New e-commerce tools: July 2, 2024

Each week, we publish a list of new products from companies that serve e-commerce and omnichannel merchants. This section includes updates on shopping media, AI assistants, personalization, return forecasting, installment payments, shipping platforms, discount e-commerce, and marketplaces.

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New tools for merchants: July 2, 2024

Shopify Embeds AI into Its Platform. Shopify introduced AI-related products during its semi-annual Shopify Editions showcase. New features among the 150+ updates include (i) an AI tool to suggest personalized responses to customer emails, (ii) Magic, an AI-powered media editor that now instantly suggests personalized and intelligent recommendations for all product categories by assigning relevant attributes to new products, and (iii) AI image editing expands to all places images are used, including the Shopify mobile app.

Amazon to launch discount marketplace. Amazon plans to launch a new section dedicated to affordable fashion and lifestyle items, allowing sellers in China to ship products directly to American consumers. According to an Amazon presentation to select sellers seen by CNBC, the Amazon storefront will feature unbranded products, many priced under $20. Amazon will ship products directly from China to the U.S. and deliver them to shoppers in nine to 11 days.

Bloomreach Unveils Loomi AI Features for E-Commerce Teams. Bloomreach, an e-commerce personalization platform, has announced new premium features for its proprietary Loomi AI to customize, optimize, and automate personalization across the entire customer journey. Premium features for marketers include AutoSegments to automatically identify valuable customer segments, an analytics assistant with a conversational interface, and a variant generator to reduce campaign creation and testing time. New search features include Loomi Search+ with semantic and vector search technology, visual search, and search in 33 languages.

ParcelLab Launches Returns Forecast AI to Improve Visibility for Retailers. ParcelLab, a provider of after-sales software, has launched Returns Forecast AI. According to ParcelLab, the new tool uses AI to estimate incoming shipments to retail warehouses, enabling retailers to (i) forecast returns volumes and identify trend changes more accurately, (ii) better plan warehouse resources, and (iii) reduce processing times and operating costs. Returns Forecast AI is designed for retailers to strengthen their ability to predict and mitigate the financial impact of returns.

Target partners with Shopify to add third-party sellers to its marketplace. Target has partnered with Shopify to discover new brands and hot products on Target’s marketplace. Shopify will help the retailer discover hot products and make them available to Target customers online. Target plans to stock some of the popular products it finds through Shopify on store shelves. Unlike Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, Target allows brands to join by invitation only. It has more than 1,200 retailers. Target says the number of retailers and products has doubled in the past year.

Pear Commerce Raises $10 Million to Transform Shopping Media. Pear Commerce, an e-commerce retail marketing platform for multi-channel brands, has closed a $10 million funding round led by Stage 2 Capital. The funding follows the recent launch of Pear’s product, Pear Connect, a shoppable ad unit that integrates “where to buy” technology directly into advertising. Pear Connect enhances existing social and display ads by displaying combinations of products and retailers that are most likely to be selected using Pear’s daily inventory scanning technology and ad platform algorithms.

Data analytics platform Baresquare launches AI manager to optimize e-commerce revenue. Baresquare, an AI-powered analytics platform, has launched an autonomous AI e-commerce agent called Tywin. According to Baresquare, Tywin monitors marketing campaigns and customer service failures, creates revenue forecasts and targets, performs competitive pricing and inventory analysis, and checks online for search engine optimization and external factors like weather and news events. Users can upload existing revenue plans or let Tywin generate forecasts based on historical data.

Adverio Launches Amazon PPC Management Services for E-Commerce Advertising. Adverio, a digital marketing agency, has launched Amazon PPC Management Services, designed to improve the advertising and sales performance of e-commerce businesses on Amazon. The offering aims to streamline and improve merchant pay-per-click strategies by leveraging advanced analytics and an understanding of the Amazon advertising ecosystem. Adverio’s Amazon PPC Management Services cover all aspects of pay-per-click advertising, from initial setup and strategy development to ongoing optimization and performance analysis.

Qoo10 launches Wish+ to expand international sales channels. The two e-commerce platforms, Asia-based Qoo10 and US-based Wish.com, have been integrated. The integration provides a unified e-commerce experience on the improved Wish+ site and an expanded product assortment to include local suppliers for users as well as brands and manufacturers based in Asia. The move combines Qoo10’s e-commerce ecosystem of sellers in Korea, Japan and India with Wish.com’s North American and European presence and assortment of regional and Chinese manufacturers.

Visa expands payment options for Amazon customers in Canada. Visa has announced a partnership with Amazon to provide Canadian consumers with more choices at checkout. When shopping online at Amazon.ca or on the Amazon app, eligible RBC and Scotiabank credit cardholders will now have the option to select “Installments Powered by Visa” as their payment method for qualifying purchases. This payment option allows eligible consumers to convert their purchases into smaller, fixed payments over a set period of time.

ShipStation streamlines e-commerce shipping in Australia. ShipStation, Auctane’s cloud-based shipping platform, has launched new features to help online businesses in Australia streamline their shipping processes and improve customer experiences. New features include inventory synchronization, delivery date, harmonization code import, checkout rate control, custom labels, GlobalPost Carrier integration, add-on marketplace and more. ShipStation has also released its High Volume Plan for retailers in Australia and New Zealand, tailored to the needs of enterprise parcel delivery.