#188 – Shopify-tube, Peloton’s cash grab, & Ikea’s preowned furniture marketplace

by Shopifreaks | Aug 26, 2024 | Recent Newsletters

Hi Shopifreaks!

Before get started, I want to share an earned media experiment I've got going on with Linkifi.io.

What is earned media? It's news articles, interviews, or features that aren't paid for (ie: not sponsored posts) and that you didn't create yourself (ie: not guest posts).

You're familiar with HARO? That's one way to obtain earned media, contributing to news articles.

In the e-commerce and blogger worlds, folks often leverage earned media to also gain links from publications with high domain authority to enhance their SEO efforts.

Technically, earned media is free — if you've got the time.

Can you reach out to journalists, make relationships, establish yourself as an expert, respond to journalist outreach for quotes and/or scour HARO and other platforms looking for earned media opportunities? And can you do all that efficiently with all the other responsibilities you've got on your plate? Maybe, but probably not.

That's why there are companies that do the above for you as a service. So while the earned media itself is free, you are paying these PR agents to help you discover the opportunities.

I recently started working with a PR agent called Linkifi.io. When they reached out to me, I almost instinctively ignored the message, as I do with anything related to link building. But then I ended up hopping on a call with one of the founders, Chris Panteli, and became impressed with how they operate. Chris and his team understood my concerns about link building and addressed them by explaining their process of scouring for press opportunities and pitching reporters on your behalf, operating as your agent as opposed the type of link outreach service that we all hate hearing from.

Given that my words are my only product on Shopifreaks, I was extremely reluctant to “outsource” the writing, but I understand that it's crucial to their process, giving them the ability to move quick.

As part of their onboarding process, we went in-depth into which opportunities to focus on, which topics to avoid, how to write in my tone, etc. For example, I have to be very careful not to endorse any companies, because it could conflict with my sponsors. Or another example, I hate BNPL with a passion, and wouldn't want them to submit anything that was contrary to my very publicly stated opposition to BNPL.

It still took a leap of faith, but I think they are the real deal, so I've entered into an agreement with Linkifi.io for 5 earned media opportunities gratis in exchange for documenting my results via a live case study. As an added incentive, I've also joined their affiliate program, and the links in this e-mail and on the case study are my affiliate links.

So far I've earned one feature on Startups-co-uk. Checkout my Live Case Study with Linkfi.io to learn more about the experiment and see how that first link impacted my domain authority.

And now onto your regularly scheduled programming…

In this week's edition I cover:

Recording breaking spend on mobile devices
Shopify's partnership with YouTube Shopping
Peloton's new fee on secondhand sales
Ikea launches a preowned marketplace
Instacart's new money saving features
Adyen offers Fastlane by PayPal
Are Amazon drivers employees or contractors?
Shein is suing Temu again
DC's antitrust case against Amazon is back
TikTok's holiday shopping guide for merchants
CEOs new love for selfie videos

All this and more in this week's 188th Edition of Shopifreaks. Thanks for subscribing and sharing!

Stat of the Week

Mobile shopping accounted for $280.4B in sales so far in 2024. This record breaking spend represents a 10.2% YoY growth from the same period in 2023. — According to Adobe Analytics

1. Shopify Merchants + YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program

YouTube and Shopify are now allowing all eligible Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the US to sign up for YouTube Shopping's affiliate program through the Google & YouTube app on Shopify. This update will make thousands of brands available for creators to tag in shopping content across YouTube.

Shopify and YouTube originally partnered in 2022 to let merchants sell their products on YouTube via livestreams, videos, and store tabs, and the two companies are now extending their collaboration.

What is the YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program?

YouTube launched its Shopping Affiliate Program in July 2023. The program allows creators to earn commissions by promoting products through affiliate links directly on the platform. Initially it was only available to select creators, but over the past year, they've slowly loosened the eligibility requirements.

Today, the requirements are that a YouTuber needs to be located in the US or Korea, a member of the YouTube Partner Program, have more than 10k subscribers, and not be a music channel or kids channel.

For Creators: They now have access to thousands of more independent brands to promote through the program, which was previously limited to select larger brands.

For Sellers: Shopify merchants have a new way to reach audiences on YouTube through affiliate collaborations with creators. Merchants can oversee the program, content and product analytics via Google Merchant Center.

Additionally, Google added a new Chrome extension that enables US creators in the affiliate program to save products while browsing a Shopify merchant's website, making it easier to tag the products in a video later. Creators can also discover how much they would earn from promoting the product in their YouTube videos without leaving their Shopify site.

A much needed and long overdue partnership!

TikTok Shop launched in the US in Sep 2023 and already boasts more than 500k merchants on its platform less than a year later, which TikTok Creators can earn commission by promoting their products.

There are currently more than 28k merchants on Shopify Plus and over 1M non-Plus Shopify stores in the US — of which Shopify doesn't provide an exact breakdown of how many merchants are on the Advanced Plan. However either way, this partnership with Shopify quickly helps catch YouTube up to TikTok in terms of affiliate product selection for their creators, and helps keep YouTube creators from jumping ship to TikTok in order to have access to more products to promote.

Honestly, this Shopify + YouTube Affiliate partnership is a match made in heaven for creators and merchants.

Merchants can follow the steps here to join the YouTube Shopping affiliate program.

2. Congrats on your secondhand Peloton! That'll be $95…

Peloton pissed off customers after announcing a new $95 activation fee for anyone in the US or Canada who buys a secondhand bike on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist (or any other secondhand marketplaces). This fee is in addition to the $12.99/month or $24/month subscription required to operate the bike after purchasing it.

The activation fee includes:

$25 spare parts credit
50% off coupon for up to three pairs of Peloton cycling shoes
A Peloton Bike mat
A virtual onboarding session
A hot fresh desperation sandwich from Peloton

Peloton wrote in a letter to shareholders that it wants to “ensure these new Members receive the same high-quality onboarding experience Peloton is known for” and that the new activation fee will be “a source of incremental revenue and gross profit” for the company, which will help it improve the “fitness experience” for members.

Sounds great Peloton. Add more value and make it optional!

Peloton owners criticized the move:

A Reddit user said, “It'll get to the point where people selling their equipment will offer to cover the activation fee to incentivize potential buyers. So ultimately (eventually) the original owner will be the one eating the cost.”
Longtime Peloton user Sarah Haeck told Business Insider, “It makes me sad to see it become more of a money grab for those trying to improve their health.”
Commenters on a Facebook post called the move “greedy,” a “really bad move,” a “bad look, kind of desperate,” and gave the new fee “two thumbs down!”

The decision comes amid Peloton's ongoing effort to correct a major post-pandemic share decline. PTON was trading between $130 – $168 per share during its peak in 2020-2021, but now trades between $2-5 per share.

In the last couple of years, the company has gone through multiple rounds of job cuts, a recall of 2M bikes, and two CEOs.

Maybe they can hire Brian Niccol for a turnaround, and he can virtually commute 1,000 miles on his Peloton to get to work each day.

3. Ikea launches a pre-owned marketplace

Have you ever wanted to own a slightly used piece of furniture from Ikea? Historically we've called those items “garbage,” but now the furniture maker is hoping to that its new peer-to-peer platform for buying and selling second hand furniture will breathe new life into your Ikea coffee table.

“Ikea Preowned” marks the company's entry into the peer-to-peer secondhand market and positions it as a direct competitor to resale marketplaces like eBay, Craigslist, Kaiyo, and OfferUp.

Here's how it works:

Sellers list their furniture by uploading photos and setting a price.
Ikea's AI automatically adds promotional images and measurements to enhance the listing.
Buyers collect items directly from sellers.
Sellers can choose to receive payment in their local currency or an Ikea voucher with a 15% bonus (or get paid in meatballs, LOL).
It's not yet clear how much of a commission or transaction fee Ikea takes from the purchases.

The move aligns with Ikea's sustainability goals as it aims to become “circular and climate positive” by 2030.

Karen Pflug, chief sustainability officer at Ingka Group (Ikea's largest franchise retailer), said, “Don't think because we've got low prices that we're throw-away-able.”

The preowned platform is currently being tested in Madrid and Oslo, with plans for a global rollout by the end of the year.

Ikea also offers a Buy Back & Resell program that it launched in 2021, where the company itself pays for your furniture and then resells the products as-is in their store, as well as a spare parts program where the company will ship you screws, knobs, or hinges at no cost to extend the life of your furniture.

I joked in the intro about used Ikea furniture historically being called “garbage” — but in all sincerity, I applaud the company's sustainability efforts and hope to see more programs like this from retailers in the future.

4. Instacart's new money saving features

Instacart is launching new money-saving features for customers that are “designed to put affordability front and center in the Instacart app and help our customers stretch their dollars further.” The features include:

Personal Digital Flyer – transforms printed grocery circulars into a digital format that customers can browse each week to find the best deals.
$0 Delivery Fees on Next Day Grocery Orders Over $10 – a new delivery option that waives the $7.99 delivery fee if you're okay with having the order delivered the next day (instead of same day).
$0 Pick-Up Fees – all pickup fees are now waived on orders over $35. Instacart charged a pickup fee? Weak. Should I tip too?
Loyalty Card Savings at More Stores – Instacart expanded loyalty with other popular retailers to ensure that customers can access the same loyalty card savings as if they were shopping in-store.
Expanded EBT / SNAP Access – families can use their SNAP benefits at 180 retailers nationwide, spanning over 30k stores and reaching nearly 98% of SNAP households in the US.

Instacart cited a LendingTree survey in its announcement that found that 40% of consumers expect to go into debt over back-to-school shopping this year, at an average cost of $793.

The company wrote: “With extreme costs like that, it’s more important than ever to find ways to save. At Instacart, we’re always working to give people more opportunities to save on food and essential household items…”

I love how tech companies come in and increase the cost of grocery shopping for consumers in the name of convenience, and then position themselves as heros when they throw some breadcrumbs at their customers. Please sir, I want some more loyalty points.

5. Adyen to offer Fastlane by PayPal, and PayPal to launch a mobile wallet in the EU

Adyen and PayPal are partnering up to offer the Fastlane by PayPal checkout experience to Adyen's enterprise and marketplace customers. The rollout will begin with Adyen's customers in the US and then extend globally.

Fastlane is a new guest checkout experience that allows customers to make purchase using their saved payment info without having to log into their account on an e-commerce website. PayPal introduced Fastlane in January and expanded its availability earlier this month to any business using PayPal's Complete Payments or Braintree platforms.

Alex Chriss, President and CEO of PayPal, said, “Adyen’s customer base and relationships with enterprises makes them the ideal first Fastlane payment processing partner. This strategic partnership aligns with our goal to make PayPal available everywhere customers shop globally.”

Adyen and PayPal have partnered for many years to allow Adyen's customers to offer PayPal, Venmo, and PayPal's BNPL solution to their customers, so the new integration simply extends the two companies' integration.

In other PayPal news… the company is planning to challenge Apple in the EU by developing a mobile wallet for EU users that takes advantage of the iPhone's newly opened-up NFC capabilities in the region.

During a recent earnings call, PayPal CEO Alex Chriss noted that some of the changes coming in Europe around NFC would open opportunities for the company, and that PayPal would be prepared to “play in that space.” Moving forward in the EU, consumers will be able to set a third-party wallet as their default on the iPhone instead of Apple Wallet, as part of Apple's compliance with new regulation.

Which mobile wallet will you choose?

6. Amazon drivers are employees according to the NLRB, which is how they've felt for years

A regional National Labor Relations Board director determined that Amazon is a joint employer of contractors hired as Amazon delivery drivers, marking a big loss for Amazon, which has long argued that its drivers were exclusively employed by its delivery service partners, not by Amazon.

This relationship (or lack of) with its drivers has historically allowed Amazon to take no responsibility for bargaining with driver unions and no responsibility for alleged union busting. However now that golden era of lack of accountability may be coming to an end.

The Amazon delivery drivers' union calls the decision “a groundbreaking decision that sets the stage for Amazon delivery drivers across the country to organize with the Teamsters.”

Arstechnica reports:

The NLRB regional director confirmed that as a joint employer, Amazon had “unlawfully failed and refused to bargain with the union” after terminating their DSP's contract and terminating “all unionized employees.” The NLRB found that rather than bargaining with the union, Amazon “delayed start times by grounding vans and not preparing packages for loading,” withheld information from the union, and “made unlawful threats.” Teamsters said those threats included “job loss” and “intimidating employees with security guards.”

Sean M. O’Brien, the Teamsters general president, said:

“Amazon drivers have taken their future into their own hands and won a monumental determination that makes clear Amazon has a legal obligation to bargain with its drivers over their working conditions. This strike has paved the way for every other Amazon worker in the country to demand what they deserve and to get Amazon to the bargaining table.”

Unless a settlement is reached, the NLRB will soon issue a complaint against Amazon and prosecute the company after finding that “Amazon engaged in a long list of egregious unfair labor practices at its Palmade facility.”

Amazon claims that the Teamsters are trying to “misrepresent what is happening here,” and the company is taking issue with the union claiming that an NLRB determination on the merits of their case is a major win without it yet issuing a final ruling.

Next Steps: NLRB will determine if the remaining allegations should be determined by a judge, which if so, Amazon will have opportunities to appeal any unfavorable rulings.

7. Shein is suing Temu again, this time for copyright infringement

In a civil complaint filed in Washington DC, Shein alleged that Temu encourages sellers to steal other brands' designs, and then prevents the sellers from removing the products from the platform, even when the seller admits to infringement. Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black!

In a complaint filed to the federal court in Washington on Monday, Shein also claims that:

Temu is counterfeiting goods, stealing trade secrets, and confusing its customers with an “illegal” business model.
Temu directed sellers to copy its products after a Temu employee stole sales data and pricing information about best selling items on Shein.
Temu encouraged sellers to use copyrighted images of Shein products on their listings, ran ads that appeared to be from Shein but actually directed viewers to Temu's website, and paid influencers to make false claims about Shein goods.

Temu rebutes Shein's accusations. A spokesperson told Nikkei Asia, “The audacity is unbelievable. Shein, buried under its own mountain of IP lawsuits, has the nerve to fabricate accusations against others for the very misconduct they're repeatedly sued for.”

The spokesperson is referring to the fact that Shein has previously been sued by Uniqlo, H&M and Levi Strauss over similar allegations.

To be fair, some of the evidence is pretty damning. Check out the image on CNBC (about halfway down the article) that shows Shein designs vs Temu designs.

If these allegations feel familiar, it's because Shein and Temu have previously been involved in lawsuits against one another.

December 2022: Shein accused Temu of paying social media influencers to make “false and deceptive statements” against the company in their promotions of Temu, and tricking customers into downloading the Temu app using “imposter” social media accounts.
July 2023: Temu accused Shein of violating US antitrust laws by abusing its market power and forcing manufacturers to sign loyalty oaths certifying that they will not do business with Temu.
October 2023: The two companies called a truce. Their lawyers filed joint declarations requesting that the two legal cases be dismissed “without prejudice” by their judges. The filings did not contain details on why they decided to drop their complaints or whether any settlement had been made, and neither company has made a public statement about dropping the suits.

Apparently the truce didn't last very long. So back to court for these companies? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps another truce is in their future to avoid digging too deep into allegations against either company, especially as Shein prepares for an IPO.

In other Shein news… Shein found two cases of child labor at its suppliers last year, according to its 2023 sustainability report. The company says it had suspended orders from the suppliers that had employed children under 16, only continuing to do business with them after they had strengthened their processes, including checking workers' identity documents.

Previously, suppliers employing minors had 30 days to resolve the issue before Shein would cut ties, but the company tightened its supplier policy last October after the child labor cases were found, so that any severe breaches would result in ending the relationship with the supplier immediately.

8. The District of Columbia's antitrust case against Amazon is back

The District of Columbia's antitrust case against Amazon, which claims that Amazon illegally drives up prices on rival platforms, is back after an appeals court revived the case on Thursday.

The DC Court of Appeals ruled that the allegations “plausibly suggest” that Amazon already has monopoly power over online marketplaces or is close to achieving it, and the company engages in anticompetitive practices by restricting third-party sellers from offering products on other online stores, including their own websites, for less than they charge on Amazon, effectively controlling the price of goods outside of its own platform.

Former DC Attorney General Karl Racine initially filed the lawsuit in 2021, but it was tossed out of court in 2022. However now it's back under a new Attorney General.

Amazon disagrees with court's decision to bring back the case. Amazon spokesperson, Tim Doyle, said in a statement to The Verge:

“Just like any store owner who wouldn’t want to promote a bad deal to their customers, we don’t highlight or promote offers that are not competitively priced. It’s part of our commitment to featuring low prices to earn and maintain customer trust, which we believe is the right decision for both consumers and sellers in the long run.”

Amazon is currently fighting another antitrust case from the FTC, which claims that its monopoly power stifles competition and harms consumers.

In July, I reported (story #4) that certain Amazon sellers lost their Buy Box status ahead of Prime Day after the company's algorithms found their items being sold for less on Target's website during its Target Circle Week promo.

9. Other e-commerce news of interest

TikTok published the latest version of its Holidays For You shopping guide, which includes stats and insights to help brands plan for their holiday marketing campaigns on the platform. The 16-page guide is formatted like an infographic, with extensive data points on each page including insights into key hashtags and content trends around the holidays, and shares how TikTok users are planning to shop.

Temu is now officially open to merchants in Europe, who are invited to register as sellers on its platform. Merchants are responsible for their product assortment, inventory management, and fulfillment, while Temu determines the prices for the goods on its platform. Temu launched this type of marketplace model earlier this year in the US.

TikTok's legal team asked for a “special master” to be appointed to sift through the government's classified materials about the company, which claim that the DOJ has evidence proving the Chinese government's influence over the platform. The DOJ's lawyers are fighting back, arguing that a special master, who would be a federal judge, would cause delay in the case that needs the be resolved quickly. So the alternative is that TikTok has to defend itself against secret evidence? That doesn't seem right. A three-judge federal appeals court panel is set to rule on the issue in the coming weeks.

Reddit is “winning over advertisers” since its IPO six months ago by showing that it's different than other platforms for targeting users for ads based on their interests instead of their personal information, according to Bloomberg. The platform surpassed expectations in its first two earnings reports, disclosing strong sales and better than expected growth, resulting in the stock being up 66% from its $34 IPO price in March. I guess here's the thing though… Reddit might be winning over advertisers, but advertisers aren't winning over Redditors, who notoriously hate ads. So I'll be curious to see if this increase in ad spend by advertisers lasts very long or if the ROAS just simply isn't there.

TikTok launched a new feature that allows users to create AI simulations of their own voice, so that their voice over clips sound like them instead of those generic template speakers in the app. Research Jonah Manzano posted a screenshot showing that some users now have the option to “Create Your Own AI Voice” within their video voiceover options. The feature utilizes ByteDance's research into AI voice replication, particularly its “StreamVoice” system, which only requires a few examples of a person's voice to replicate it in real-time.

Target's online sales grew at more than 4x the rate of total sales in Q2 with same-day fulfillment accounting for more than two-thirds of its online sales in the quarter. Target Circle Week generated the highest digital traffic of the year so far, bringing online sales up to almost one-fifth of total revenue in Q2.

68% of B2B sellers have an e-commerce site or an online portal, according to a new survey by DynamicWeb. The survey also found that 50% of revenue, on average, comes from e-commerce, and that 85% of B2B businesses will maintain or increase investment in e-commerce over the next 12 months.

The UK's competition watchdog accepted Meta's proposed changes to the way it uses the data of customers advertising on its platform after Meta pledged to limit its use to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage. Under the original commitments, Meta advertisers could opt-out of their data being used to improve Facebook Marketplace, while the new proposal ensures that all of Facebook Marketplace's advertisers' data will not be used (ie: no having to opt-out).

State-linked Chinese entities have been found to be using cloud services provided by Amazon and other US cloud providers, giving them access to advanced US chips and AI capabilities that they cannot otherwise acquire. The US government restricted the export of high-end AI chips to China over the past two years, citing the need to limit the Chinese military's capabilities, however providing access to these chips through the cloud is not currently a violation of US regulations — which the government is attempting to change soon.

Klarna revealed plans to relaunch Laybuy, the now-defunct New Zealand-based BNPL firm that Klarna acquired the assets of earlier this year. Klarna has already begun contacting Laybuy customers in the country, informing them about the next steps, which will include continuing to operate under the Laybuy brand, but moving all of its customers onto Klarna's books.

Walmart+ members can now enjoy 25% off Burger King digital orders every day and a free Whopper every three months as one of their membership perks, in a first-of-its-kind partnership with Burger King. To activate the new benefit, Walmart+ members will need to link their membership with their existing Burger King Royal Perks account or create a new account for free, and then they can visit the Burger King app or website to place an order. Whether you're a fan of Burger King or not, that's an amazing perk! Whoppers cost between $5.49 and $10.19 depending on the location and type of Whopper, and Walmart+ memberships are only $98/year (and they often run 50% off your first year of membership promotions), so that's like 20-40% of the value of your Walmart+ membership right there in free hamburgers. Your move, Amazon and McDonalds.

In a leaked recording, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman told employees that software engineers may have to develop other skills when AI takes over most coding tasks. Garman shared his thoughts on the topic during an internal fireside chat in June, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by Business Insider. He noted, “It just means that each of us has to get more in tune with what our customers need and what the actual end thing is that we're going to try to go build, because that's going to be more and more of what the work is as opposed to sitting down and actually writing code.”

Stripe and Zip are teaming up in Australia to offer Zip's BNPL services through the Stripe platform. The partnership is currently in a “testing and integration” phase, with a full launch expected by the end of the year. Zip also recently integrated with Mastercard and Google Pay, and the company hinted that its not done yet and may soon announce additional partnerships with other major payment companies.

A new report by TikTok reveals that the social media platform is continuing to grow in the EU despite rumors of plateauing. TikTok disclosed that it had an average of 150M monthly active users in the European Union between February 2024 and July 2024, up from 134M users the year prior. TikTok is releasing these reports in accordance with its obligations under the Digital Services Act.

Speaking of TikTok growth, the government of Nepal decided to lift the nation's ban on TikTok last week, which was issued last November by previous government leaders, who claimed that the platform spread negativity in society and disturbed social harmony. Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, who came into office in July, called for all social networking sites to be treated equally and led the decision during a cabinet meeting.

Triple Whale, an analytics platform that consolidates data from all your platforms into one dashboard, is now available on BigCommerce. The platform has historically only been available to Shopify merchants since it launched in 2021, but is now casting a wider net to reach BigCommerce's 50k merchants. Shopify invested in Triple Whale's Series B round early last year

Amazon India launched “Project Ashray” (not “Ashtray“, like I first read it to be), an initiative that establishes dedicated rest points in major cities across the country for Amazon Drivers. The project will initially set up five centers in busy locations throughout Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, which will provide drivers with amenities like comfortable seating, clean drinking water, mobile phone charging stations, and bathrooms. Wow, seating and water? You spoil me, Amazon.

In other Amazon India news, the company is reducing selling fees by up to 12% across multiple product categories ahead of the festive season. But that's not enough to stop India's commerce minister from accusing Amazon, Flipkart, and other US e-commerce companies that operate in the country of predatory pricing practices. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday, “When Amazon says we are going to invest a billion dollars in India and we all celebrate, we forget the underlying story that the billion dollars is not coming in for any great service,” and that the losses “smell of predatory pricing.” Is that what that smell is coming from the Ganges river?

Wiwynn, a Taiwanese IT infrastructure provider, is suing X for non-payment of $120M in components that it procured for the business. The company was able to recoup some of the costs and is suing for $61M that it says is still owed by X. According to the complaint, Wiwynn had a purchase agreement with X, formerly Twitter, that dates back to September 2014, but the company stopped honoring its agreement after Musk's acquisition in 2022. What a shocker!

In other news about people who hate X… After hearing that X is planning to move its headquarters out of San Francisco, city attorney David Chiu told the New York Times, “I share the perspective that most San Franciscans have, which is good riddance.” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said that she had met with Elon Musk several months ago, but that she didn't extend offers aimed at keeping X in the city, saying, “I'm not going to beg anybody.”

Replenium, a Seattle-based e-commerce startup, is suing Albertsons for allegedly terminating their three-year partnership and misappropriating the company's trade secrets to create its own version of its automated grocery replenishment technology. Replenium claims that Albertsons encouraged the startup to continue developing its platform despite missed deadlines and delays, causing the company to incur millions in expenses, but all the while, Albertsons was using the company's trade secrets and confidential information to build its own competing replenishment solution.

Shopify is discontinuing its advanced cash-on-delivery app in India by the end of the month, which could impact over 50,000 e-commerce and D2C merchants in the country, whose large portion of business comes from COD. Shopify did not give a reason for discontinuing the app, but recommended a few alternatives includig GoKwik's COD app and COD King.

TikTok revealed its Top 10 Songs of the Summer for the US, and it turns out that 60% were from independent (ie: unsigned) artists. According to TikTok, the songs are ranked “by total creations over Summer 2024″ — which means how many TikTokers used the music in their videos.

C-suite post-earning selfie videos have become a hot trend in corporate communications with CEOs from companies like Blackstone, Shopify, and Spotify posting videos to engage employees and customers about what's happening with their businesses. LinkedIn posts from CEOs at firms with at least 5,000 employees jumped 23% over the past year, with those types of posts generating 4x more engagement on the platform than average, according to LinkedIn.

10. Seed rounds, IPOs, & acquisitions

Walmart sold its entire stake in JD.com for $3.6B, which was nearly 10% of the Chinese e-commerce company, according to its recent SEC filing. JD.com said it spent $390M repurchasing its own shares in the transaction. Walmart said it plans to focus on expandings its own brands, including opening more Sam's Clubs locations, in the country.

Swiggy, an Indian food delivery company, is aiming to raise up to $1.2B at a $15B valuation in what will be one of the country's biggest IPOs of the year, according to unnamed Reuters' sources. Swiggy received a shareholder approval in April for an IPO and is filing is expected to be cleared by the Indian markets regulator within a month.

Zomato, Swiggy's biggest competitor in the food delivery space, acquired the entertainment ticketing business of Paytm for Rs 2,048 crore (roughly $244k) in a deal that includes a transition services agreement where the business will continue to run on the Paytm app for 12 months before Zomato takes over. Following the acquisition, the company and its subsidiaries will become wholly owned subsidiaries of Zomato, which will absorb around 280 Paytm employees involved in the ticketing business.

The Rounds, a startup that delivers recurring grocery and household items in reusable packaging, raised $24M in a Series B round led by Moderne Ventures, bringing its total amount raised to $66M. Alongside the funding announcement, the company introduced new features for customers including the ability to make one-time purchases (instead of just subscriptions) and the flexibility of choosing their delivery day. The Rounds delivers packages in reusable bags and refillable containers and uses what it calls a “reverse logistics” system where customers leave their empty containers on their doorstep for delivery workers to return, sanitize, and recirculate.

Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet that offers an autonomous ride-hailing service in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, is receiving a $5B multi-year investment from its parent company. The company is launching a new car called Zeekr which is designed specifically for ride-hailing with lots of interior space and big sliding doors.

Openmart, a startup that aims to make it easier for enterprises to sell to local businesses, raised $2.75M in a Series B round led by Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, and others. The company uses AI to scrape data from public business filings, maps, customer reviews, and other sources to aggregate a database of local businesses by type in order to provide sales leads to clients. Openmart calls itself the AI alternative to Zoominfo.

Bolt's founder and ex-CEO, Ryan Breslow, who left the company in 2022 due to investor conflicts, proposed the idea of returning to the company as CEO with a $2M bonus and $1M back pay for the two years he was away from the company, as well as a laundry list of other demands that include the company partnering with Breslow's other ventures and requiring investors to chip in more money or get bought out for 1 cent a share. Honestly the list of demands is delusional. Why get back in bed with a CEO like that? Bolt's interim CEO Justin Grooms wrote a letter to investors announcing that the company was raising $450M in a Series F round that would value the company at over $14B.

SleekFlow, a Singapore and Hong Kong-based social commerce platform that built a conversational AI suite for customer engagement, raised $7M in a round led by Atinum Investment. The company will use the funds to continue developing its AI and expand deeper into Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Webflow CEO Linda Tong says her company is pursuing mergers and acquisitions to better support the “life cycle of a website.” Tong says she is following the corporate strategy of “build, buy, and partner” as the company grows and is interesting in more companies that help with building and optimizing websites, such as running analytics.

Tingit, a Lithuanian clothes repair marketplace that lets users snap a photo of their items and get quotes for repair or restoration, raised €500k in a pre-seed funding round led by Firstpick. Tingit, which is currently available only in Lithuania, connects users with repair services for clothes, shoes, and accessories and is starting as a B2C marketplace, but sees opportunities to expand into B2B2C in the future.

Carro, a cross-selling startup that allows e-commerce merchants to access the inventory of other stores and brands to sell to their customers, raised $14M in a Series B1 round led by Alpha Edison and other investors, bringing its total amount raised to $50M. The company will use the funds to build its inventory from top brands, onboard more midmarket enterprise customers, and integrate with Magento and Salesforce.

Tilt, a UK-based live-shopping startup that's amassed over 500k users since its launch last year, raised $18M in a Series A round led by Balderton Capital. The company, which was founded by two early ex-Revolut employees, says its success has been the result of its focus on fashion items and building the app to be sticky with a focus on engaging features like live giveaways and auctions.

PostEx, a Pakistan-based fintech that provides capital for e-commerce merchants, raised $7.3M ina pre-Series A round led by Conjunction Capital. The company will use the funds to consolidate its market leadership in the country and support expansion into new markets.

Woolworths Group Ltd, Australia's largest retailer, acquired the assets of Takeoff Technologies Inc, a company that offered fulfillment technology systems and automated micro-fulfillment centers, for $2.5M. Woolworths will also pay up to $700k in closing costs if the deal goes through. The acquisition means that Takeoff has officially closed its doors for business after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year.