Hi Shopifreaks
How's the start to your holiday season going so far? At my agency, we're in peak season right now preparing BFCM deals, and early deals, and early-early deals. LOL. For my particular clients, Q4 is already shaping up to be the best quarter they've ever had. Despite some reports of e-commerce sales slowing down this year, I'm only seeing numbers go up on my end.
That could just be anecdotal though. I'd be curious to hear if you're showing similar results already in Q4 with your businesses and clients. Hit reply and let me know.
In this week's edition I cover:
- Viral TikTok songs
- The FTC's new ‘Click to Cancel' rule
- AI-powered Google Shopping
- OpenStore's new OpenDesk tool
- Squarespace went private
- Mercari & Poshmark are rethinking buyer fees
- Etsy blocked Pirate Ship (or did they?)
- A benchmark report from 1WorldSync
- BNPL regulation updates in the US & UK
- X to let 3rd parties train their AI with your tweets
- Amazon goes nuclear
All this and more in this week's 196th Edition of Shopifreaks. Thanks for subscribing and sharing!
PS: Last week I mentioned that I would share the details of my upcoming giveaway with you in this week's edition. However unfortunately my whole house got sick last week, and I spent many days in bed causing me to fall behind on a few things. So forgive me, but the details are coming soon. I've just got a few logistics to work out about the giveaway. Thanks for your patience.
Stat of the Week
75% of viral songs on TikTok started with a paid creator marketing campaign, according to one major label marketer's estimates. However there's currently no way to track exactly how many songs go viral organically or because they are boosted by thousands of dollars worth of paid promo.
Captioning a video with #ad or similar disclosure is required by the FTC when creators receive compensation or free gifts in exchange for a post, but that same standard has never been set for the promotion of a song. Some larger creators fetch over $10,000 to use a song in one of their videos, while smaller creators can receive as little as $25 depending on their follower count.
1. The FTC adopts the ‘Click to Cancel' rule
The FTC adopted a ‘click to cancel' rule last week, which requires businesses to make it just as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up for it, along with other subscription-related consumer protections.
Here are the new rules:
- The cancellation process must be as simple as the sign-up process, and companies are prohibited from using deceptive tactics or difficult processes to retain customers.
- Businesses will have to get consent from customers before renewing subscriptions or converting free trials into paid memberships.
- Businesses will be banned from forcing customers to go through a chatbot or agent to cancel subscriptions that were originally signed up to using an app or website.
- Memberships signed up to in person must now offer the ability to terminate them by phone or online.
- Consumers have to know exactly what they're agreeing to before signing up, and sellers must be able to demonstrate that if it came down to it.
FTC chair Lina Khan said, “Too often, businesses make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription. The FTC’s rule will end these tricks and traps, saving Americans time and money. Nobody should be stuck paying for a service they no longer want.”
She added, “The pandemic brought to the surface just how businesses are making people jump through endless hoops,” and noted that requiring in-person cancellations while the businesses themselves were closed “really highlighted the absurdity of these practices.”
FTC commissioners passed the final rule on a 3-2 vote, with the three Democrats voting for it and the two Republicans voting against. Commissioner Melissa Holyoak published her dissent to the new rule in a 13-page document that effectively outlines why she hates consumers and wants to sabotage the FTC's work from the inside.
Well, it actually says that she feels the new rule oversteps the power of the FTC and wouldn't hold up under judicial scrutiny. She also accuses Lina Khan of “electioneering” by “rushing” the rule out right before the election to win her desired candidate political favor.
At one point Holyoak wrote about the timeliness of the rule, “Why the rush? There is a simple explanation. Less than a month from election day, the Chair is hurrying to finish a rule that follows through on a campaign pledge made by the Chair’s favored presidential candidate.”
Why the rush? Difficult-to-cancel subscriptions have been a problem for DECADES! As a consumer, this new rule doesn't feel rushed — it feels 30 years late.
Plus, are things not allowed to happen at the FTC during the October before an election? Everything has to be put on pause as to be fair to both candidates, according to Melissa Holyoak? Sorry if we interrupted your vacation.
In my opinion, this latest action by Khan is aligned with everything else she's done to protect consumers since becoming FTC Chair, regardless of its timing, and doesn't overstep the reach of the FTC, but rather, is exactly what the FTC was designed to do. However that statement is biased, as I'm a Lina Khan fanboy.
The new rules will go into effect in six months. So get ready to start canceling things!
2. The new and improved AI Google Shopping
Google is giving its Shopping platform a major overhaul with the help of AI. The company wrote in a blog post:
“We’re introducing a transformed Google Shopping — rebuilt from the ground up with AI. We’ve paired the 45 billion product listings in Google’s Shopping Graph with Gemini models to transform the online shopping experience with a new, personalized shopping home, which is rolling out in the U.S. over the coming weeks.”
Here's what's new:
1) AI generated shopping assistance
Google's AI shopping experience aims to simplify your search with friendly guidance. They offered the following example:
- A search for “Men's winter jacket for Seattle” will provide an AI brief highlighting the most important things you should know before buying a new jacket for this climate.
- It'll then show product recommendations alongside an explanation of why those items are a fit for your needs, with links to the articles it pulled the info from.
- Google will also break down the results into categories to help you navigate more easily, with dynamic filters that help you zero in on exactly what you're looking for.
- The new Shopping interface incorporates Google's virtual try-on feature and other AI & AR shopping tools.
2) Personalized shopping feeds
Google is now offering users a personalized shopping feed to help them discover new products they might be interested in based on their preferences and previous search histories. The feed is also designed to help consumers stay organized and pick up where they left off as they research purchases over several days or weeks.
The new feed is comparable to TikTok's “For You” feed and showcases recently viewed products at the top, making it easy to resume shopping.
Place your bets: How fast will this new feed become polluted with ads?
3) Deal finding tools
The new interface includes deal finding tools such as price comparisons, price insights and price tracking, as well as a new dedicated and personalized deals page.
Google noted that the new AI generated briefs are experimental, which means they may not always get it right, and they encourage users to provide feedback through the tool.
In other Google news this week… the company added two new verification methods to its Google Merchant Center. Merchants can now verify their accounts via their business e-mail or by connecting their e-commerce platform. The old ways involved adding HTML tags or connecting Google Tag manager, which were a bit confusing for some merchants.
3. OpenStore launches AI-Powered Customer Support
OpenStore introduced OpenDesk, an AI-powered customer support tool that helps brand respond faster to customers and gain insights on their interactions. The tool enables brands to combine all their customer messages into one central dashboard, with messages automatically organized by topic so that teams can prioritize time-sensitive threads and their most valuable customers. (I need that for my Gmail.)
OpenDesk can also auto-draft responses that can be personalized with relevant customer data such as order history, which appear next to the messages pane. Its analytics tools introduce a customer experience metric called “tickets per order” to more accurately evaluate and size the potential impact of customer pain points or opportunities to improve your business.
OpenStore built OpenDesk to support its own customer service needs across the 40+ e-commerce brands it operates, and now it's opening the tool up to other companies.
OpenStore CEO Keith Rabois told Modern Retail that OpenDesk was built because the company was “hiring more and more customer support agents, and they were extremely expensive. We had this epiphany of — while we’re going to solve this problem for ourselves — isn’t this really true for the other five and a half million Shopify stores? Don’t they all have the same challenges and problems as we do?”
I think the move is really smart. Here's what it accomplishes for OpenStore:
- Diversifies their income streams from lower margin e-commerce sales to higher margin software sales (that require no working capital for inventory).
- Creates revenue from a tool that they had already sunk the time into building for themselves anyway.
- Brings new Shopify stores into the OpenStore ecosystem, who could eventually be a fit for their Drive program (where they run your business for 12 months) or a potential acquisition.
Some of the best ideas have come from brand owners who had a need that wasn't being met. Two recent launches come to mind:
- Distro, a made-on-demand platform that manufactures wood products, was launched because the owner Jarek had built out an entire network, process, and technology just for his own business, Lone Birch, so he decided to scale the manufacturing operations beyond his own retail footprint.
- PartnerJam, an affiliate software specifically designed for Shopify apps, was developed by the team at Digismoothie to power the affiliate program of their own portfolio of apps and services, and they later began offering it to other app developers as well.
Something tells me this won't be the last app or SaaS product we'll see from the OpenStore team!
Disclosure: OpenStore is one of our sponsors. While the OpenDesk announcement was requested by OpenStore to be a Partner News story this week (ie: sponsored post), those news stories can occasionally overlap with news that I would otherwise cover anyway as a headline story, as it did this week. Since I wanted to add more details and commentary, I ran it as an editorial piece instead.
4. Squarespace officially a private company again
Permira completed its $7.2B acquisition of Squarespace, officially taking the company private again. With the completion of the deal, Squarespace is no longer listed on the NYSE.
As part of the transaction, Squarespace founder and CEO Anthony Casalena rolled over a majority of his existing equity and continues to be one of the largest shareholders in the company. He will also continue to serve as the company's CEO and Board Chairman.
Casalena wrote, “We are excited to embark on a new chapter with Permira, one focused on our long-term strategy and commitment to serving entrepreneurs globally. For more than 20 years we have provided customers with all the tools they need to stand out and succeed. This commitment will remain the same as we continue to offer our customers more and more tools to grow their businesses online.”
Quick history of the deal:
- Squarespace first announced in May 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).
- A week after it was announced, 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.
- Four months later, Permira agreed to up its offer price to $7.2B (or $46.50 per share) to take Squarespace private.
- One month later the deal closed.
- All-and-all it took only 5 months from announcement to close the deal.
Alongside the Permira deal, American Express completed its planned acquisition of Tock, a reservation, table, and event management technology provider, from Squarespace.
What are your predictions for Squarespace now that it's gone private? Are you bullish or bearish on the long term success of the business? Hit reply and let me know or join the convo on my LinkedIn post.
5. Companies are rethinking buyer fees
Two weeks ago I reported (story #2) that eBay will begin charging buyer fees instead of seller fees in the UK, following in the footsteps of Mercari, Poshmark, Depop, and Delcampe, all which shifted fees from sellers to buyers this year.
I've reported on many of those stories in the past and am always very vocal about the fact that I think shifting fees from the seller to the buyer is a terrible idea. It takes an absorbed cost of doing business that was previously hidden to the customer for decades, and turns it into a buyer tax and surprise fee.
Well flash forward to present day…
Some of those companies might be realizing the error of their ways. Liz Morton of Value Added Resource reports that Mercari is currently testing adding buyer fees back into the item price.
Here's why this solution is still terrible:
- Previously sellers could set their sale price and shipping fees and display the exact price they want to show customers.
- Then Mercari shifted the fees to buyers instead, which was dumb, but it still let sellers control their list price.
- Now by adding the buyer fees — which are variable — back into the item price, sellers have lost control over what final price customers are seeing. Their $75.00 product can become an oddly priced $81.67, which could ultimately push it out of results for customers searching with a price filter.
Morton also reported that Poshmark is rethinking its new fee structure as well. The company announced, “We want to take a moment to thank you for your valuable feedback regarding our recent fee changes. We hear your concerns and are actively reevaluating these updates to ensure they align with your needs and expectations.”
Does this mean Poshmark will be reverting back to its old seller fee system? I'll be patiently waiting to see if the company comes to their senses.
I understand the idea behind shifting the fees to buyers. Attract more sellers to our platform with commission-free sales!
However when the quid pro quo becomes lose frustrated buyers, then the concept becomes a net loss.
6. Etsy to block Pirate Ship and other 3rd party shipping apps?
Etsy sent out a notice informing sellers that moving forward, Shippo and Shipstation will be the only third-party shipping services to be offered on the website. This means that other providers like Pirate Ship, Easyship, and ShippingEasy will no longer be offered as an integration. There's since been much confusion around what this notice actually means.
Etsy's notice to sellers stated:
“For sellers shipping from the US, as of October 21, 2024, Shippo and ShipStation are the only third-party shipping apps which, when integrated into your Etsy account, will automatically import and export all shipping-related data between your shop and the shipping partner. If you’re a US seller and you’ve integrated a third-party shipping service other than Shippo or ShipStation before October 21, 2024, these services will continue to function as usual, with shipping data being automatically imported and exported.”
Pirate Ship was caught off guard by the unexpected news and sent customers an e-mail:
“Etsy says that any connections that were made before Monday ‘will continue to function as usual,' but since existing connections sometimes require reauthorization, it’s unclear if you will be able to continue importing orders from Etsy in the future.”
“Please know that we’re actively attempting to contact Etsy to understand why they did this and try to restore the effortless service you deserve, but unfortunately Etsy has not responded to any of our outreach.”
Note that even if these other 3rd party providers wouldn't be able to integrate with Etsy, sellers could still use them. They'd just have to manually enter the customer and shipping info and then manually add the tracking number — a cumbersome process.
I'm a huge fan of Pirate Ship — incredible prices and support — and they're usually my top recommendation for small merchants. It's frustrating that Etsy would take away such a great solution so willy-nilly.
And that's not to say that Shippo and Shiptation aren't also great solutions with competitive rates. I've used both for client projects in the past and have no complaints with either. I'm just curious why Etsy would remove the choice from sellers.
A confusing update to the story:
E-commerce consultant Cindy Baldassi posted about the issue on LinkedIn, and GeekSeller co-founder Daniel Sodkiewicz chimed in on the comments.
Sodkiewicz pointed out that there are thousands of 3PL companies and inventory management platforms like GeekSeller that Etsy sellers currently connects to, and that he can't imagine they'd all lose access. He wrote:
“Is this some kind of incorrect language, and should it just be said that those two partners are preferred? I've read the announcement multiple times and still don't understand it. As app developers, we haven’t received any email from Etsy about it. The app developer portal shows our app is in good standing, and all the API documentation is still available to build apps that support order management. So, I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen on October 21st.”
Baldassi also shared an update from Pirate Ship which read:
“We're pretty confident these changes won't affect Pirate Ship's integration with Etsy, as our integration is not an Etsy app that is installed within an Etsy account. Instead, it's an integration installed in Pirate Ship directly that requires the purchase labels within our platform. As of now, we don't foresee any changes for those who currently use our Etsy integration or those who install the Etsy integration after this deadline.”
So in summary? No-one knows what's eventually going to happen. However as of this morning, Etsy sellers are reporting on the forum that their Pirate Ship integrations are still working. I'll update this story as more information is revealed.
7. Consumer Product Content Benchmark Report
1WorldSync released its fourth annual Consumer Product Content Benchmark Report, featuring insights collected from 1,750 shoppers across the US and Canada. Below are some highlights from the report:
- 41% of shoppers increased their use of e-commerce sites and marketplaces compared to last year. Only 9% reduced their online shopping activity.
- 15% indicated that they are shopping on D2C sites more than in 2023, compared to 21% who are using D2C sites less (which likely means they are shopping on more marketplaces).
- The number of shoppers who always use smartphones for product research while in-store doubled from 2023, with 11% doing so on every trip. On average, consumers used their devices on more than half of shopping trips, up five points from 2023.
- 65% of shoppers say they often or always read ratings and reviews, with customer submitted images, videos, and FAQ sections as the most important factors they consider.
- 49% of shoppers said they leave product detail pages that have too few customer ratings and reviews.
- In store, 64% of consumers have scanned QR codes to compare prices, check reviews, view product information, or access coupons, up from 46% last year.
- 31% of shoppers now use ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or other AI assistants to help inform their choices, up from 22% last year.
- However consumer confidence in these tools is still lacking. Just 35% said they found AI tools to be accurate often or always.
- 42% of consumers plan to complete more of their holiday shopping online this year than last, with 10% planning to do all of their holiday shopping online.
- 18% of shoppers say they never leave product reviews, even though they're likely part of the 65% of shoppers who often or always the reviews. Well that's not very nice!
- 25% of shoppers increased their use of fast-fashion websites like Temu or Shein compared to 2023.
- 49% of consumers made a purchase from an influencer recommendation in the past year, up from 40% last year.
- 26% of consumers made a purchase through TikTok Shop, primarily driven by influencer recommendations and attractive discounts.
Check out the full report for more details.
8. BNPL regulation from sea to sea
The UK government is set to introduce regulations on BNPL products, aiming to protect consumers and promote responsible lending practices.
A consultation on the draft legislation began on Oct 17th and will remain open until Nov 29th, with legislation expected to follow based on the feedback.
The proposed regulation aims to enforce affordability checks, clear disclosures, and protections under the Consumer Duty, aligning BNPL with existing credit card rules, much like what the US recently did. The government would offer a transition period for BNPL companies to catch up to speed, to avoid disruptions in the market.
Meanwhile in the USA…
The Financial Technology Association filed a lawsuit challenging the CFPB's new rule on BNPL products, saying that the rule “oversteps legal bounds.” In May, the CFPB ruled that BNPL vendors are classified as credit card providers and must provide the same legal protections and rights to consumers as conventional cards, such as the right to dispute charges and demand a refund from the lender.
FTA President and CEO Penny Lee said, “Unfortunately, the CFPB’s rushed interpretative rule falls short on multiple counts, oversteps legal bounds, and risks creating confusion for consumers. The CFPB is seeking to fundamentally change the regulatory treatment of pay-in-four BNPL products without adhering to required rulemaking procedures, in excess of its statutory authority, and in an unreasonable manner.”
Is it a thing now that whenever opposition doesn't like a new rule, they say it was “rushed”? It took the CFPB like 2+ years just to come up with that! It may not be great, but it certainly wasn't rushed…
9. Other e-commerce news of interest
Former Amazon employee Stephanie Ramos shared the reasons why she quit Amazon just 11 weeks after rejoining the company, which she previously worked at for six years. The tell-all article highlights her interview and new hire experiences at Amazon for the second time, as well as shares how the company has changed under CEO Andy Jassy's leadership. Ramo' post received thousands of likes and engagements, with dozens of current and former Amazon employees sharing their similar frustrations about the company in the comments.
Bonanza is removing the $2 tax fee that it implemented last year for sellers who choose not to use its platform to print shipping labels. Now they want a cookie for their generous move. LOL. The company wrote, “We understand that every dollar counts. To help lower your expenses and streamline your operations, we are removing the $2 shipping assessment fee starting in November. This last assessment you will receive is November 1st so this means more savings for you and a simpler, more cost-effective process.” Does it count as “helping to lower expenses” if you're the one that added the fee in the first place?
Indian online retailers and marketplaces sold over $6.5B worth of goods in one week of festive sales, marking a 26% increase YoY. Mobile phones, electronics, consumer durables, home and general merchandise accounted for 3/4 of the total sales.
British authorities are investigating TikTok for potential money laundering and terrorism financing taking place on its platform via its TikTok Coins, which can be converted back into real money. The regulatory concerns are similar to those associated with cryptocurrency exchanges
X alerted users that effective Nov 15th, their data can be used to train AI models for third party collaborators, which would extend the data's availability behind the company's own Grok AI model and let X license it to outside companies (like Reddit does with Google). The policy update indicates that users have the ability to opt-out, but it doesn't make it clear how to do so at this time. X is also planning on changing how its block feature works. The change would allow blocked people to see your public posts (instead of seeing nothing like now) — they just won't be able to like, repost, or reply. News of these changes resulted in a surge of 1M new users signing up for Bluesky in a 48-hour period.
Amazon announced plans to invest in three nuclear energy projects that will use a new type of miniature reactor to generator power. AWS Chief Executive Matt Garman said, “Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040.”
Klarna's BNPL payment options are now available to Apple Pay users in the US and UK with options including pay in three or four installments and financing for higher-ticket items. The offering will be expanded globally, with Canada set to be added next in the coming months.
Amazon is piloting a new small-format grocery concept in Chicago called Amazon Grocery that's meant for quick fill-in grocery runs with items like coffee, fruit, and grab-and-go meals. The pilot store is located within the same building as its Whole Foods store, with the goal of removing the need for Whole Foods customers to have to shop elsewhere. Just sell soda in Whole Foods and get it over with already!
Apple is now allowing businesses to display their logos in phone calls, e-mails, map listings, and Apple Pay transactions. Apple's Business Connect launched in January 2023 and previously let users confirm their details, add photos, offer promotions, and receive orders, but now the new capabilities help businesses personalize their everyday phone call and email experiences.
Blinkit, an India-based delivery company that promises to deliver groceries and household goods in 10 minutes, introduced a 10 minute return and exchange service for clothing and footwear in select cities The move aims to address common online shopping concerns, such as size and fit issues, by making it relatively instant to swap out your purchases. At that point, the delivery driver might as well wait at your door while you try on the shoes!
Taboola is unveiling a new AI-powered chat assistant called Abby to help make it easier for advertisers to create and run campaigns. Businesses will be able to enter conversational prompts like, “I own a flower shop and want more people to come to my website to buy flowers,” and from there the chatbot will spin up an ad campaign including both the text and images.
Alibaba launched a new large language model called Macro MT that's focused specifically on translations, with the hope of aiding buyers and sellers with cross-border e-commerce and trade efforts. Macro MT will integrate into Alibaba International's platforms including AliExpress, Lazada, and Trendyol, and will support 15 languages at launch, with more on the way.
The Korean government published plans to require e-commerce marketplaces to pay sales proceeds to sellers within 20 days of when a customer makes a purchase (which is still fairly long in my opinion, but better than nothing). The plan also requires the marketplaces to deposit at least half of the sales proceeds in financial institutions to ensure that sellers can recover at least some of their money if the platform goes bankrupt. The changes are in response to the recent drama (story #6) with WeMakePrice and Tmon.
Amazon reprised its “holiday beauty haul” for a fourth year — which is its annual two week event where it runs discounts between 10% and 50% off on thousands of gift sets and beauty products on brands like BareMinerals, Clinique, and Maybelline. This year the event will run from today, Oct 21st, through Nov 3rd, with new deals dropping at various times throughout the two weeks.
Meta fired two dozen Facebook employees at its Los Angeles HQ for “abusing” their $25 meal credits by buying every day goods instead of meals. How does Amazon know I don't eat hand cream? That's personal. Aside from those particular terminations, Meta also laid off, repositioned, and relocated other employees from various departments including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, which the company says is to align with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy.
Google's most senior executive overseeing search and advertising, Prabhakar Raghavan, is leaving the position to become chief technologist after four years leading the company's core business. CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a staff memo, “He’ll partner closely with me and Google leads to provide technical direction and leadership and grow our culture of tech excellence.” Nick Fox, a long-serving search executive, will replace Raghavan in the role.
Airbnb launched a new Co-Host Network that allows hosts to find top-rated co-hosts to help manage their properties. Currently only hosts with at least a 4.8 rating and a minimum of 10 hosted stays are invited to join the network, which is active in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the UK, and the US. Really brilliant idea! Airbnb owners are often looking for management for their properties, and no better place to find it than on the platform itself.
X dropped Unilever from an antitrust lawsuit accusing several companies and advertising groups of conspiring to boycott the platform, which it claims led to a decline in ad revenue. The two companies reached an agreement, with X committing to uphold Unilever's brand safety standards on the platform. Unilever brands include Dove soaps, Hellmann's condiments, and Pepsodent toothpaste. So is the plan to drop the lawsuit only against companies who agree to continue advertising on X? That seems like a weird “settlement”. Usually settlements don't inflate advertising metrics.
Adobe started distributing an AI model called Firefly Video Model that can generate video from text prompts and offers a special focus on making the AI footage blend in with conventional footage. Ely Greenfield, Adobe's chief technology officer for digital media, told Reuters, “We really focus on fine-grain control, teaching the model the concepts that video editors and videographers use – things like camera position, camera angle, camera motion.”
Walmart is offering an extended holiday returns policy for any items purchased from Oct 1 to Dec 31, 2024 — excluding wireless phones, protection plans, AppleCare, precious metals, and luxury items. (What's considered a ‘luxury item' nowadays? Like an apple? Fruit's expensive now in the US.) All non-excluded items can be returned until January 31, 2025. Meanwhile Costco is like, “Hold my beer…”
WhatsApp is getting a new chat memory feature that gives users a more tailored experience when searching on the app by remembering things like their interests, likes, and enjoyment, or if they are vegan. The feature is still in beta, but once it launches, users will have control over what the chatbot remembers, and they'll be able to remove and update data.
eBay introduced a new “Top-Service” label in Germany, allowing commercial sellers to stand out on the platform by highlighting certain aspects of their service, such as timely shipping and above average customer service. Sellers do not need to sign up to be eligible to receive the label, which does not have a cost. Alongside the change, eBay Germany is dropping its “eBay Guarantee” and “eBay Plus” logos.
Bestbuy Baby, which has nothing to do with Best Buy the electronics retailer and is actually a baby retailer that had been part of the Bed Bath & Beyond group, is closing all of its brick-and-mortar stores to relaunch as a strictly online platform. The retailer previously closed and liquidated 115 locations last year when its parent company went bankrupt, but then months later announced a new strategy and the opening of 11 new stores, which will soon be shuttered.
TikTok Shop is introducing the sale of refurbished electronics from select sellers on its platform, all which are required to meet specific performance standards. For example, sellers must provide reports from an approved 3rd party like PhoneCheck, Blancco, or BlackBelt, who inspect and rate the quality of the refurbished products. Currently only “premium” or “excellent” items can be sold.
10. Seed rounds, IPOs, & acquisitions
Klarna is selling most of its portfolio of short-term, interest-free loans to Elliott Advisors, a London-based hedge fund, for £30B. Earlier this year, Klarna sold its Klarna Checkout business for $515M, but then later went on to acquire the assets of the New Zealand-based BNPL firm Laybuy. All this restructuring is in anticipation of the company's planned IPO.
Descartes, an Ontario-based logistics and supply chain provider, acquired Sellercloud, a New Jersey-based provider of omnichannel ecommerce solutions, for $110M plus additional performance-based incentives. Sellercloud's inventory and order management solutions are set to enhance Descartes' existing e-commerce shipping, fulfillment, and warehouse management solutions.
Ocula, a UK-based AI platform that helps merchants enhance product copy at scale, raised £4M in a Series A round led by NYO Capital and Jose Luis Gomes, following its £3.25M round in August. The company will use the funds to expand into the US market.
Kaspi.kz, the largest payments, marketplace, and fintech in Kazakhstan, acquired the majority share of Hepsiburada, one of the most popular e-commerce marketplace in Türkiye, for $1.1B. Following the completion of the transaction, both companies will maintain their own brands and organizational structures, but plan on helping each other out with new product development and shared insights.
Fenix Commerce, a platform that helps merchants increase conversion rates with real-time delivery dates, acquired Ocurate, a Silicon Valley-based machine learning company that uses first-party customer data to generate immediate customer value predictions, for an undisclosed amount. The deal will extend Fenix's AI capabilities, which will help the company further increase incremental conversation rate improvements and increase AOV for its customers.
Private equity firms GIC and Silver Lake have agreed to acquire Zuora, a publicly-traded software company that helps businesses manage their subscription-based services, for $1.7B. The all-cash deal is expected to close in early 2025 and will take the company private.
Yellow Card, a US-founded crypto platform that launched in Nigeria in 2019 and has become the country's most funded crypto exchange, raised $33M in a Series C round led by Blockchain Capital, bringing its total amount raised to $88M. After the company reached 1M users in 2021, it pivoted to focus on helping businesses across Africa with payments and treasury management, primarily through stablecoins.
Autone, a London-based AI powered inventory management platform that helps retailers predict demand and reduce waste, raised $17M in a Series A round led by General Catalyst. The company will use the funds to accelerate product development and continue its expansion and hiring across the US and Europe.
Tebi, a Netherlands-based fintech that offers a mobile-first solution for POS, payments, reservations, QR ordering, bookkeeping, and inventory management, raised €20M in a Series A round led by Index Ventures. The company's goal is to bring enterprise-level capabilities to independent businesses mixed with the intuitive experience of a consumer app.
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Paul E. Drecksler
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PS: Why didn't the sun go to college? … Because it already had a million degrees!