The Biden administration has secured voluntary commitments from executives at seven technology companies that they would take steps to ensure safe development and deployment of generative AI systems, in response to various concerns that have been raised since ChatGPT’s release last fall. The commitments include calls for security testing and watermarking content produced by AI.
In a battle of the Chinese ultra-fast-fashion giants, Temu has filed a lawsuit against Shein, accusing it of various nefarious practices aimed at deterring apparel manufacturers from doing business with Temu in order to thwart competition from the newer entrant to the U.S. market. Shein has accused Temu in a separate lawsuit of impersonating its brand by creating fake Twitter accounts.
Prime Day 2023 was a winner, based on data from Adobe Analytics, with an estimated $12.7 billion spent over the two days in the U.S., up 6.7% from $11.9 billion last year, and Amazon called day one on July 11 its single largest sales day ever, with 375 million items sold worldwide. Considering the state of the economy and consumer sentiment, that kind of a result is quite an achievement.
Bold Commerce, provider of a headless, composable commerce checkout solution, has a new offering that lets brands and retailers enable checkout directly from a video or email without the intermediate step of visiting a product page, where cart abandonment can happen. The so-called accelerator uses API calls to integrate a checkout link directly into any shopper engagement.
Online prices fell 2.6% in June compared to a year ago, the largest drop since May 2020 and slightly more than in May, according to the latest Adobe Digital Price Index, as overall inflation has moderated but the cost of consumer goods is still far above pre-pandemic levels. The largest year-over-year price drops were in consumer electronics (-12.9%), computers, (-16.9%) and appliances (-8.3%).
Simply having a digital storefront isn’t enough anymore. Retailers need a strategy that addresses not only the customer journey but also the technical stack that supports their online commerce promotions. The growing trend of composable commerce illustrates the move away from the monolith of a single platform for a retailer’s storefront. Learn what it is, why it matters and when it makes sense for you.
While it’s been widely reported that Federal Trade Commission head Lina Kahn is planning to drop a massive antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, analysts at Baird argue in a research note that the move would be wrong-headed because the company’s success is based on innovation and investment, not monopolistic practices. The FTC has already accused Amazon of duping millions into signing up for Prime.
Sustainable ecommerce has moved from being a checkbox approach to a competitive differentiator driving global growth. In today’s economic landscape, most retail and ecommerce companies realize that sustainable practices are not only the right thing to do but essential to their success. But it needs to go beyond the bottom line.
While real-time payments offer retailers faster processing and lower costs, they can unlock new value by enhancing the customer experience, improving loyalty and offering more insight into consumer needs and shopping behaviors. To capitalize on these opportunities, retailers and their PSPs need modern back-office systems designed to operate in a real-time payment environment.
Razor Group, a Berlin-based aggregator of top-selling brands, and Factory 14, the UK rollup which it acquired in 2022, are being sued by two companies and their founders — Kettlebell Kings and Tribe WOD — in interlocking charges of breach of contract and failure to live up to purchase agreements by not adequately funding their growth and expansion.