#223 – Browser Wars, ChatGPT E-commerce, and India’s $125B Market

by Shopifreaks | Apr 28, 2025 | Recent Newsletters

Hi Shopifreaks

Quick note before we begin… Last week I was informed by several readers that their their e-mail replies to me were blocked. Thanks for the heads up about that! And apologies to anyone else who had their e-mails returned to sender. Turns out my e-mail server's spam filter was going rogue and straight up BLOCKING messages (as opposed to simply sending them to the Spam folder).

Hopefully I've got that resolved now, but if by chance your future e-mails are blocked, always feel free to message me on LinkedIn. I'm looking to switch mail servers to one that lets me view my logs so that I can prevent problems like this moving forward, but that move will be at least a few weeks away. So in the meantime, apologies for any disruption.

One other quick note… Thanks for recommending Shopifreaks to your colleagues! I've had quite a few e-mails recently from new readers introducing themselves and sharing that they just started a new job, and their co-workers recommended that they subscribe. I'm proud to share that Shopifreaks now has more than 16,000 readers! Your referrals have been my number one source of subscriber growth during the past four years, so thank you for that.

And now let's dive into this week's jam-packed edition where I cover:

AI task mastery doubling every 7 month
OpenAI's integration with Shopify
Everyone wants to buy Google Chrome
The true cost of Perplexity's new browser
Trump pressures India for access to its e-commerce market
No more refunds-without-returns
Wix's new AI adaptive content tool
Shopify's privacy lawsuit is back
Apple and Meta's €700M EU fine
Shopify ends its $1M annual exemption
Did Trump and Jinping actually speak?

All this and more in this week's 223rd Edition of Shopifreaks. Thanks for subscribing and sharing!

Stat of the Week

The length of tasks AI models can complete with 50% reliability has been doubling every seven months for the last six years, according to a new study that measures AI models based on the duration of tasks they can complete versus how long it takes humans. Currently AI struggles with stringing together longer sequences of actions more than they have trouble solving single steps, but that is changing quickly. If the pace continues, researchers project that AI can automate a month's worth of human software development by 2032.

1. Is OpenAI integrating Shopify into ChatGPT?

New code made public by OpenAI has suggests that it is working on allowing users to make purchases from Shopify directly inside ChatGPT without visiting the merchant's website. The chat would be able to offer prices, reviews, and embedded checkout to users.

Code additions include:

buy_now
price and shipping fields
product-offer ratings
shopify_checkout_url

The assumption is that OpenAI is building a Shopify purchase flow directly into ChatGPT through a formal partnership that would integrate ChatGPT as another available sales channel for merchants.

For users, the update would transform ChatGPT into a full-funnel shopping platform. As for merchants, they would gain immediate access to ChatGPT’s audience without needing any additional integration. Although leave it to Shopify to only make the integration available to Plus merchants…

Sam Wright of Blink SEO wrote:

“SEO is the only marketing channel that depends on the structure and content of your own site – rather than working inside someone else’s platform like Meta or Google Ads. That’s why this potential ChatGPT + Shopify integration is such a big deal. If this plays out, it could introduce a whole new product discovery journey – one based on conversation and exploration, rather than interruption and ad formats.”

“This is where good SEO work – such as organising product data and taxonomy – suddenly matter a lot more. Clean tagging. Consistent attributes. Proper schema. If this becomes the backbone of discovery, brands with well-managed catalogues will win. And that’s where Shopify is particularly well placed. Its standardised product model and centralised architecture mean the building blocks are already there.”

Is this type of shopping experience good or bad for merchants?

On a positive note, it becomes a new discovery and acquisition channel for merchants. One consequence, however, is that it takes the merchant's website out of the equation — which may offer features like sizing apps, complementary products, style guides, and other tools to help shoppers make informed purchases.

Whereas buying a product in isolation through an AI chatbot would be more of a sterile experience that takes the website's branding out of the equation. No different than selling on marketplaces though.

Moving forward, merchants will simply have to build their branding into their product images, similar to how sellers do on Amazon, so that their image galleries act as a standalone graphic landing page for the product — assuming ChatGPT is able to display product images too (which I imagine it will).

Either way, e-commerce is moving in this direction quickly, so merchants better adapt.

In recent months I've reported that:

Amazon began testing a “Buy For Me” feature, which enables its app to make purchases for customers on other websites. Mixed with Amazon's AI capabilities, this could evolve into a full search / discovery / and purchase platform for the entire web (not just for Amazon's marketplaces) that would compete with ChatGPT in the space.
OpenAI launched Operator, an AI-powered tool that acts as a virtual assistant, autonomously performing tasks across the Internet such as shopping, filling out forms, and booking travel based on users' instructions. A direct integration with Shopify could enhance Operator by being able to directly access Shopify product listings and checkout, as opposed to mimicking the actions of a browser.
Perplexity AI debuted a new shopping feature for its paid customers that offers shopping recommendations as well as the ability to place an order without going to a retailer's website. If Shopify is going to make a direct integration available to AI platforms, I don't imagine that it will limit the capabilities to just ChatGPT.

What are your thoughts on a Shopify and ChatGPT partnership? A win or a loss for merchants and shoppers? Hit reply and let me know.

2. Everyone wants to buy Google Chrome

Last week, Google returned to court, just days after a judge found the company guilty of holding an illegal monopoly with its ad business. The trial is set to determine what consequences Google should face for operating a monopoly with its search engine.

To clarify, Google has been found guilty of operating two illegal monopolies:

In August 2024, a judge ruled that Google had a monopoly with its search business, and the DOJ requested that the judge break up the company, starting with splitting off its Chrome web browser. Google returned to court last week to fight this.
Two weeks ago, a different court ruled that Google had a monopoly over two of the three parts of the online advertising market including the tools used by websites to host open ad space and the tools advertisers use to buy that ad space. There will be another hearing in the future to determine the consequences of this monopoly.

Even though Google plans to appeal the ruling, last week's process of deciding what consequences the company should face is still going ahead.

The DOJ is demanding that:

Google let competitors use its data to power their own search engines. (That's ridiculous.)
Google notify the government when it invests in AI start-ups. (That's reasonable, but make all tech companies do the same.)
Google sell off its Chrome web browser, which has about two-thirds of the global browser market. (I'm on the fence about this one.)
Google no longer make deals with cellphone companies or publishers that favor its search engine or apps. (Also reasonable.)

Google is fighting back against the ruling, claiming that the government’s “radical” demands would harm competition and innovation. From last week until the end of May, both Google and the DOJ will present new evidence and witnesses to prove their points. The judge says his final decision will come by September.

During the trial it was revealed through testimony that companies are lining up to buy Chrome:

OpenAI executive Nick Turley testified that his company would be interested in buying Chrome if Google was forced to sell it. He said that currently ChatGPT has a Chrome extension available for users to download, but having Chrome be more deeply integrated into OpenAI would allow for a better product. Turley said he has “deep worry that we may be shut out” by some of the bigger companies in the market like Google.
Yahoo has been working on its own web browser, and says it would like to buy Chrome if the Google is forced by a court to sell it so that it could speed up its browser efforts. Yahoo Search General Manager Brian Provost said that about 60% of searches are done through a web browser's address bar, which is why the company needs to put its own browser out in the market. He added that Yahoo is in discussion with other companies about buying a browser, but he didn't say which ones. (Remember when Yahoo tried to buy Google for $3B back in 2002?)
DuckDuckGo's CEO Gabriel Weinberg told the court that Chrome could be sold for as much as $50B, and that they wouldn't be able to afford it.
Perplexity Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko originally said he didn't want to testify in trial about how to resolve Google's search monopoly because he feared retribution from Google, but after being subpoenaed to testify, he admitted that his company was interested in buying Chrome as well. When asked if Perplexity believes anyone besides Google could run a browser at the scale of Chrome without diminishing its quality or charging for it, Shevelenko said, “I think we could do it.” (“I think?” Be more confident, Shevelenko.)

Does the world need a different AI goliath or tech giant to own and operate Chrome?

Browsers play a big role in safeguarding the Internet, and in an ideal world, are independent of any search, AI, or advertising company. In this fictitious ideal world, browsers give users choice of integration partners and don't push default services.

Selling Chrome to OpenAI or Perplexity feels like we'd simply be trading one company's evil monopolistic intentions for another. Can we really assume that a competing for-profit AI search company would be better stewards of running the world's largest web browser by market share than Google? Or is the real solution to introduce regulation that lets Google keep Chrome but requires it to open its access to other AI search companies to give users choice?

What are your thoughts? Hit reply and let me know.

3. Perplexity is already building its own browser to track your every move

Speaking of browser wars… Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said on a TBPN podcast that one reason the company is building its own browser is to collect data on everything users do outside of its own app so that it can sell premium ads. The browser, named Comet, suffered setbacks but is on track to be launched in May. Wow, where can I be first in line to download that piece of malware!

Srinivas said:

“That’s kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we want to get data even outside the app to better understand you. Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related. It’s not like that’s personal. On the other hand, what are the things you’re buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you.”

Srinivas believes that Perplexity's users will be fine with this type of tracking because the ads would be more relevant to them. (Just what every Internet user ever wanted.)

What decade did this guy wake up in?

His comments sound like they're coming from the early 2000s, only he's saying the things out loud that tech companies kept to themselves back then. As the world moves towards user privacy, personal data ownership, and less tracking — Perplexity appears to be building the thing that everyone has already learned that they hate about Google, Meta, and other tech companies: the insane tracking!

His other reasons for building a browser make sense though:

“The reason we’re doing the browser is that it might be the best way to build agents. On both iOS and Android, we don’t have OS level control. You cannot easily call apps and access their information… So, we need to build an OS-level agent, and a browser is essentially a containerized operating system. It can let you access other third-party services through hidden tabs if you’re already logged into them, scrape the page on the client side, and perform reasoning and take actions on your behalf. That’s the architecture that appeals to us… Answering questions is going to be a commodity. We need to build our next set of advantages in performing actions… The browser is the best place to take action for people.”

Users will just have to decide if they want to give up their entire Internet browsing history to yet another company in exchange for those cool features.

4. Trump Administration presses India for full market access for US retailers

The Trump Administration is pushing India to open its $125B e-commerce market to American e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart as part of a broader push for more favorable trade agreements between the US and India.

Good luck with that guys! Do they know anything about India? The country's government has been actively developing regulation aimed at preventing those exact companies from dominating e-commerce in India!

The Trump Administration is pressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide a “level playing field” for e-commerce in the country, according to a Financial Times report, which did not specify the exact demands.

Amazon and Walmart currently operate in the country through local subsidiaries but are restricted from holding inventory and directly selling to consumers, as the country does not allow foreign-owned marketplaces to manufacture, own, or directly sell products themselves on their own platforms. Whereas Indian conglomerates such as Reliance, which operates JioMart and Tata, aren't subjected to the same restrictions.

The push comes after Vice President JD Vance met with Modi in New Delhi last week, which resulted in both parties acknowledging “significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial” trade agreement. India's exports to the US face a potential 26% tariff, although Trump has temporarily suspended this for 90 days to facilitate negotiations.

India's e-commerce regulation is designed to protect domestic businesses and prevent foreign giants from dominating retail through deep discounting and market share control by pushing their own products. Trump's negotiations will certainly test their convictions. Personally if I were India I'd say, “Don't like the rules? Go back to China.”

5. China ends the refund-without-returns practice on major marketplaces

China's government has asked e-commerce platforms like Temu, JD.com, and Alibaba to stop insisting that merchants refund customers without requiring them to return the products.

To help alleviate financial pressure on Chinese merchants, the government informed marketplaces that the practice must end in July, from which point only merchants will be able to initiate a refund, as opposed to the marketplace automatically issuing one for the customer.

The refund-without-returns policy was designed to benefit buyers with easy returns, while giving consumers more confidence in shopping on the platform. PDD pioneered the policy in 2021, which prompted rivals to follow suit.

Many merchants have since reported that the policy is detrimental to their bottom line, as they risk losing both money and products. Last July, hundreds of merchants gathered at a Temu office in southern China to protest against its refund policy, which regulators subsequently ordered the company to revise. Now regulators are taking their efforts to protect merchants further by requiring all marketplaces to drop the policy.

For merchants — it's a huge win, as customers were beginning to exploit the system, getting refunds for items that they had no intention of returning. Now customers may think twice before requesting refunds without real issues if it means having to ship products back to China.

The downside of the change is that consumers have become accustomed to this easier refund policy and may be less satisfied with having to go through the process of shipping items back and receiving refunds slower. It also means that marketplaces and merchants will have to deal with the logistical costs of processing, shipping, inspecting, and restocking more returns. Not to mention the environmental impact of shipping items back and forth across the world.

Some merchants may voluntarily continue the refund-without-returns process, as it's just not worth the time or energy for them to receive some products back, but at least it'll be on their terms.

6. Wix launches AI adaptive content tool for real-time personalization

Wix introduced an AI-powered adaptive content application that enables businesses to create personalized content for visitors based on their device type, location, language, or whether they are a first time or repeat visitor.

A few examples of what website owners can do with the tool include:

Show different promotions based on location, such as displaying a free shipping banner to US visitors while offering local pickup for visitors in the UK.
Encourage users on mobile devices to download the company's app, while using the space for a different CTA on desktop.
Greet returning visitors with a “Welcome Back!” message and showcase products they previously viewed front and center.
Show “Shop Our Summer Sale!” to US visitors and “Shop Our Winter Collection!” to Australian visitors.
Show “Join Our Community” for new visitors and “Welcome Back! Check Out What's New” for returning visitors.
Promote a local event only to visitors from a specific city or country.

Website owners can provide specific directives to the AI, such as instructions to create more engaging, persuasive, or sales-driven content, to help shape a personalized experience for each visitor. The adaptive content tool also offers a simulation feature for website owners to preview how different text variations would appear to a range of visitor profiles before the content goes live so that they don't accidentally end up saying weird things to their visitors.

Once installed, users can set up adaptive logic by choosing from a range of pre-built function templates. From there, they can define the specific rules and criteria that determine how the website content should dynamically adjust based on the visitor’s characteristics or behavior.

Currently, the adaptive content application is available to all Wix and Wix Studio users globally in English, with additional languages rolling out soon.

7. Court of Appeals rules Shopify must face privacy suit in California

In a 10-1 decision last Monday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Shopify can be sued in California for collecting personal identifying data from people who make purchases on websites of retailers in the state.

Quick Backstory: In August 2021, Brandon Briskin alleged that Shopify unlawfully collected and retained customer information when they made purchases through third-party websites powered by its platform. The lawsuit claimed that Shopify failed to adequately disclose to consumers that it was gathering and storing their personal data including names, addresses, order histories, and payment information, and that consumers thought they were only dealing with the individual merchant.

Shopify said it should not be sued in California because it operates nationwide and did not aim its conduct toward that state, and that Briskin could only sue in Delaware, New York or Canada. A lower court judge initially agreed that the case should be dismissed, but the full appeals court later determined that Shopify did in fact “expressly aim” its conduct toward California.

Matt McCrary, a lawyer for Briskin, rejected the argument that “a company is jurisdictionally ‘nowhere' because it does business ‘everywhere'” and was able to convince the court to do the same.

Circuit Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote:

“Shopify deliberately reached out … by knowingly installing tracking software onto unsuspecting Californians' phones so that it could later sell the data it obtained, in a manner that was neither random, isolated, or fortuitous. We conclude that Shopify is subject to specific personal jurisdiction in California.”

A Shopify spokesperson said the decision leaves online retailers exposed to lawsuits in any jurisdiction and “undermines the fundamentals of how the Internet operates.”

The ruling revives Briskins's class-action lawsuit and marks a significant precedent for holding Internet companies accountable in states where their users reside.

8. Apple and Meta hit with €700M fine in the EU

Apple and Meta were fined a combined €700M by EU regulators under the new Digital Markets Act, marking the first penalties issued since the law took effect. Apple was dinged €500M for restricting app developers from linking outside its App Store, while Meta received €200M for its ad-free subscription model.

EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said:

“Apple and Meta have fallen short. All companies operating in the EU must follow our laws and respect European values.”

The relatively light fines come amid pressure from President Trump, who has threatened trade retaliation over perceived anti-US tech bias. However despite the “light” fines, neither company is happy.

Apple said it would challenge the fine in court:

“Today’s announcements are yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free.”

Meta also criticized the decision:

“The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards. This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service.”

The White House isn't happy either:

“This novel form of economic extortion will not be tolerated by the United States. Extraterritorial regulations that specifically target and undermine American companies, stifle innovation, and enable censorship will be recognized as barriers to trade and a direct threat to free civil society. Now here's another tariff…”

Meta and Apple must comply with the EU decision within 60 days, or face the risk of further financial penalties.

9. Other e-commerce news of interest

Shopify is sunsetting its annual $1M exemption on revenue share in its app store, which it introduced during the pandemic to help small developers. Moving forward, developers will receive a revenue share exemption on only their first $1M of lifetime revenue and then a 15% share on amounts above that (as opposed to the $1M exemption resetting every year). The reaction has been mixed in the developer community, with some calling it a “tariff” on app developers, while others feeling that it was a generous exemption while it lasted and are happy to still have the $1M lifetime exemption — which many app developers will realistically never reach.

President Trump claims he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about tariff negotiations, but Beijing denied the claim on social media saying, “China and the US are NOT having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs. The US should stop creating confusion.” Either way, whether true or not, reports emerged that China quietly rolled back tariffs on some US semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, medical gear, and chemicals. Meanwhile in the US, Trump continued to offer mixed messages on China, saying another tariff pause is unlikely unless Beijing offers something “substantial” in return.

In other tariff news last week… President Trump met with representatives from Walmart, Home Depot, and Target, who warned that the current tariff and trade policy could disrupt supply chains, raise prices, and empty shelves. Walmart and Target both called the meeting “productive,” while Home Depot said the company looked forward to continuing constructive dialog with the White House — but then again, what else are they going to say?

Google announced that it would continue to offer users third-party cookie choice in Chrome and will not be rolling out a new standalone prompt for third-party cookies, effectively ending its six years-long endeavor to phase out cookies entirely. Google began building its Privacy Sandbox in 2019 in an effort to get ahead of privacy regulation, pitching the project to advertisers and publishers as a way to meet privacy regulation without depriving advertisers of targeting and analytics tools. However the approach ran into opposition from ad tech rivals, who argued that the technology gave Google an edge in the buying and selling of ads. Now, likely due to anticipated anti-monopolistic regulatory decisions, Google has scrapped the whole project, but says that some of Privacy Sandbox's technology will continue to be developed and deployed elsewhere, such as IP protection.

Affirm will begin reporting all of its BNPL loans to TransUnion, beginning with those issued on May 1st .Consumers will be able to see details about all Affirm transactions on their credit file, but the individual transactions will not be visible to lenders and will not be factored into current credit scores. However the companies say that as new credit scoring models are developed in the future, the information may begin factoring in then.

Albertsons is rolling out shoppable video ads through a new partnership with Criteo, adding full-funnel video, display, and sponsored product ads to its Albertsons Media Collective platform. Early tests showed a 280% boost in click-through rates and a 460% lift in sales when combining video and sponsored ads. The move is part of the company's broader push to turn video into a direct driver of commerce across its retail ecosystem.

Threads social network is now fully hosted on Threads.com instead of Threads.net. Meta acquired the .com version in September 2024, which was previously owned by a Sequoia-backed startup offering a Slack alternative, which Shopify had acquired in June 2023, subsequently paving the way for Meta to secure the domain. Threads also added new features including a single column view on the web, the ability to access liked and saved posts through the main menu, and the ability to copy a post as an image instead of having to screenshot it so that you can more easily turn it into an Instagram post. I love that last one!

In other Threads news… Meta announced that ads on the platform are now available to all eligible advertisers globally after just three months of testing. Advertisers can access it via the Advantage+ platform (Meta's automated ad feature) or via manual placements. The placement is now on by default for new campaigns using Advantage+.

Apple is shifting to make most of its iPhones sold in the US at factories in India by the end of 2026 and is speeding up those plans in advance of potentially higher tariffs on China, its main manufacturing base. The company has been holding urgent talks with contract manufacturers Foxconn and Tata to achieve the goal, according to an inside source. Apple sells over 60M iPhones in the US annually with roughly 80% currently made in China.

Flipkart revealed plans to transfer its holding company from Singapore to India, which is being interpreted as a preparatory step in anticipation of a possible IPO on the Indian stock exchange. I actually never knew that it wasn't based in India, given that it exclusively caters to consumers in the country. The company cited India's capacity for technology and innovation as key drivers for digital transformation and a “natural evolution” that aligns its holding structure with its core operations.

Manufacturers of baby products are rolling out significant price increases on strollers, car seats, and other baby products in response to tariffs. 97% of strollers that are imported to the US are manufactured in China, which means the space is getting hit hard. Registry platform Babylist paid for a full-page ad in the Washington Post that calls for an “immediate reprieve from tariffs on essential baby products,” calling the tariffs a “baby tax.”

The FTC is suing Uber over deceptive billing practices in the company's Uber One subscription, which the agency claims “wrongly promised savings” when customers signed up and failed to provide a simple way for users to cancel their membership. The complaint marks the first FTC action against a major tech company since Trump began his second term. Uber, the company, and its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi each donated $1M to President Trump's inaugural fund, and the company says that it is “disappointed” with the FTC's complaint, but that it's confident courts will rule in its favor.

Amazon timed its big book sale this year, which ran from April 23rd to 28th, with the 12th annual Independent Bookstore Day, an annual celebration held on the last Saturday of April to honor the unique role independent book stores play in fostering community, culture, and love for reading. Bookshop.org's CEO Andy Hunter e-mailed customers describing Amazon's sale as “a calculated move by a company that has already put half the bookstores in the country out of business, controls over 60% of the market and sells far more books than all indie bookstores combined. The people at Amazon responsible for the timing of their ‘Book Sale' should be ashamed, but they are shameless.” Amazon said that the timing overlap was unintentional and that dates for the sale were set this year to accommodate additional participating countries.

Perplexity will come preloaded on Motorola's 2025 Razr phones, alongside heavy Gemini integration, after the company's Chief Business Officer testified that Google blocked it from being a default search option on Motorola phones with its “gun to your head” contracts. He claimed that Motorola was interested in a partnership last year, but was unable to get out of its Google distribution contract, which prevented it from using a non-Google assistant platform. Perplexity won't be the default assistant, but it'll be part of Moto AI's broader push that also taps Microsoft's Copilot and Meta's Llama.

PayPal released the sequel to its 2024 ad “Everywhere” with another spot featuring the greatest comedic actor of all time Will Ferrell. In the new commercial, Ferrell sings a remake of Fleetwood Mac's 1997 hit Go Your Own Way as he shows everyone around him the benefits of using PayPal, which lets you “pay your own way.”

Square launched its next-generation Square Point of Sale app, which consolidates several of its industry-specific tools into a single, customizable platform designed to meet the needs of a variety of business types. The new app integrates functionalities previously available through separate products such as Square for Restaurants, Square for Retail, Square Appointments, and Square Invoices. The consolidation will be especially helpful for sellers that operate across multiple business models such as breweries that expand into restaurants or spas that offer subscription services.

TikTok Shop is coming to Japan within the next few months, according to Nikkei sources, as the platform rushes to expand its e-commerce business outside of the US where it faces a deadline for a possible ban. According to the sources, TikTok is preparing to recruit sellers soon in the country. The move follows TikTok's recent expansion into European markets, with TikTok Shop becoming available in France, Germany, and Italy earlier this year.

Variety Wholesalers, which acquired 219 Big Lots stores out of bankruptcy earlier this month, revealed its plans to scale back its furniture selection and lean into low-priced name-brand apparel and smaller home decor items, while maintaining the brand's identity. In an interview with Modern Retail, the company's CEO Lisa Seigies said that it acquired Big Lots to tap into a new, higher-income demographic than it currently holds with its Roses Discount Stores. Seigies wants to take Big Lots “back to its roots” of offering big deals on merchandise acquired from production overruns and bankruptcies — starting I guess with acquiring Big Lots itself.

Feedonomics, a Big Commerce-owned product feed management platform that helps businesses syndicate listings across e-commerce marketplaces and channels, integrated with Amazon Vendor Central, the company's platform for 1P sellers to supply their products directly to Amazon, which then sells them as a retailer. The direct integration, which is aimed at enterprise brands, manufacturers and distributors already selling on Amazon Vendor Central, automates managing catalog data, which helps ensure more accurate listings.

Airbnb will now automatically show the total cost of a stay, including cleaning fees and platform fees, as soon as travelers begin their search, with taxes excluded. The company first started showing the full price in the EU in 2019 after facing scrutiny in the region over how it displays fees, and then later launched a toggle in the US and other countries allowing users to choose which prices to view. Now the option will become the default worldwide. Good move Airbnb! It's a much better experience to see all the fees included in the price.

TikTok Shop's head of US operations, Nico Le Bourgeois, is getting pulled under Mu Qing, a former e-commerce VP for TikTok's Chinese sister app, Douyin, in the company's latest move to put Chinese executives in control of US operations, according to Business Insider sources. Qing, who recently took over control over TikTok's creator and agency partnerships, will now also oversee US operations, while Le Bourgeois continues to manage the company's work with US merchants.

Microsoft says that AI has significantly lowered barriers for cybercriminals, enabling more sophisticated and convincing fraud schemes, in its latest Cyber Signals report. Between April 2024 and April 2025, the company says it thwarted $4B in fraud attempts, rejected 49k fraudulent partnership enrollments, and blocked 1.6M bot signup attempts per hour. AI tools now allow fraudsters to create convincing e-commerce websites in minutes rather than days, featuring AI-generated product descriptions, images, and fake customer reviews that mimic legitimate businesses, with AI-powered chatbots adding another layer of deception, which interact with customers and stall complaints with scripted excuses to delay chargebacks.

Carl Rivera has been appointed Chief Design Officer at Shopify, marking the company's revival of the role after an eight-year hiatus. In a LinkedIn post, Rivera emphasized the growing importance of design in a post-AI world, describing it as key to shaping the next generation of technology interactions. He praised Shopify’s unique position at the intersection of merchant workflows and global buyers, calling on the design team to lead the company’s transformation.

Discord co-founder Jason Citron is stepping down as CEO to be replaced by Humam Sakhnini, who formerly held the positions of CFO and later President of Activision Blizzard. Citron will remain with the company as a member of its board of directors and an advisor to the new chief.

Phoebe Gates, the daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, launched an AI shopping app called Phia with her former roommate Sophia Kianni, designed to help shoppers compare prices on listings of clothing, shoes, and accessories. After installing the iOS app or Google Chrome extension, a “Should I Buy This?” button appears on product pages, which when clicked, scours the web to compare prices of new and used listings of the same and similar items before telling you whether the price is high, low, or typical. Phia uses AI to analyze current market trends and compare them against a database of 250M used goods from sites like The RealReal, ThredUp, StockX, eBay, and Poshmark. It's funny that she didn't also initially launch it as an Edge Addon.

Intel's new CEO Lip-Bu Tan is laying off as many as 20,000 employees and increasing the number of days that hybrid workers must come into the office from two to four per week. Tan said the cuts will affect people in the second quarter of 2025 “as quickly as possible over the next several months.” Last August, under previous leadership, the company laid off 15,000 people, or around 15% of its workforce, followed by 2,000 layoffs in October, and 2,300 so far this year, as part of ongoing cost-cutting moves.

Google is also demanding that some remote employees return to office if they want to keep their jobs, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC, including many employees who were previously approved for remote work. Google began offering some US full-time employees voluntary buyouts at the beginning of the year, and some remote staffers were told that this would be their only option of they didn't return to their nearest office at least three days a week.

Last but not least in layoffs this week… Meta let go of over 100 employees at its Reality Labs, which is a division dedicated to building virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality technologies, including products like Quest headsets and the metaverse. The company aims to streamline similar work being done across two different teams within Reality Labs, according to a Bloomberg source.

25% of American BNPL users are funding grocery purchases with the loans, up from 14% the year prior, according to a Lending Tree survey, while 41% of respondents said they made a late payment on a BNPL loan in the past year, up from 34% the year prior. CNBC says that the figures are the latest evidence that consumers are having trouble affording essentials like groceries due to high prices and interest rates.

🏆 This week's most ridiculous story… A New York man is spending up to 8 hours a day on Chinese shopping sites like Temu, Shein, and AliExpress to stockpile electronics and home goods before Trump's 120% tariff on Chinese goods takes effect on May 2nd. The man told Rest of World that he is stocking up on everything he thinks he will need over the next two to three years including a new computer, light bulbs, blankets, and other household items. This feels a bit toilet paper during the pandemic-ish, doesn't it?

10. Seed rounds, IPOs, & acquisitions

Etsy is selling Reverb, the online marketplace for musical instruments, for an undisclosed amount six years after purchasing it for $275M. Creator Partners, which was founded by former SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor, and Servco, the owner of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, entered into an agreement to buy the company, which will remain privately-held and independently operated like it was before Etsy's acquisition, as opposed to merging with one of the investors' companies.

Hokodo, a London fintech that provides BNPL solutions for B2B transactions, raised €10M in a round co-led by Korelya Capital and Opera Tech Ventures. The company will use the funds to roll out a new in-store solution to offline and omnichannel merchants across Europe.

Salsa, a New York startup that offers embedded payroll infrastructure that enables platforms to build and manage payroll services directly within their products, raised $20M in a Series A round led by Altos Ventures, bringing its total amount raised to $30M. The company will use the funds to double down on its efforts to enter the health care and personal services industries, where it believes payroll is hardest to get right.

Alternative Payments, a Phoenix-based global payment platform that enables merchants to accept local payment methods beyond credit cards, such as bank transfers and e-wallets, raised $22M in a round led by MissionOG and Third Prime. The company will use the funds to accelerate the development of its autonomous payment solutions and scale its go-to-market team.

TBA Worldwide, a network of specialized marketing agencies offering services across branding, media, digital, and PR, acquired SaleSurf Growth, a performance-driven Amazon marketing agency, for an undisclosed amount. SaleSurf Growth was founded in 2022 by Anthony Marsilio and its current client roster includes Heart & Soil, Lineage Provisions, Hostage Tape, and Nathan & Son's Underbrush.

Ant Bank, a Hong Kong-based digital bank owned by Ant Group that offers mobile banking services and wealth management, received $100M from its parent company, Ant International. The company plans to use the funds to further develop new products, expand collaborations with partners, and provide more personalized financial solutions to customers.

Hushday, a Dubai-based luxury sleepwear and loungewear brand, raised $550k in pre-seed funding from regional tech investors to launch the first invitation-only premium flash sales platform in the Middle East. The platform will help luxury brands manage excess inventory while preserving brand integrity, offering curated sales events in a private setting.

Manychat, a San Francisco-based platform that helps businesses automate conversations and marketing across Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and SMS using AI chatbots, raised $140M in a round led by Summit Partners, bringing its total amount raised to $163.3M. The company, which launched in 2015 and is a pioneer in the conversational AI industry, plans to use the funds to automate more social media interactions for brands, creators, and e-commerce businesses to hep them foster stronger relationships with their audiences.

Cloud Retail, a UK-based company formerly known as Jiffy that provides rapid grocery delivery and retail technology solutions for convenience stores and supermarkets, raised $3M in a round led by Somersault Ventures. The company will use the funds to further enhance the product and roll it out across more segments and countries within and beyond the EU and MENA regions.

Crisp, a New York-based collaborative commerce platform that connects brands and retailers by aggregating real-time retail data to improve inventory management, sales forecasting, and supply chain decisions, acquired Atheon Analytics and ClearBox Analytics — two UK companies that connect supply chain data across major retail chains and their CPG suppliers. Atheon's SKUtrak product helps CPGs improve their businesses with actionable demand intelligence, while ClearBox enhances visibility into grocery retail, food service, and supply chain performance.

Amazon invested $41M in Amazon Pay India, aiming to grow its market share against competitors like PhonePe and Google Pay, who have a combined market share of 85% across India's Unified Payments Interface. Amazon Pay is currently the eighth-largest UPI player by transaction volume as of March. The company received a payment aggregator license from the Reserve Bank of India in February and has also been approved for a wallet license.