’s Is Reshaping the Future of Home Improvement
Retail giant Lowe’s has launched a new Marketplace platform that unifies digital and physical home‑improvement shopping. Leveraging AI‑driven content enrichment, algorithmic buy‑box selection and dynamic delivery, the platform expands assortments while simplifying the customer journey. The initiative rests on a...
Why Hourglass Swapped Mecca for Sephora and Embraced DTC
Hourglass Cosmetics has terminated its 16‑year exclusive partnership with Australian retailer Mecca, ending a relationship that began in 2010. Starting February 17, 2026, the brand launched its own Australian direct‑to‑consumer website and, nine days later, entered Sephora Australia’s stores without...
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[ WEBINAR ] Hidden Legal Risks Every Online Retailer Needs to Know
LegalVision is hosting a free webinar on 17 March 2026 to expose hidden legal risks for online retailers. The session will cover consumer compliance, contract structuring, digital brand protection, flexible‑working obligations, and statutory payment increases. Organisers aim to equip e‑commerce operators with...
On TikTok Shop, a Brand for the Looksmaxxers Emerges
Based Bodyworks, a digitally native men’s grooming brand founded by influencer‑barber Lance Baker, has become a TikTok Shop sensation, posting roughly $5 million in U.S. sales in February and ranking fourth among beauty brands on the platform. The brand’s product line,...
Why AI Alone Won’t Win Southeast Asia’s E-Commerce Race
Southeast Asia’s e‑commerce sector is shifting from a race for speed to a focus on execution and trust. AI is now embedded across the retail value chain, yet many sellers struggle to integrate it effectively, creating a gap between intent...
How to Make Your E-Commerce Product Visible to AI Agents? Use This New System Trusted by L’Oréal, Unilever, Mars &...
Azoma has launched the Agentic Merchant Protocol (AMP), a machine‑native framework that lets brands push product data directly to AI shopping agents. The system, already adopted by L’Oréal, Unilever, Mars and Beiersdorf, centralizes catalogs, enforces brand guidelines and promises measurable...
Amazon’s Hard-to-Find Lego Section, Explained: Get Rare Sets Before They’re Gone
Amazon has created a dedicated "Hard-to-Find Lego" storefront that aggregates retiring and low‑stock Lego sets across popular licenses such as Star Wars, Nintendo, and Harry Potter. The section surfaces items like the Lego Smart Bricks, Grogu in a Pram, and...
Visa Enhances Payments Orchestration Tools for Merchant Acquirers
Visa has launched its Intelligent Authorization platform for merchant acquirers across the Asia‑Pacific region. The solution offers a single‑API pathway that leverages Visa’s card‑network infrastructure, allowing banks to forego building dedicated processing stacks. Integrated AI routing selects the most cost‑effective,...
Klaviyo and Shopify Deepen Integration
Klaviyo and Shopify have expanded their integration, adding a fully synchronized multi‑market data layer that pulls Shopify Markets' localized catalog information directly into Klaviyo. The new Locale Aware Catalogs feature automatically syncs translated product content, regional pricing, currency, and market‑specific...
OpenClaw Forces Enterprise Strategy Questions
OpenClaw, an open‑source AI‑agent framework now under OpenAI, has sparked a wave of personal agents with over 1.5 million built in months. The tool lets non‑developers automate complex tasks—pulling data from SaaS platforms, logging into web apps, or generating code—lowering the...
Costco Ties Digital Personalization to $470M in Sales Growth
Costco reported that personalized product recommendation carousels generated more than $470 million in e‑commerce sales during Q2 2026. The retailer also saw U.S. comparable store sales rise 5.9% year‑over‑year and net sales climb 9.1% to $68.2 billion, while membership grew 4.8% to 82.1 million...
78% of European Internet Users Bought Online in 2025
In 2025, 78% of EU internet users made at least one online purchase, up from 76.6% in 2024. Ireland tops the chart with a 95.3% adoption rate, followed by the Netherlands and Denmark. Romania posted the strongest decade‑long growth, jumping...
Square, SumUp, Shopify: Data Streaming for Real-Time Point-of-Sale (POS)
Point‑of‑sale systems are evolving from simple cash registers into real‑time, connected platforms that handle payments, inventory, and customer insights. Mobile payment leaders Square, SumUp, and Shopify now offer SMBs enterprise‑grade POS capabilities, blurring the line between payment processors and commerce...
Why Stitch Fix Is Doubling Down on Human Stylists as AI Gets Better
Stitch Fix is reinforcing its human‑stylist model even as generative AI matures, unveiling the AI‑driven "Stitch Fix Vision" that creates personalized, shoppable outfit images from client selfies. The platform’s autonomous quality checks and sharing features have lifted repeat purchase rates...
Online Retailer Zalando Trims AWS Bill by Getting Manual with Flink Stream Filtering
Zalando, which generates roughly €3 billion in quarterly fashion sales, ran into soaring AWS costs and unstable Flink clusters due to the way Flink 1.20’s Table API handled chained joins. The joins caused state to balloon to over 240 GB per application, leading...
Amazon Overtakes Schwarz Group (Lidl) as Europe’s Largest Retailer
Amazon has become Europe’s largest retailer by sales volume, posting €179.7 billion GMV in 2023. It narrowly surpassed Germany’s Schwarz Group, owner of Lidl and Kaufland, which recorded €179.4 billion. The gap to the third‑place Aldi exceeds €80 billion, highlighting Amazon’s dominant marketplace...
Swiftly Announces Partnership with Merchants Distributors (MDI) to Power Next-Generation Shopper Engagement Technology and Enhance Digital Experience for Independent Grocers
Swiftly announced a partnership with Merchants Distributors (MDI) to equip more than 600 independent grocers with a modern web platform, SmartCircular™ weekly circular solution, and the AI‑driven Audience Optimizer™. The collaboration aims to unify digital circulars, off‑site amplification, and targeted...
With a Shift to Bot Shopping, Retailers Must Redesign for AI
Retailers are confronting a surge of AI‑powered bot shoppers that can locate deals, compare specs and complete purchases in milliseconds. Bots ignore visual design and focus on clean, structured product data, transparent pricing and fast search results. To stay visible,...
How Hyper-Personalization in Retail Works: Architecture and Implementation
Hyper‑personalization in retail has evolved into a real‑time, event‑driven strategy that relies on a unified customer data platform, streaming pipelines, and AI decision engines. Retailers must shift from batch‑oriented segmentation to continuous identity resolution and sub‑200 ms response times across digital...
Postscript and Tie Launch Integration to Help E-Commerce Brands Recover More Revenue From Abandonment SMS Automations
Postscript and Tie have launched an integration that links anonymous website visitors to existing opted‑in SMS subscribers, enabling brands to trigger 41% more abandonment SMS automations. The identity‑graph technology works across devices and browsers without relying on cookies, turning offline...
Vilnius-Based Food Supply Marketplace Saltz Raises €20 Million Series A, Plans 100+ Hires as It Expands Across Europe
Vilnius‑based Saltz secured a €20 million Series A round led by the EBRD, aiming to accelerate its pan‑European food‑supply marketplace. The funding will fund expansion into new markets, broaden supplier offerings, and support hiring over 100 staff by 2026. Saltz’s platform consolidates...
THG Ingenuity Launches Gift With Purchase Channel
THG Ingenuity has launched an external Gift‑With‑Purchase (GWP) channel, extending its proven retail‑media solution to third‑party brands. The service integrates curated gifting offers into key moments of the shopper journey across beauty, nutrition and lifestyle sites. Early campaigns on LOOKFANTASTIC...
BuytoGive Launches £500,000 Funding Round
BuytoGive, a UK e‑commerce marketplace that converts regular online purchases into charitable donations, announced a £500,000 seed round, the first half of a £1 million raise at a £3 million pre‑money valuation. The company recently secured access to 1.2 million products via a...
ABOUT YOU Opens Its Marketplace to New Sellers
ABOUT YOU, a Zalando Group fashion retailer, has opened its marketplace to any fashion seller, removing minimum product‑count and revenue thresholds. The new self‑service Seller Center lets brands launch in as little as four weeks, with no onboarding fees. In the...
Wayfair Launches Loyalty Program in Canada
Wayfair has rolled out its Wayfair Rewards loyalty program in Canada, marking the first international expansion after a successful U.S. debut. Canadian members pay $39 per year to receive 5% back in reward dollars, free shipping on all orders, exclusive...
John Lewis Invests in TikTok Shop Launch and AI-Powered Shopping
John Lewis has launched a 90‑day TikTok Shop trial ahead of Mother’s Day, offering a curated selection of beauty and gifting items that can be bought directly on the platform. The move is part of an £800 million multi‑year transformation programme...
Menzies Aviation Accelerates E-Commerce Strategy
Menzies Aviation has launched the MILE (Menzies Integrated Logistics for e‑commerce) initiative to capture the booming air‑cargo demand from online retail. The program blends the carrier’s global ground‑handling expertise with parcel‑level processing, ULD break‑bulk and first‑to‑last‑mile integration, while the MACH...