#191 – Adios De Minimis, Amazon Saver, & TD Bank’s Shopify killer

by Shopifreaks | Sep 16, 2024 | Recent Newsletters

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And now, onto our regularly scheduled programming…

In this week's edition I cover:

How effective are branded TikTok videos?
Major updates to the de minimis rule
No-one's worried about a TikTok ban
TD Bank launches an e-commerce platform (kind of)
Amazon launches Export Central
Tech companies pull out of Russia
Amazon mass terminates 1P Vendors
Amazon launches a private-label grocery brand
Squarespace gets another $300M to go private
Rufus is getting ads
Will Ferrell teams up with PayPal

All this and more in this week's 191st Edition of Shopifreaks. Thanks for subscribing and sharing!

Stat of the Week

84% of video content released by brands on TikTok fails to generate strong positive emotions, capture attention, or enhance brand recall, according to a study performed by DAVID, a platform that helps advertisers assess the impact of their content. The study also found that 24% of branded TikTok videos triggered strong, extreme, negative emotions like anxiety, fear, discomfort, disgust, and shame.

1. Is America really going to revise the de minimis rule?

The Biden Administration issued an executive order that could prohibit Chinese products from being eligible for a customs exception through the de minimis loophole, which currently allows packages valued at less than $800 to enter the U.S. without scrutiny or taxation.

Over the past decade, the number of de minimis shipments from China has exploded from roughly 140M to more than a billion, according to a White House estimate, and the Biden administration hopes that its revised rules will curtail the “overuse and abuse” of the trade law.

Officials say the explosion in de minimis shipments is largely driven by the Chinese retailers Shein and Temu (which recently overtook eBay to become the world's 2nd most visited e-commerce website) and that the huge increase in volume has made it increasingly difficult to target and block illegal or unsafe shipments coming into the U.S.

Here are the changes that the Biden administration is calling for:

Denying the exemption to packages that contain low-value goods subject to Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products, and Section 201 on “safeguard” tariffs on products including solar products and washing machines.
Requiring specific, additional data for de minimis shipments, including a 10-digit tariff classification number and the person claiming the de minimis exemption.
The Biden administration also called on Congress to pass legislation to overhaul the original de minimis rules over concerns that the old, potentially outdated rule (created in 1930) allows foreign retailers to evade tariffs and scrutiny of their packages at the border.

The administration intends to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which could take 60-120 days to implement and might lead to changes even before Black Friday.

Last year, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party released a report on Shein and Temu that determined the two companies are likely responsible for more than 30% of all packages shipped to the U.S. daily under the de minimis provision, and around 50% of all de minimis shipments to the U.S. from China, which has allowed Chinese retail giants to skirt tens of millions of dollars in import duties.

Not paying import duties creates an uneven playing field for American retailers that do pay import duties on the products they manufacture overseas and subsequently sell and fulfill from within the U.S. In 2022 alone, Gap paid $700M in import duties, H&M paid $205M, and David’s Bridal paid $19.5M.

However not paying import duties also allows these companies to offer really cheap products to American consumers — which is something consumers have needed during the past few years during a time that inflation has been at record highs. If the de minimis rule is revised, those duties would get passed on to American consumers.

Jacob Jensen of American Action Forum estimates that the full elimination of de minimis would impact more than 1B shipments, valued at $54B, and would result in $8B to $30B in additional annual costs that would be passed on to consumers.

What do Shein and Temu think?

Shein has previously contended that it can offer such low prices due to its inventory-lite supply chain and lean business model, and NOT because of the de minimis exemption. (Great, then it won't have a problem when we reform it.)

Temu also recently said that the company's growth does not depend on the de minimis policy. (Another win for reform then.)

Here's what I think:

I've been an outspoken proponent of revising the de minimis rule for quite some time, and I hope that these new rule proposals actually lead somewhere, and aren't just a way to garner support from American retail organizations right before a Presidential election.

I feel that being able to buy products so cheap and tax-free from China may feel like a win for American consumers in the short term, but is actually a loss for America's economy in the long run, as these purchases bypass American retailers and sellers, causing a reduction of domestic revenue that would have otherwise reached more U.S. households.

Shipping individual packages from China is also an environmental nightmare that needs to be corrected!

What do you think?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Should the de minimis rule be revised? How do you feel about Biden's proposed updates? Hit reply and share your thoughts.

2. Americans don't think TikTok will be banned, and neither does TikTok

50% of Americans doubt TikTok will be banned in the U.S., with only 31% thinking a ban is likely, and 19% unsure, according to a survey conducted by Pew Research. The numbers were similar for both Republicans and Democrats alike.

In March 2023, half of Americans supported the U.S. government banning TikTok due to privacy concerns related to the Chinese government having access to American user data, but that number continues to drop. Today, only 32% of Americans support the ban. The number of Americans who actively oppose a ban has also continued to rise, from 22% in March 2023 to 28% over the summer.

Do you know who also doesn't think it's going to get banned in the U.S.?

TikTok.

Although the company faces a January 19, 2025 deadline to find a new U.S. owner or shut down, employees and ad buyers are acting as if nothing will change.

According to The Information, TikTok employees are chasing ad sales and user growth, hosting events for creators, and looking to hire thousands of people. TikTok is also set to become an official sponsor of Washington D.C.'s professional sports teams across several leagues, with the company to have its logo featured on the Capital's road jerseys beginning in the 2024-25 NHL season. Of course, what else are they supposed to do in the meantime?

TikTok is defending itself in court.

Starting today (Sep 16th), a Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will begin hearing oral arguments about whether the U.S. government can ban TikTok, based on secret evidence that it hasn't even shown to TikTok.

TikTok is arguing that the ban challenges First Amendment rights to free speech. The fight will also be over whether the Department of Justice can make a case using classified material that its opponent can't review or argue against.

Matt Schettenhelm, a senior litigation analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence told The Verge, “I think the courts are going to tread very carefully here. Especially in a First Amendment case like this, where it’s effectively banning one of our leading platforms for free speech in the country, the idea that you’re going to do it for secret reasons that you don’t even tell the company itself, that is going to be cause for concern for the judges.”

President Biden first signed a law back in April that required TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to divest the app to a non-Chinese company within nine months or face a ban in the U.S. — unless the President grants it a few months extra to get the deal done.

However since then, President Biden joined TikTok to campaign for the upcoming election, as did Kamala Harris, and as did Donald Trump, who flip-flopped on his original stance of wanting to ban TikTok when he was President.

So apparently TikTok is not that dangerous if all these politicians are using it, but we'll let the courts decide.

3. TD Bank launches its own e-commerce platform to compete with Shopify

Toronto-Dominion Bank (ie: TD Bank) unveiled a new e-commerce platform called TD eCommerce Solutions that is designed to help small businesses establish their online presence, marking the bank's first entry into the online retail space.

The new offering is a result of a strategic partnership with BigCommerce, building upon its established payment processing partnership.

Alec Morley, Senior VP of Canadian Small Business Banking at TD, said that the move is designed to bring online retail capabilities to its existing merchant clients:

“We were stuck in the old, physical, POS world, and we needed to start investing and get to a place where we’re really wholly functional for our small-business owners. Offering online purchasing was once considered optional, but in this post-pandemic era, we know that purchase patterns have changed and that significant transactions are made online. Our customers want to have a presence in digital buying, and together with BigCommerce we will deliver.”

Wait, so what's the difference between using TD eCommerce Solutions and going directly with BigCommerce?

The TD eCommerce Solutions website says that the service will offer:

Pre-integration into TD Online Mart, which is TD Bank's merchant processing unit that provides custom checkout, fraud tools, recurring payments, and batch payments.
Same-day deposits and streamlined billing for TD Bank customers.
Business support through the TD Merchant Solutions contact center and technical support provided by BigCommerce.
TD eCommerce Solutions did not list the prices of its Standard, Plus, or Pro plans (which is what BigCommerce also calls its Essentials plans), so I'm unsure if there are discounts or upcharges, or if they are priced identically.

Honestly, it sounds more like a strategic partnership with a few exclusive benefits more than its own dedicated platform, and I think it would've been better positioned as such. I don't really see the benefit to BigCommerce to let banks effectively whitelabel their platform.

And as a merchant, I'm not sure if I'd want my bank so attached to my e-commerce platform. How hard would it be to later separate TD Bank from my BigCommerce store if my relationship with the bank went sour?

In other TD Bank news… The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered the bank to pay $7.76M to tens of thousands of victims of the bank's illegal actions and $20M in civil penalties. For years, the bank repeatedly shared inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies including errors about credit card delinquencies and bankruptcies. The bank knew of many of these inaccuracies for more than a year before fixing them and failed to conduct proper investigations (or conduct any investigation at all) when customers submitted disputes.

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said, “The CFPB’s investigation found that TD Bank illegally threatened the consumer reports of its customers with fraudulent information and then barely lifted a finger to fix it. Rather than treating its customers fairly and following the law, TD Bank’s management clearly cared more about growth and expanding its empire through mergers. Regulators will need to focus major attention on TD Bank to change its course.”

The latest fine adds to TD’s existing financial troubles after posting a loss in its Q3 due to the $2.6B it is keeping aside to resolve the anti-money laundering issues and other financial crimes it faces in the U.S.

Damn. After reading all that, I can't imagine why folks wouldn't be lining up to try TD eCommerce Solutions!

4. Amazon launches Export Central for easy cross-border transactions

Amazon sellers can now easily reach millions of customers in Europe, even in countries without an Amazon marketplace.

The company launched its new Export Central tool, which allows EU sellers to expand their reach internationally to customers in 39 countries.

The tool is part of a wider free-to-use European Export Programme that enables sellers to export from its six stores in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands to countries where there is currently no Amazon store, like in Austria, Portugal, and Greece.

Here's how it works:

Sellers can enable international shipping settings from multiple stores simultaneously, without having to duplicate listings across markets.
FBA sellers are automatically enrolled into the European Export Programme at no extra cost.
MFN sellers that self-fulfill their orders need to provide shipping rates and transit times for international shipping within Europe.
Sellers must also be VAT compliant in the destination country.

Xavier Flamand, Amazon’s VP of Seller Services, Europe, said, “We are always looking at ways to support our selling partners to grow their business and Export Central is a game-changer for Amazon sellers looking to expand their businesses across borders, especially in countries where Amazon does not operate a store.”

Great new feature, Amazon. I see very little reason not to participate as an EU seller, especially if Amazon is doing the fulfillment for you. Amazon claims that sellers who have enabled export from their European stores have seen an average sales uplift of up to 10%, so it feels like a no-brainer.

5. Tech companies pull out of the Russian market

Back in June, ahead of the G7 summit in Italy, the United States announced that it would be imposing sanctions on software and IT services to Russia in order to make it harder for Russia to source certain technology and make it more expensive to acquire.

The ban prohibits the supply to any person in the Russian Federation of IT consultancy and design services, IT support services, cloud-based services for enterprise management software and design, and manufacturing software.

However, exceptions were made for services related to online communication, such as email, social networks, and messaging apps, as part of a policy of not punishing the Russian people for “Putin’s war.”

The Treasury said that the U.S. “strongly supports the free flow of information and communications globally,” and that the measures “are not intended to disrupt civil society and civil telecommunications.”

The sanctions came into effect last week on Sep 12th.

Here are a few companies that have pulled out of Russia:

Wix (Israel) and Ecwid (CA) withdrew from Russia, affecting around 2,500 SMBs that rely on their services.
Notion (CA), a project management tool, disabled accounts of Russian users, including those with previous ties to Russia.
Coda (MA) and ClickUp (CA), other project management tools, also made their tools no longer available in Russia.
Miro (CA), a cloud collaboration platform founded in Perm but now headquartered in the U.S., initially planned to block Russian users but later backtracked, allowing continued access for free users.
Google (CA) introduced targeted restrictions, such as disabling its BigQuery service for the Russian market and shutting down Google Adsense and Looker Studio.
Hubspot (MA) ceased operations in Russia.
Slack (CA) began suspending Russian user accounts as early as June.
Microsoft (WA) disconnected Russian users from its cloud services.
CAD systems and Autodesk (CA) left Russia, and SAP (Germany) and Oracle (TX) left the country's ERP market.

Companies fear potential penalties ranging from fines to being added to the list of entities with restricted access to US goods and technologies, which has caused many companies that are not subject to restrictions to withdraw from the Russian market just in case.

6. Amazon mass terminates 1P vendors

Amazon announced a major change to its Vendor Central program, with a significant number of first-party (1P) vendors being notified that their vendor relationship will be terminated by Nov 9, 2024.

What's the difference between First-Party (1P) vs Third-Party (3P) vendors?

Amazon's 1P platform purchases products from brands and manufacturers, physically takes ownership of the inventory, and controls the pricing, marketing, and fulfillment. 1P vendors are wholesaling their items to Amazon, who then becomes the direct seller.

Whereas with 3P Sellers, Amazon merely acts as a marketplace platform. The 3P sellers control their pricing, inventory, listing, and fulfillment (although often Amazon takes over fulfillment via its FBA program).

Amazon wrote to hundreds (maybe thousands) of 1P Vendors:

“We've made the decision to stop sourcing products from your company as part of our regular review of product offerings, and a strategic realignment to optimize our operations and better serve our customers. Effective November 9, 2024, our vendor relationship will be terminated. We won't enter into any new agreements, or extend current ones, beyond this termination date.”

Now those 1P Vendors will have the opportunity to become 3P Sellers — which means creating their own listings, doing their own marketing, and selling their products themselves on Amazon's Marketplaces. Instead of wholesaling their products to Amazon, they'll transition to retailing their products on Amazon's Marketplaces, and paying Amazon a commission on sales.

Dave Bryant of EcomCrew noted that, “Amazon simply views 3P accounts (FBA) as more profitable than 1P accounts and wants to push VC sellers towards FBA. Third-party sellers are responsible for logistics, marketing, and advertising for their products, opposed to first-party accounts where Amazon is responsible for the majority of logistics and marketing for products.”

It's rumored that the termination is largely for smaller brands that report annuals sales of less than $10M.

Martin Heubel, an advisor to 1P Amazon Vendors, said, “The above is another sign that Vendor Central is becoming exclusive to enterprise brands. After cutting ties with distributors earlier in 2023, small vendors now seem to be next.”

Industry experts criticized the timing and abruptness of the change, right before the upcoming holiday season.

7. Amazon launches a private-label grocery brand

Amazon is launching a new “no-frills” private label food brand called Amazon Saver, which offers grocery staples like crackers, cookies, canned fruit, and condiments priced under $5, and Prime members will get an additional 10% off the products.

The new brand takes on other budget-friendly private labels like Great Value from Walmart, Good & Garther from Target, Bowl & Basket from ShopRite, and Laura Lynn from Ingles.

Amazon has started to roll this new private label out with several products — like a 42-ounce can of oats for $3.99, a 15-ounce coffee creamer for $3.49, and a 15-ounce can of pizza sauce for $1.09 — with plans to add more than 100 items to the Amazon Saver selection over time.

On one hand, Amazon is getting rid of smaller 1P Vendors because it finds that it's more profitable to exist as a marketplace instead of a direct retailer, and easier to NOT deal with the logistics, marketing, and advertising of products.
On the other hand, Amazon desperately wants to compete with Walmart in the grocery space, where Walmart has tremendous control of its grocery logistics, marketing, and advertising, and the only way to control the space is either through vendors or private-label brands.

Amazon also rolled out an expansion to its Prime savings program at Amazon Fresh, with benefits that include:

Prime savings on over 3,000 grocery items.
Up to 50% off 8-15 rotating products each week, including fresh produce, protein, and pantry staples.
25% off over 1,200 rotating Prime-exclusive grocery items and household favorites.
10% off over 1,700 products from Amazon private-label brands including Aplenty, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Kitchen, 365 by Whole Foods Market, Happy Belly, and the newest Amazon Saver.

With over 70% of American households holding an Amazon Prime membership, are these discounts really that exclusive? Or are they simply Amazon's “Every Day Low Prices”?

8. Permira increases its offer to buy Squarespace to $7.2B

Remember back in May when Squarespace announced that it would be going private in a $6.9B all-cash deal with private-equity firm Permira, who agreed to pay $44 per share (a roughly 30% premium)?

Also remember a week after the acquisition was announced when 6+ law firms began investigating the deal over belief that Squarespace's board of directors agreed to an unfair amount to be paid to shareholders so that they could see greater upside once the company went private?

Flash forward four months and those investigations and lawsuits must have inflicted some fear in the companies because Permira has now agreed to up its offer price to $7.2B to take Squarespace private.

The private equity firm will offer $46.50 per share in cash to Squarespace stockholders, up from $44 per share in the original offer, which represents a 36.4% premium to the stock's closing price on May 10th, the last trading day prior to the announcement of the original deal.

The revised bid comes days after Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy advisory firm, recommended that Squarespace investors vote against the proposed transaction, raising concerns that the sale process did not maximize value for shareholders.

Permira Partner David Erlong noted, “This best and final offer allows Squarespace stockholders to capture immediate and certain value for their investment.”

The transaction has been approved and recommended by a special committee composed of independent directors of Squarespace's board and is currently structured as a tender offer.

Michael Fleisher, chairman of the special committee, said, “Our core focus has been maximizing value and certainty for the unaffiliated stockholders. This transaction is the result of a deliberate and thoughtful process and ultimately represents a great outcome that is in the best interest of Squarespace and all of its stockholders.”

9. Other e-commerce news of interest

Amazon is planning to run ads alongside Rufus, its recently launched shopping-focused chatbot, according to a changelog published by Amazon that was spotted by AdWeek. The changelog states that sponsored ads could soon start appearing in placements for Rufus users in the U.S., with ads being shown based on Amazon search and conversational context. Amazon also noted that Rufus may generate text to accompany existing ad copy in certain cases.

eBay rolled out its new feedback removal guidelines, which assures sellers that removal requests will be manually reviewed by humans and not by AI. eBay says that the commitment creates a “more fair feedback experience for sellers and buyers,” but reminded sellers that buyers do not expect to see 100% positive feedback, and that the company is not in a position to contradict buyers' opinions or judgement of items.

While eBay is promising human-intervention on automated decisions, Etsy has been denying sellers the right to appeal automated decisions that deactivated legitimate handmade listings, despite CEO Josh Silverman saying shops can appeal, according to e-commerce reporter Cindy Baldassi. Etsy shop owners are now being told there is no way to have actual human beings check the validity of the automated flags that are taking down their handmade goods and leading to shop suspensions.

Amazon is trialing a pilot package delivery service in Frankfurt, Germany that utilizes the city's new Gütertram service to transport goods to awaiting cargo bikes. This isn't the first time trams have been repurposed for cargo in Europe, according to TechCrunch. Dresden operated the CarGoTram for two decades until its recent closure, and Deutsche Post DHL piloted a similar service in Schwerin, but scrapped it less than two years after its launch in 2022.

Shopify eliminated paid plans from Checkout Blocks, the app it acquired this past June that allows Shopify Plus merchants to make no-code customizations to their checkout. The app is now 100% free to install for any Shopify Plus merchant and no longer includes upsell features, however merchants currently on a paid plan will retain access to the upsell features included in their plan.

Depop, a fashion marketplace acquired by Etsy in 2021, launched a new AI-powered listing feature that creates a listing title and description and then populates item attributes like category, color, and brand, based on a single photo. The feature is now available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, and Ireland.

X was deemed too small to impact EU markets after a recent probe into its business by the EU's executive arm, according to people familiar with the matter, and therefore doesn't fall under the EU's Digital Markets Act. Ouch, that's got to hurt! But also feel good at the same time? The European Commission is likely to publish its official findings in October.

General cargo shippers were told to “brace for impact” by Stefan Krikken, Head of global airfreight at DSV, as the industry heads towards “one of the highest peaks ever in the industry of air cargo.” Krikken added that e-commerce players “have such a big share right now that if the e-commerce shippers sneeze, the rest of the world gets a cold.” His comments were related to whether or not general cargo shippers, which are currently fighting for space against e-commerce giants, were as prepared as e-commerce shippers for the upcoming holiday season.

Google Shopping added dresses to its virtual try-on feature in the U.S., following last year’s introduction of virtual try-ons for men’s and women’s tops. Through a partnership with Simkhai, select dresses will be available for virtual try-on and pre-order following the brand's Sep 7th runway show during New York Fashion Week.

Feedonomics, a product feed management service for e-commerce businesses that was acquired by BigCommerce in 2021, integrated with Amazon Today, a program that allows brands and retailers with brick-and-mortar locations to showcase their in-store inventory on Amazon.com. The partnership gives Amazon shoppers access to same-day delivery and in-store pickup options from the merchant's local storefronts.

Amazon's delivery vehicle emissions in the U.S. have shot up an estimated 194% since the company rolled out its Climate Pledge in 2019, a series of commitments to show that it was serious about addressing climate change, according to a report by Stand.earth. The report found that overall emissions from shipping packages have increased 75% since 2019, from 3.3M tons of CO2 equivalents to 5.8M tons last year, which is the equivalent of putting an additional 595k gas-powered cars on the road for a year. Unlike some of its competitors, Amazon does not reveal details on its emissions associated with shipping and delivery or offer hard numbers on its logistics operations.

TikTok Shop and L’Oreal Paris are launching the UK's first-ever Super Brand Day, which will run from Sep 16th (today) until Sep 21st, offering a series of LIVE marathon shopping events with exclusive discounts and product launches. L'Oreal Paris will be joined by Garnier, Maybelline, NYX, and essie, which will all be offering up to 60% discounts on some of their most popular #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt products. Yay, another shopping event!

Asos, a British online fast-fashion and cosmetics retailer, will now charge UK shoppers who frequently return large amounts of goods a fee of £3.95 to send back items unless they keep £40 worth of their order, joining a list of other global retailers who are backpedaling on their generous return policies. The company, which until now has made free returns within 14 days an important part of its offering, wrote to affected shoppers saying that it has updated its fair use policy for orders made from Oct 8th.

Bold Commerce is making Fastlane by PayPal available to retailers on Magento by Adobe Commerce via a new extension available for U.S.-based retailers, making Bold currently the only provider of Fastlane for Magento merchants. In recent weeks I've reported on Fastlane by PayPal integrating with BigCommerce, Fiserv, Adyen, and Shopify. PayPal is on fire lately! Alex Chriss is absolutely crushing it.

Wix launched its new AI theme assistant, a tool designed to streamline and enhance the website design process by offering users personalized guidance and real-time suggestions to design the theme of their website. The tool is embedded directly within the Wix Editor and allows users to work on their websites while simultaneously receiving insights and suggestions, as opposed to simply building the entire website for them with AI prompts.

The USPS debuted its long-awaited new mail trucks, which feature oversized windshields, enormous bumpers, and long hoods that resemble a duck bill. The new trucks are being built with comfort, safety, and utility in mind, allowing postal carriers to stand up without hitting their heads and walk from the front to the back of the truck without crouching to retrieve packages. Plus, unlike previous models, the new trucks have air conditioning!

In other USPS news… The agency is ending delivery unit discounts for certain shipping consolidator partners that drop off packages at its delivery units, finalizing a push that began months ago. Consolidators like DHL eCommerce and OSM Worldwide use the USPS for last-mile delivery of their customers' parcels, which is the most costly leg of the journey, but the USPS wants to incentivize consolidators to use its Parcel Select offering to bring more volume to its facilities earlier in the shipping process.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen, both on the Senate Banking Committee, asked the FDIC and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to ban the use of the FDIC name and logo for companies that provide only pass-through FDIC insurance, and to directly supervise those companies under the Bank Service Company Act. The call to action comes amid uncertainty following the collapse of Synapse, a fintech middlemen that connected fintech apps like Juno and Yotta with banks like Evolve, which resulted in millions of consumers having their funds frozen or lost, followed by confusion about the extent to which their funds were covered by FDIC insurance.

In other Congressional news, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger called on the CEOs of eBay, Amazon, and Facebook to share information with Congress about their companies' mechanisms for deterring stolen goods from being sold on their marketplaces. In her letter, Spanberger noted that these particular platforms are a prime target for organized retail crime and requested information about how many employees they dedicate to specifically monitoring third-party sellers to ensure compliance with the INFORM Act. She also asked the CEOs to propose actions they believe Congress should be taking to help them prevent marketplaces from being used for the purpose of selling stolen goods.

Attempts at placing fraudulent online orders increased 19% in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous year, according to a new Signifiyd “State of Fraud and Abuse 2024” study. The report also found that the increasing involvement of global crime rings and use of generative AI are resulting in an “industrialization” of online fraud, where bad actors have begun offering “fraud-as-a-service” on behalf of consumers for a cut of the profits.

Shoplazza, a Shenzhen-based e-commerce platform that serves over 360k merchants worldwide, partnered with Stripe to power its payments platform. The collaboration with Stripe enhances its Shoplazza Payments service, which also works with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and a range of other payment methods across U.S., Hong Kong, and Canada.

Amazon Web Services plans to invest £8B into data centers in Britain between now and 2024, as part of its long-term commitment to support growth and productivity in the country. AWS claims that its efforts will contribute £14B to the U.K.'s economy over the same time period and support more than 14k jobs via its data center supply chain.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission announced its plans to investigate whether Google had breached the bloc's regulations relating to how it processes its users' personal data. The probe will look into the “development of its foundational AI model” and inquire into concerns about whether Google has “complied with any obligations that it may have had to undertake” prior to processing EU citizens' data.

Pix, Brazil's instant payment system linked to over 700 financial institutions that allows users to send and receive money quickly, created by the Central Bank of Brazil in 2020, is set to overtake credit cards in e-commerce as soon as 2025, according to a study by Ebanx. The study showed that Pix is expected to account for 44% of Brazil's online payment market next year, while credit cards are expected to drop to a 41% share of transactions.

Steve Madden partnered with Trashie, a circular fashion platform, to power its new recycling and take back program. Through the partnership, customers can purchase a Take Back Bag for $20, which includes a prepaid shipping label, fill it with old clothes and shoes from any brand, and send it to a recycling facility in exchange for a $25 credit to Steve Madden's online store. Trashie claims that 95% of items it collects are kept out of landfills (for a little while at least).

PayPal hired Will Ferrell, the greatest comedic actor of all time, for its largest-ever U.S. advertising campaign aimed at showcasing how easy and safe it is to shop with PayPal and its Debit Mastercard. The commercial is set to a reimagined version of Fleetwood Mac's “Everywhere,” where Ferrell is seen singing his own version of the lyrics while using PayPal to shop in a variety of businesses. As usual, Will Ferrell knocked it out the park.

10. Seed rounds, IPOs, & acquisitions

Rep AI Technologies, a startup that utilizes behavioral AI to analyze shoppers' browsing patterns and anticipate when assistance is needed most, raised $8.2M in a round led by Osage Venture Partners. The company will use the funds to further develop its e-commerce sales tool, AI Concierge, which it claims brings companies a 30X ROI.

Nostra AI, an e-commerce conversion optimization software that helps websites load faster, raised $8.9M in equity and $5M in debt in a Series A round led by High Alpha, bringing its total amount raised to $20M, just months after securing a $6.3M round. The company's CEO says that the fresh capital will give it about two years of runway, during which it plans to speed up its edge delivery engine and onboard more Shopify and Salesforce stores.

Connectly, a code-free platform that lets businesses create interactive campaigns and use AI to automate two-way conversations with leads and customers, raised $20M in a Series B round led by Alibaba, less than one year after its $7.85 Series A round. Since its Series A, Connectly launched its product recommendation assistant, Sofia AI, and doubled its revenue and headcount.

Paymob, an Egypt-based fintech that offers more than 50 payment solutions and works with almost 350k merchants in Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, raised $22M in a Series B extension round led by EBRD Venture Capital, bringing its total Series B funding to $72M. The company claims to have recorded 6X revenue growth since its Series B funding in 2022 and plans to use the additional capital to expand across the Middle East and North Africa.

GoKwik, an India-based e-commerce enabler that builds full-stack solutions for e-commerce brands, acquired Return Prime, a Shopify app that helps brands manage customer returns and convert them into revenue opportunities, for an undisclosed amount. GoKwik will integrate Return Prime's capabilities into its platform, marking the company's entry into the U.K., Europe, and the U.S.

InMobi, an India-based mobile-first contextual advertising platform, raised $100M in debt financing from Mars Growth Capital, as it looks to “significantly deepen” its AI initiatives and fund potential acquisitions ahead of its IPO next year. InMobi expects to generate more than $700M in annual revenue this year and is eyeing a valuation of around $10B in its IPO next year.

Bank of London, a UK-based clearing bank and embedded banking service, raised £42M in an oversubscribed round led by Mangrove Capital Partners. The bank plans to use the funds for expanding its technological capabilities and enhancing its customer service to institutional clients.

Mercury, a US-based banking startup that provides business banking services layered with its own fintech offering, acquired Teal, a Vancouver-based accounting tech startup that just recently raised $8M in a seed round, for an undisclosed amount. Teal founders Ian Crosby and Adam Saint, as well as the rest of the Teal team, will join Mercury as part of the acquisition.

Retraced, a Germany-based platform that enables fashion and textile brands to digitize and trace their supply chains, raised €15M in a Series A round led by Partech. Retraced, which is used by 150 fashion brands including Desigual and Victoria Secret, aims to use AI and process automations to make supply chain sustainability more efficient and effective.

Swiggy, an Indian online food ordering and delivery company that's headed towards an IPO, is considering upping its raise to $1.4B from its initial plans of raising $1.25B. The company has scheduled a shareholder meeting for Oct 3 to obtain consent for its revised IPO plans.

Cavela, an AI platform that connects product makers with suppliers to help them manufacture physical products at the best price, raised $2M in a round led by XYZ Venture Capital. The company plans to use the fresh funds to enhance its platform's capabilities and broaden its reach to more businesses.