Commerce

India expands its e-commerce crackdown with a new $200M case against Walmart’s fashion arm Myntra

Commerce /

India’s financial crime watchdog has filed a complaint against Walmart-backed fashion e-commerce giant Myntra, alleging the company violated foreign investment rules by channeling over $191 million through a related-party scheme that disguised retail operations as wholesale trade. This complaint marks the latest move in a broader crackdown by Indian authorities, which previously targeted Amazon and […]

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Etsy faces user boycott over ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ branded products

Commerce /

The Florida GOP isn’t the only one profiting from the detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” by selling merchandise. A subset of Etsy buyers and sellers began a boycott of the online marketplace this month over its decision to allow “Alligator Alcatraz”-branded merchandise on its site. Today, this sort of merchandise — including T-shirts, hats,

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Prime Day event drove over $24B in U.S. e-commerce sales, gen AI traffic was up 3,300%

Commerce /

Amazon’s Prime Day, which leads to an overall boost to U.S. e-commerce thanks to competitive sales, saw a significant increase in retail traffic driven by generative AI products, including chatbots and browsers. According to a post-Prime Day analysis by Adobe Analytics, gen AI traffic to U.S. retail sites increased by 3,300% year-over-year — which was

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GenAI as a shopping assistant set to explode during Prime Day sales

Commerce /

A new report estimates that AI will be a larger-than-ever part of the online shopping process during Amazon’s Prime Day sale, which began Tuesday morning. Amazon’s annual sale, which this year spans four days (July 8-11), is predicted to drive $23.8 billion in online spending across U.S. e-commerce retailers, as other businesses run their own

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OneText raises $4.5M from Y Combinator, Khosla to reinvent shopping by text

Commerce /

The typical online checkout experience has become bloated with friction. And while more companies are building solutions around online checkout, few are rethinking it from scratch. One such company is OneText, which is building what it calls a “text-to-buy network,” that lets shoppers complete purchases via text message. The company, founded by former PayPal employees,

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Bookshop.org mocks Jeff Bezos wedding invite in anti-Prime Day promo

Commerce /

The independent online bookseller Bookshop.org took a swipe at Amazon to celebrate the start of Prime Day, Amazon’s annual sale (which, despite its name, is actually four days this year). Like many other retailers, Bookshop.org holds a sale to coincide with Amazon’s big event — it’s a way to lure away consumers who may be

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OpenAI hires team behind AI recommendation startup Crossing Minds

Commerce /

Crossing Minds, a startup that provides AI recommendation systems to e-commerce businesses, said on Thursday that its team is joining OpenAI. The startup was backed by Index Ventures, Shopify, Plug and Play, and Radical Ventures, and had raised more than $13.5 million across multiple rounds, according to Crunchbase. Crossing Minds largely worked with e-commerce companies

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Julie Bornstein’s Daydream is releasing an AI-powered chatbot for fashion-related shopping

Commerce /

Nearly a year after raising a mega seed round of $50 million, ecommerce veteran Julie Bornstein’s startup Daydream is releasing its AI-powered chatbot for shopping with a focus on fashion. After testing the product with select users, the company is today releasing the chatbot to all users in a public beta. People can sign up

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Amazon to spend over $4B to expand Prime delivery to rural communities in the US

Commerce /

Amazon announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its Same-Day and Next-Day delivery services to over 4,000 small cities and towns across rural U.S. This expansion will bring its fast Prime delivery service to millions of customers in places such as Asbury, Iowa; Fort Seneca, Ohio; Lewes, Delaware; North Padre Island, Texas; and Sharptown, Maryland.

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After raising $38M, African e-commerce startup Sabi lays off 20%, pivots to traceable exports

Commerce /

African B2B e-commerce startup Sabi has laid off around 20% of its workforce (~50 employees) as it pivots from its original retail-focused platform to double down on a growing business in commodity exports. The layoffs, confirmed by the company on Thursday, are part of a broader restructuring aimed at aligning resources with what it describes

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