
Merchant Center Titles Dominate; Price Data Must Align
Ecommerce SEO: when it comes to ranking within free listing results on Google, there is a sphere of influence for data sources. This relates to features such as product grids, product knowledge panels, within the Shopping tab, AI Mode and more. In general, the influential data sources include: 1. Website Content 2. Product Feeds data (from Merchant Center Next) 3. Structured Data (based on schema .org, with merchant listing validation) While each of these data sources play their role with the information that appears within free listings, there are certainly caveats to the ordering of each data source. For instance, the information provided via Merchant Center for the title of a free listing result comes directly from GMC Next. The product title from the page content or within the Structured Data will not influence the appearance of this information in search results. But when it comes to something like the price of a product, if there are discrepancies across the website content, within the product feed, along with the structured data, Google will override all the external layers and default to the price shown within the website content. And often when there is a mismatch between the feed and the website, a notice will appear in GMC Next that will alert you to exclusion of the product from being delivered within free listings. This is where the new Merchant API should operate better than the Content API (especially for price mistmatches). The free listings space is going through a lot of changes in general right now. A major reason for the migration from Google's end to the upgraded Merchant Centre 'Next' edition of GMC is to allow product discoverability to be less reliant on feeds, with there being the ability to surface products from a website that may sit outside of the feed itself. This is then combined with recent discussions within a Search Off The Record podcast from Google – stating that Google may look to unify the approach among Structured Data and GMC Next feeds, which could be a drastic change to how we approach eCommerce SEO. In general, the best approach is to provide as much rich content to Google across each surface (content, feeds and structured data) and for there to be consistency among the surfaces for best results. This can be quite a complex area of eCommerce SEO to get your head around, but it is only becoming more important as the year progresses.

From Acne Journey to Multi‑Million Skincare Brand
Alix Earle spent years posting about her acne, from Accutane rounds to bare-face breakouts. Now she turned that story into Reale Actives, a 4-step skincare line built with her dermatologist. For a year, she seeded unlabeled products, teased a mystery account, and...

Trader Joe’s Boosts Sales via Store Design Psychology
Trader Joe's has a playful brand but its business is very serious (annual revenue = $14B+). With no ad spend or online sales, the chain perfected one psychological hack in its store/product design to achieve industry-leading sales of ~$1.7k per...
Hire Strategic Roles to Break $5M Ceiling
14 lessons from coaching 70+ 7-8 figure ecom founders: 1. A lot of founders hit $2-5M and can't break through. They picked a $5M product from day one, did dropshipping with no repeat customers and only Facebook working. 2. Product flywheel determines...

Small Towns: The Smarter Startup Playground
Everyone chases startups in big cities. The smart move is your small town. Lower rent, less competition, stronger margins. Open a coffee shop bar, a boutique, or a phone repair shop and fill a gap people drive hours to solve. In a town of...

Shopify’s Moat Deepens as Valuation Hits Historic Low
5 quality stocks with durable moats and high upside 👇 Some of the strongest platforms are now trading near historical valuation lows. $SHOP Shopify — 10.3x forward P/S Shopify powers $378B in GMV. Not just storefronts anymore. Payments, fulfillment, back-office tools all embedded...

Swiggy Hikes Fees, Signaling Profit‑first Shift
Food delivery to be more expensive Swiggy hiked platform fee by around 18% once again Current platform fees: ₹14.99 New platform fees: ₹17.58 Recently both Zomato and Swiggy hiked their fees Now Swiggy once again Food delivery apps are shifting from Growth mode to Profit mode now..
Stripe's In‑Ads Checkout Makes Shopify Optional
Uhhh is this the beginning of the inevitable breakup between Stripe and Shopify? This is a big deal. It’s also a bunch of my predictions coming to life at once. Here's what's happening: Stripe is powering a native checkout inside Facebook ads....
Costco's Gold Sales Yield Six-Figure Monthly Revenue
Costco’s foray into precious metals has generated impressive results. The company is allegedly pulling in six figures in sales each month since its decision to begin selling gold. https://t.co/bNtkSrss5j
GAP Introduces Eye‑scan Checkout for Biometric World ID
A GAP store in SF now has an eye-scanning orb at checkout that customers can use to sign up for a biometric 'World ID'. Would you consent to this?

Shopify Brands Now Shoppable Directly Within ChatGPT
Brands on @shopify are now shoppable inside @chatgpt. AI shopping isn’t coming. It’s here. As always, our merchants are best positioned. Let’s go.

Gen Z, Millennials Boost Discretionary Spending on Tech, Dining
BofAI: Gen Z and Millennials have seen the most improvement in discretionary spending, especially on electronics and restaurants https://t.co/lokfH0dJN0

Redbook Sales Jump 6.7% YoY, Spending Remains Strong
Redbook retail sales ... no sign of consumer spending stress yet +6.7% YoY WE March 21 https://t.co/8GFoXUdydC

ChatGPT Enhances Agentic Commerce with Side‑by‑Side Comparisons
ChatGPT has expanded their Agentic Commerce Protocol. This is their version of Google's UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol). It now supports more product discovery with richer shopping experiences. Products are presented side by side for comparisons and they've worked to make...

AI Generates Pro‑Level Product Shots From One Prompt
If you're running a DTC brand, you know how expensive product photography is. Lighting, studio, photographer, retouching. I made this with one prompt: "Premium coffee bag floating with whole beans scattered around it, steam rising, dark moody background, studio lighting." What surprised...

Reddit Launches Collection Ads, Boosting Ecommerce ROAS
Focus on ecommerce? -> Introducing More Ways to Tap into Shopping on Reddit 1) Improve discovery with Collection Ads and Reddit-unique overlays: "Collection Ads allow businesses to lead with a lifestyle hero image paired with shoppable product tiles in a...

Amazon Admits Product Is Junk, Skips Return
I like when is Amazon is like “You know what, you’re right. That item is a POS. Don’t even bother sending it back” https://t.co/8LulMviIIe
OpenAI's Checkout Fee Signals Arrival of Agentic Commerce
Agentic commerce is already here, and OpenAI’s checkout fee is simply the first clear signal that the monetization layer has arrived with it. https://t.co/WeB15oAWTm

Aaron Levine Collection Returns on Mr Porter, Same-Day Delivery
Big news today for fans of really nice high quality good looking regular clothes Aaron Levine’s eponymous collection is now available on Mr Porter A lot of the stuff that sold out on his site is available once again And...
Consumers Cling to Familiar Rituals over Convenient Upgrades
This is super interesting... I wonder if consumers didn't like the improved flour packaging because it "felt" wrong. Like dealing with the traditional messy paper bag is just the "correct" way to purchase flour. Sorta similar to cake mix. Like...
Backfill Shopify Metafields Now for AI Shopping
Shopify quietly laid the groundwork for AI shopping last year with category metafields. A lot of us skipped them. Now with UCP, those fields are how AI and ChatGPT query your catalog. Start backfilling everything now if you haven't. @ericalandyck and...
Auto‑apply Branding to Videos with a Single URL
This is the exact problem I deal with every week. For every new video, we're manually swapping fonts, fixing colors, and re-uploading the logo. The fact that you can now just paste your URL and have it apply everywhere is kind of...

AI-Powered Marketing Runs Your Campaigns While You Sleep
Most brands I work with have the strategy figured out. They just can’t execute fast enough. Someone built a fix for that. It’s called Helena — the OpenClaw for marketing. Give it your URL, and it runs your marketing for you: → Reads your site,...

Perfion PIM Simplifies Omnichannel SKU Consistency
Keeping SKUs consistent across every channel is a nightmare without the right tools. Perfion PIM is your shortcut to omnichannel sanity. 🌐 #PIM #Perfion #Distribution https://t.co/oFeCZLlvM4

Nearly Half of US Shoppers Use
"Nearly half of US consumers (47%) now use AI to browse products online, driving AI-driven traffic to retail sites to surge over 4,700% in 2025." - @itssophievo in @twifintech https://t.co/aeRubKfNOc
Ecom Founders Measure Price by ROI, Not Expense
Everyone sees a price: 'That's expensive.' Ecom founders see a price: 'What's the value and what's the ROI?' Different mindset. Different way of thinking.

Exploring Agentic Commerce: The Future of Retail
Episode EP337 of The Jason & Scot Show #ecommerce podcast is a discussion on the Future of Agentic Commerce from Citi’s Global Consumer & Retail Conference https://t.co/IBJ4DZuVIC https://t.co/QlMbDXvoqj

AI‑first Workflow Builds $10k/Mo E‑com Brand
How To Build A $10,000/mo AI Ecom Brand in 2026 (Full Guide) WATCH HERE 👉 https://t.co/VuFsAF4ETI The "Old Way" of E-commerce is dead. In 2026, if your store looks like "dropshipping," it won't convert. I’m showing you the exact AI-first workflow...
Outlet Malls Thrive on Low Costs and Agglomeration
Outlet malls have a bunch of strategic advantages that make them unlike any other “mall” 1. They are open air, so lower HVAC costs 2. They are far away, so land prices are low 3. Every store has smaller footprint (no large dead...
Apple's HomePod and Apple TV Stock Levels Plummet Again
Also in Power On: Retail inventory of HomePod, HomePod mini and Apple TV dwindles — again. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-03-22/apple-s-airpods-max-2-blurs-the-lines-between-marketing-and-innovation-mn1pfx3h

Cross‑selling at Atour Likely Adds Little Revenue
The Atour model: cross-selling products to customers. Does this really work? I doubt it’s much of a revenue line for Ya Kun https://t.co/plm2GxOcbJ
Shipping Fees Trigger Last‑minute Buyer's Remorse
What is it called when you have a cart full of stuff, you’re ready to check out, you see it’s $15 for shipping, you now rethink the entire purchase. What is that called? That’s me!

Amazon Shipped a Shirt of My Shirt
Ordered a Joy Division shirt off Amazon and they sent me a shirt of the shirt I ordered https://t.co/jWYzafvubK

Meta AI Streamlines Facebook Marketplace Listings
Facebook has rolled out new Meta AI–powered features on Marketplace. 📦 Sellers can now upload images and have Meta AI generate draft listings with recommended descriptions, as well as draft automatic replies to initial messages. These tools simplify the listing process,...
Over Half of Chinese Car Dealers Lose Money in 2025
Caixin: "The China Automobile Dealers Association said in a report that 55.7% of dealerships lost money last year, up 14 percentage points from 2024, as intense competition forced them to sell vehicles below cost." https://t.co/5TsYQRNMxx

AI Agents Redefine Commerce for Consumers and Merchants
The agentic commerce opportunity: How #AI agents are ushering in a new era for consumers and merchants. (McKinsey) #RetailTech https://t.co/c4xZis3GdG https://t.co/N3PHr0bp7Q
Walmart Patents AI Pricing as States Push Algorithmic Price Bans
Walmart Secures AI Pricing Patents as States Move to Ban Algorithmic Grocery Costs https://t.co/LmXnSPgnsW #groundnews via @Ground_app

Live Shopping Takes Over Social Media: Share Your Experience
The social media live shopping 🛒 📲 era is here … leave a comment with your stories on how it’s going because too may won’t believe me …. https://t.co/X1aLLTYdWf

Focus on What Never Changes, Not Every New Tool
Don’t ask: “How can I survive all this change?” Ask: “What *won’t* change?” Jeff Bezos built Amazon by asking that exact question. He didn’t obsess over competitors or waste time trying to predict the future. Instead, he built Amazon around things he knew customers...
Middle East Conflict Set to Spike Retail Prices, Deter Shoppers
How The Middle East Conflict Will Push Retail Prices Up And Consumers Into Retreat via @forbes https://t.co/vHxGN0OKET

Costco Could Dominate Cloud Kitchens with Affordable Family Meals
Hot take — Costco kicks the crap out of cloud kitchens. Feeing a family of 5 for ~$25 inclusive of delivery. Costco is sitting on a gold mine. They have quite limited selection for the prepared meals, and honestly, they could...

Platform-Owned Agents Outshine Independent Commerce Bots
The fundamental issue with independent agentic commerce, and what almost certainly led OpenAI to shutter Instant Checkout after just a few months, and Walmart to pivot toward pushing Sparky into other chatbots rather than facilitating direct checkout, is what I've...
Mid‑Revenue Brands Need Data‑Driven Roadmaps
The $500K-$1M range is where most brands stall out. Too big to keep running on gut calls. Too small to justify a $15K/month retainer. Every dollar has to work and you don't have the infrastructure to know if it is. That's the...

Research on ChatGPT, Buy Elsewhere: Instant Checkout Lags
Where you discover ≠ where you buy. People use ChatGPT to research what to buy. Then they leave to actually buy it. Instant checkout converts 3x worse than clicking out to the store.

IoT Cuts McDonald's Ice Cream Outage From 19 Clicks
"The ice cream machine is broken." Those are six very depressing words. McDonalds had a 19-click process for marking ice cream as unavailable. Now with IoT and tech solutions, there's failure detection and response. https://t.co/w6mR84wNiX https://t.co/2ufj3Zp3MB
Prophit Engine Delivers Accurate Forecasts, Consistent Growth, Lower Costs
More isn't always better. Better is better. Forecast more accurately, grow contribution more consistently all while saving money with the Prophit Engine from CTC. Big love to the boys: @Seanfrank @iamshackelford @Jaredorkin @stevenborrelli @steviej @SJohnson_89 for the acting brilliance. This one is a...

Huge Performance Gap Revealed in 2026 Email Benchmark
The 2026 Klaviyo Email Benchmark Report is here 📊 We analyzed: • 600+ brands • 740M emails • $300M in 30 days ($3.6B annualized) And found a massive gap between top performers and everyone else. Most ecommerce brands have no idea where they actually stand. https://t.co/N9YXthbeeI
Faherty Launches First Overseas Store in Biarritz
Faherty, the premium American coastal lifestyle brand making waves in the U.S. fashion market, is launching its international expansion in Biarritz, France. Surfing-Inspired Faherty Rides A Wave To Open In Biarritz, France via @forbes https://t.co/RAy0CmcnN8
Turn Seasonal Shops Into Year‑Round Online Profit
Case Study: Spotting Opportunity in Underutilized Businesses: A Seaside Retail Example I recently had an interesting conversation that highlights a great opportunity for those of you looking to buy a business rather than start one from scratch. The Situation A friend of mine...
Plaud Pro Launches in India at ₹19,490
Plaud is finally selling in India through Amazon. The company is now officially selling its new Plaud Pro device for ₹19,490. The device sells for $189 in the U.S. https://t.co/O2S52C07LL