Commerce

Commercetools, a pioneer in ‘headless commerce’, lays off dozens of staff

Commerce /

Commercetools — a “headless commerce” platform that provides APIs to companies building online storefronts — saw a major boost in its business just a few years ago, raising money at a whopping $1.9 billion valuation as the world went shopping online in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and businesses rushed to improve their e-commerce […]

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Shop Circle raises $60M to encircle ecommerce with an app suite

Commerce /

The boom in ecommerce post-pandemic meant shops moved online. However, some merchants ended up with dozens of separate app providers to accommodate everything from supply chains, inventory, and marketing. The founders of Shop Circle realized this and either built or bought many such apps. The company has now raised $60 million in a Series B

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The pain of discontinued items, and the thrill of finding them online

Commerce /

We’ve all been there. A favorite item is suddenly unavailable for purchase. Couldn’t the manufacturer have given you advance warning? Whether owing to low sales, changing habits, production costs, or even because something is a little wrong with your favorite product (shh), discontinued items are part of life. In a weekend piece, the New York

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Amazon kills ‘Inspire,’ its TikTok-style feed for discovering products

Commerce /

Amazon is shutting down “Inspire,” its TikTok-like, short-form video and photo feed that was previously available in its mobile app. The feed allowed users to discover products and shop from content created by influencers, brands, and other customers. A company spokesperson confirmed the move to TechCrunch, saying “We regularly evaluate various features to better align

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EU’s Disinformation Code moves closer to becoming DSA benchmark

Commerce /

Staying on the right side of the European Union’s online rulebook when it comes to the slippery topic of disinformation is set to get easier for platforms that commit to the bloc’s long-standing Code of Practice on Disinformation. You know, the voluntary Code that Elon Musk pulled X (formerly Twitter) out of back in 2023.

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Lanch bags $27M for a social media-skewed take on fast food

Commerce /

E-commerce startups built around food continue to gobble up funding as investors look for sticky consumer concepts that can scale without breaking the bank. On Wednesday, Germany’s Lanch — which taps social media and influencers to develop popular food brands alongside retail networks for distributing them — closed funding of €26 million ($27 million) to

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Shopify took down Kanye’s swastika t-shirt shop, but another antisemitic storefront still operates

Commerce /

Shopify took down Kanye West’s online store after the musician sold t-shirts with the swastika symbol. West, who also goes by Ye, advertised his online store in a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, directing viewers to his website, where the only item listed was the swastika t-shirt. Though Shopify removed a policy banning sellers from

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Saudi’s BRKZ closes $17M Series A for its construction tech platform

Commerce /

Construction procurement is highly fragmented, manual, and opaque, forcing contractors to juggle multiple suppliers, endure lengthy negotiations, and deal with delayed payments. In Saudi Arabia, where trillion-dollar infrastructure and real estate projects are underway, these inefficiencies are even more pronounced. To address this, BRKZ, a Riyadh-based construction tech startup, offers a tech-enabled managed marketplace that

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