E-Commerce

E-Commerce

If Q4 is the holiday shopping season, then Q1 might be the season of returns, or more specifically the season of return fraud. Retailers and ecommerce merchants are seeing a growing trend of returns and fulfillment scams that drain profit margins after big sales. This fraud was the impetus for Thursday's launch of Pinch AI, a startup that aims to mitigate such losses to fraud and marketing scams, with $5 million in venture backing.

Online reselling platform StockX said Nike was its top-selling sneaker brand in 2025 - and its fastest-growing in the separate shoe category. StockX ranked the brands based on the number of trades that occurred the previous year in its annual trend report, released this week. The sportswear giant is typically a top seller on StockX, a popular place for buying and selling sneakers.

2026 is already shaping up to be a challenging year. Soft seasonal peak sales through November and December last year and increased staffing costs don't give a sturdy foundation for retailers and manufacturers to build on. However, there are some significant gains to be made, especially around tech improvements. In fact, Parcelhero will be unveiling its own AI-powered tracking and messaging services this year for individuals and growing businesses.

Shifts in consumer behaviour play a pivotal role in shaping the retail landscape. Today's consumers anticipate seamless shopping experiences that blend the best of online and offline worlds. Having that in mind, successful businesses must consider several factors as they navigate the ever-changing retail landscape-from reimagining omnichannel tactics to assessing the evolving value equation. Here's why tracking consumer spending trends is crucial for London businesses today.

To illustrate just how AI is starting to reshape the shopping experience, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and incoming Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner announced a partnership resulting in shoppers now able to shop Walmart and Sam's Club products directly on Gemini, Google AI chatbot. In addition, Google also introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an AI commerce framework aimed at becoming an industry standard that allows AI agents to interact directly with retailers' commerce systems.

Amazon last January launched a Retail Ad Service that allows outside retailers to tap into the e-commerce giant's ad tech to run and manage campaigns while helping advertisers to discover new media networks via Amazon Ads.

SPINS wanted to expand into MikMak's space - which is to say, serving online ads and driving online conversions - as an extension of its in-store purchase and shelf-monitoring data offering. The conversation quickly changed to, "actually, what would it look like if these two entities came together?" Margolis said. For MikMak, the appeal, according to the startup's CEO and Founder Rachel Tipograph, is that SPINS "has a proprietary data asset that we always wish we had."

Picking a payments provider feels like choosing a business partner you will rely on for years. The platform you select handles your revenue, shapes your customer checkout flow, and determines how much control you retain over the money moving through your company. Stripe built its name early and became synonymous with online payments for startups and growing businesses. Finix entered the market with a different proposition, offering companies the infrastructure to become their own payment facilitator without surrendering ownership of the merchant relationship.

the next chapter of the world's largest drone delivery expansion.

When you're cold, warming your feet is one of the quickest ways to feel comfortable again-just think about how instantly cozier you feel after pulling on a pair of warm, fuzzy socks. The right winter boots do the same job when you're headed outdoors, keeping your feet insulated from cold temperatures and wet conditions. And with temperatures steadily dropping, now is the perfect time to invest in a new pair of winter boots.

Today, instead of typing "best running shoes," consumers simply ask their favorite AI, "What running shoes should I buy?" These models respond quickly, often drawing on vast stores of user-generated content, reviews, and discussion threads-a dynamic "source stack" that looks very different from traditional SEO rankings. What's more, they can answer highly specific, long-tail questions, from "Which running shoes are best for flat feet in rainy climates?" to "What sneakers do marathoners recommend in 2024?"

Amazon Prime members, this one's for you. To celebrate the New Year, the retailer is treating its members to exclusive savings on travel essentials, with best-selling products starting at just $9. Right now, you can score up to 63 percent off on airport-ready matching sets, packable layers, comfy walking shoes, investment-worthy luggage, and more majorly marked-down travel essentials. Whether you're looking to refresh your travel wardrobe or invest in handy organizational accessories like packing cubes, there's plenty on this list to consider.

Microsoft is pitching this new tool to retailers as a way to reach a wider pool of potential customers and offer a seamless shopping experience that is more likely to convert sales. By integrating purchases directly into Copilot rather than redirecting consumers to an external site, the hope is that with one less step, customers will be more likely to click buy, rather than abandoning their cart.