#205 – TikTok’s Last Appeal, ChatGPT Search For Everyone, & Amazon’s terrible reimbursement policy

Hi Shopifreaks!

I hope you have a Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas this week (or whatever you celebrate). If nothing else, I hope that you enjoy some time off with your families. This has been the absolute busiest holiday season I've ever had at my agency, and I'm happy to end the year with a few much-needed days off!

Thanks so much for being a reader of Shopifreaks and for helping my newsletter grow this past year. Shopifreaks now boasts almost 14,000 subscribers with a 45% average open rate! I've got some exciting things in store for the community in 2025, but more on that after the new year.

Let's dive into this week's headline news stories. 

In this week's edition I cover:

• The US Supreme Court takes on TikTok's appeal
• OpenAI's 12 days of Shipmas
• Amazon's new reimbursement policy
• Walmart accelerates its Chinese e-commerce
• Google allows IP addresses in advertiser targeting
• Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam
• Matt Mullenweg's holiday break for WordPress services
• The Amazon worker strike grows bigger
• Amazon delays its RTO mandate
• Beast Games debuts on Amazon Prime Video
• India doesn't want your delivery drones

All this and more in this week's 205th Edition of Shopifreaks. Thanks for subscribing and sharing!

Stat of the Week

94% of consumers in India do not want to pay extra for drone delivery, according to a survey of 22,000 consumers across 28 cities. More than half of respondents see drones being used for border surveillance, disaster relief and evacuation, and delivery of replacement organs and life-saving drugs, while only a quarter saw potential in e-commerce and food delivery.

1. The US Supreme court is TikTok's last chance

The US Supreme Court agreed to take up TikTok's appeal challenging a federal law that would ban the app next month, giving the social media app one last chance in court to fight the ban or divest law.

The court agreed to take on the case just a day after TikTok filed its appeal and will hear oral arguments on Jan 10th before issuing a decision on whether the law holds. It is unknown how quickly the court will come to a decision, however, I'd imagine it'll be soon after the hearing (and before Jan 19th) given how big of a case this is and how fast they've moved on it already. 

BACKSTORY: Two weeks ago I reported (story #1) that three-judge panel in Washington, D.C. unanimously upheld the new US law called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, ruling that it did not violate free speech protections under the First Amendment. The bill, which passed with overwhelming support in Congress and was signed by President Biden in April, mandates that the app be banned if ByteDance doesn’t sell the platform to an American company, citing that TikTok had become a national security issue. The decision left the Supreme Court as TikTok's last hope for stopping the law from taking effect.

On Dec 9th, ByteDance and TikTok filed an emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, requesting a temporary halt to the law's enforcement pending Supreme Court review. Although the Supreme Court agreed to take on the case, they did not grant the emergency motion to halt the law's enforcement. (Yet, as that could change.) 

Ban Advocates: “TikTok is a security threat. The app could be forced to give sensitive user data to the Chinese government!”

Ban Opponents: “The new law violates free speech rights! Also, where's your proof that TikTok has done anything of that nature?”

Trump (per Reuters): “I think we're going to have to start thinking because, you know, we did go on TikTok, and we had a great response with billions of views, billions and billions of views. They brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see, and as I looked at it, I said, ‘Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while'.”

Me: “If a mobile app has the ability to provide sensitive user data to the Chinese government that could ultimately pose a national security threat — take it up with Google and Apple! No app should even have the ability to pose that type of risk. Fix the pipe, not the leak.”

You: Hit reply and let me know your thoughts on the case. 

In other TikTok news this week…

• ShopSee filed a patent infringement suit accusing TikTok of copying its protected system that helps sellers and advertisers sell products in video content. The company says that TikTok's system that instructs sellers to create videos containing links for products and services infringes on ShopSee's US Patent No. 11,134,316. Good luck with that one, ShopSee! That probably never should have been patentable. 
• TikTok is getting more requests for content removal from different governments around the world, according to the company's transparency reports for 2024. Malaysia led the pack with the most removal requests during the first half of the year, followed by Indonesia and Australia. Digital Information World notes that no reports came from China, which could either mean that they requested no content removal or that the removal requests were not part of the report.

2. ChatGPT Search for everyone! And other OpenAI gifts. 

ChatGPT's AI search engine officially rolled out to all users as of last week. OpenAI announced the news as part of its “12 days of Shipmas livestream,” while also revealing an “optimized” version of the search on mobile, alongside the ability to search with advanced voice mode.

OpenAI's “12 Days of Shipmas” event, held from December 5th to 20th, introduced a series of new features and products (some of which I've covered in previous editions).

Here's a recap of their announcements: 

• Day 1: December 5 – Full release of its advanced reasoning model, o1, enhancing capabilities in coding, mathematics, and concise responses. Plus a new premium tier priced at $200/month, offering unlimited access to the o1 model and Advanced Voice Mode. 

• Day 2: December 6 – Introduction of a new fine-tuning method to improve model performance and customization.

• Day 3: December 9 – OpenAI unveiled Sora Turbo, a new version of its text-to-video AI model that generates realistic videos from text prompts, available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users.

• Day 4: December 10 – Enhancements to the Canvas feature, allowing for improved side-by-side digital editing capabilities.

• Day 5: December 11 – Integration of advanced AI features into Apple devices via Apple Intelligence, enhancing user experience.

• Day 6: December 12 – Introduction of new voice interaction features, including a festive ‘Santa Mode' for the holiday season.

• Day 7: December 13 – Launch of ‘Projects,' a new organizational feature that lets users group related conversations and files within ChatGPT.

• Day 8: December 16 – Improvements to ChatGPT's search capabilities, integration of Advanced Voice Mode, and expanded free access to certain features.

• Day 9: December 17 – Updates including o1 availability in the API, real-time API improvements, a new fine-tuning method, better pricing, and WebRTC integration.

• Day 10: December 18 – Introduction of ChatGPT access through phone and WhatsApp via 1-800-CHATGPT. Brilliant way to interject ChatGPT alongside Meta AI!

• Day 11: December 19 – Expansion of app integrations within the ChatGPT desktop application for Mac users.

• Day 12: December 20 – OpenAI teased its upcoming advanced reasoning models, o3 and o3-mini, set to further enhance AI capabilities.

Wow! Is it just me? Or is OpenAI leaving competitors in their dust?

🔥 Partner News

Which Amazon products went viral on TikTok this year? Omnisend's latest study uncovers the Amazon best-sellers that TikTok users couldn't resist in 2024. The top three include CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion for Dry Skin, Starbucks K-Cup Coffee Pods, and Charmin Toilet Paper Ultra Strong Clean Touch. LOL, what? Those are not the products I would've guessed! Click here to view the rest of the report.

3. Amazon changes its reimbursement policy to the detriment of sellers

Starting March 10, 2025, Amazon will begin reimbursing sellers based on the manufacturing cost of their damaged or lost FBA inventory instead of the retail price as it's historically done — specifically for items that are lost or damaged before a customer order.

For items that are lost or damaged after a customer order in Amazon’s store, Amazon says it will continue to reimburse sellers for the sales price on the original order minus applicable fees.

To calculate the revised payouts, sellers can either let Amazon determine the manufacturing cost based on a “comprehensive evaluation of comparable products,” or provide their manufacturing costs directly to Amazon, which raises privacy concerns over how their private manufacturing cost data will be used.

Here's what's wrong with that new policy: 

• It excludes seller costs outside of COGS such as branding, packaging, customs duties, handling, and shipping costs.
• It also takes away a seller's profit margin on lost items, which could be used to fund future inventory (and other business expenses).
• Basically it penalizes sellers for Amazon's inability to properly care for or keep track of items sent to its warehouses. 

Many experts see the change as Amazon's latest effort to extract more money from third-party sellers and tighten its control over their businesses.

Jon Elder calls it a “secret fee for 2025,” despite the company claiming it wouldn't be imposing any new fees next year on sellers. 

One seller commented on Amazon's announcement post:

“So, if I purchase my products wholesale directly from a brand, is Amazon saying they will only reimburse for the brand's manufacturing costs?”

An Amazon representative replied:

“Updating for further clarification: ‘Manufacturing cost' means your cost to source a product from a manufacturer/wholesaler/reseller, or produce the item if you are the manufacturer. You can provide the proof of your cost of sourcing and we will reimburse you accordingly. If you do not wish to provide your cost, we will provide our cost estimate and we will reimburse you for it. We calculate our estimate by evaluating the sourcing cost of comparable products sold by Amazon, by other sellers, and through other wholesale channels.”

Okay, so how about this Amazon? I'll start a separate company that acts as a middle-man between the manufacturer and my brands sold on Amazon that marks up the the cost to my Amazon business to include branding, marketing, shipping, customers, etc — thus becoming my new COGS. Then you can reimburse me for that. 

Yeah, a nice thought, but it wouldn't work. As Elder noted in his LinkedIn post, “They will have full unilateral power to deny your manufacturer cost submissions and go with their own evaluation.”

Yoni Mazor of Getida (one of our News Partners) wrote:

“With ‘no FBA fee increase planned for 2025', this policy shift might explain why. The financial impact of this change could outweigh many years’ worth of FBA fee hikes…”

4. Walmart teams up with delivery firm Meituan to boost Chinese e-commerce sales

Walmart formed a strategic partnership with Meituan, a Chinese tech company that offers a platform for various services including food delivery, hotel and travel booking, and bike-sharing, to help accelerate its e-commerce business in China.

E-commerce accounts for nearly half of Walmart's sales in China. In comparison, e-commerce only represents around 8.2% of its total US revenue.

Through the deal, Meituan will begin providing delivery services for Walmart goods, and Walmart will be featured on its app.

The partnership follows Walmart's sale of a stake in JD.com for $3.7B in August, allowing the company to diversify beyond JD's logistics services.

Walmart reported last month that quarterly net sales in China from both Walmart and Sam’s Club stores surged 17% to $4.9B. As of October, Walmart had 273 Walmart locations and 49 members-only Sam’s Club stores, which have been popular among Chinese middle-class families.

Meituan posted a 22.4% jump in third-quarter revenue to around 94 billion yuan ($12.9B).

5. Google to allow the use of IP addresses in advertiser targeting

Google will now allow advertisers to use IP addresses in ad targeting, going against a long-held privacy position against “fingerprinting.”

Google said it would implement IP usage through privacy-safe technology, and noted that the practice is common in the industry. Competitors like Amazon, Meta, and The Trade Desk already make use of IP addresses in their ad platforms. 

Google wrote in its policy update: 

“Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are already commonly used in the broader ads ecosystem to help marketers reach people across their customer journey and measure how their ads are working, especially on CTV.”

Google said it's making the change because it's become more comfortable with new privacy measures that can handle the data responsibly: 

“Advances in privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) such as on-device processing, trusted execution environments, and secure multi-party computation, are unlocking new ways for brands to manage and activate their data safely. We’ve been working to integrate PETs such as confidential computing into our ads products to help businesses tailor their ads and measure results, in ways that allow them to securely use their first-party data without re-identifying users.”

Advocates Say: “It makes sense to use IPs as a baseline tracking system for CTV. It's the same as they do with e-mail now. The change will lead to more efficient ad buys.”

Opponents Say: “IP address tracking lends itself to ongoing tracking. It's bad for user privacy.”

The new policy is set to take effect on Feb 16, 2025.

6. Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam

MegaLag, a New Zealand YouTuber who creates investigative and technology-focused content, published a new video entitled Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam, investigating the money-saving browser extension Honey, which was acquired by PayPal for $4B in January 2020.

Honey works by automatically searching for and applying coupon codes at checkout, helping users save money without having to scour the web themselves for promo codes. However MegaLag reveals a dark side to the extension for influencers and bloggers, who earn money from their affiliate links. 

Here's a summary of MegaLag's video investigation: 

• Honey replaces original affiliate tracking cookies with its own by exploiting “last-click attribution” to override existing cookies, redirecting commissions from content creators to itself without their consent. 

• The extension selectively displays lower-value discount codes, withholding better deals from users to favor its merchant business partners.

• Despite promises of finding the best online deals, Honey actually collaborates with merchants to control which discounts are shown, limiting consumer savings. This practice is part of its pitch to merchants. 

• Many influencers who promote Honey are unaware that the extension is diverting their affiliate commissions, undermining their revenue streams. Effectively the influencers have been earning pennies in sponsorships from Honey, while giving up dollars in potential commissions from their audiences.

• MegaLag discovered that Honey's deceptive practices have cost content creators millions of dollars, and that their cashback rewards program is equally garbage for consumers.

• Honey has historically offered Honey Gold (now called PayPal Rewards) to incentivize users to complete purchases by sharing their commission, but the company keeps an overwhelming majority share of the commission. MegaLag gave an example of NordVPN paying Honey a $35 payout, while the user earned only 89 cents of it as a reward.

Normally the type of “affiliate link hijacking” that Honey employs goes against a website's affiliate TOS. If any normal affiliate was doing this, they'd likely get terminated from the affiliate program if the practice was discovered. However Honey gets away with it by claiming to actually save the merchant's money by giving them the ability to control which discounts appear. 

I highly recommend watching the full video if you work in the affiliate space or run an affiliate program for your own business. 

PayPal, any response?

7. Matt Mullenweg declares a ‘holiday break' for WordPress.org

Automattic CEO and WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg published a post last week entitled, “Holiday Break,” outlining his plans to pause several free services currently being offered on WordPress.org including:

• New account registrations
• New plugin directory submissions
• New plugin reviews
• New theme directory submissions
• New photo directory submissions

Mullenweg wrote: 

“As you may have heard, I’m legally compelled to provide free labor and services to WP Engine thanks to the success of their expensive lawyers, so in order to avoid bothering the court I will say that none of the above applies to WP Engine, so if they need to bypass any of the above please just have your high-priced attorneys talk to my high-priced attorneys and we’ll arrange access, or just reach out directly to me on Slack and I’ll fix things for you.”

“I hope to find the time, energy, and money to reopen all of this sometime in the new year. Right now much of the time I would spend making WordPress better is being taken up defending against WP Engine’s legal attacks. Their attacks are against Automattic, but also me individually as the owner of WordPress.org, which means if they win I can be personally liable for millions of dollars of damages.”

He ended the post by sarcastically soliciting donations to fund “legal attacks against me” by encouraging readers to sign up for WP Engine hosting services.

I honestly don't know what to say about Mullenweg's actions anymore. Basically Mullenweg is holding WordPress hostage until he gets his way — which he wont, because he's legally and ethically in the wrong. The world asked for Tony Stark and we instead got Elon Musk and Matt Mullenweg. 

Joost de Valk, creator of the popular SEO plugin Yoast, published an editorial piece entitled, A vision for a new WordPress era, in which he outlined the best course of action for the community to move forward.

Valk's ideas included creating an independently governed WordPress foundation to lead the open source project, led by a board of industry folks with diverse backgrounds, and turning over all of “Matt's private property” like the WordPress.org domain and other community assets to the foundation.

He isn't the first person (and won't be the last) to recommend this pathway forward for WordPress, but it's certainly impactful to hear it from a big name in the industry like Joost, as it helps the ideas get momentum.

Mullenweg responded to Valk's post with the following comment: 

“I think this is a great idea for you to lead and do under a name other than WordPress. There’s really no way to accomplish everything you want without starting with a fresh slate from a trademark, branding, and people point of view.”

Valk replied: 

“Which of these things are impossible in your view within WordPress?”

But Mullenweg did not respond.

Merry Christmas, Matt. 

8. The Amazon worker strike grows bigger

Last week I reported that Amazon Teamsters authorized strikes at two facilities in New York following Amazon's refusal to recognize their union and negotiate a contract addressing the company's low wages an dangerous working conditions, according to the union. The strikes come after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters called on Amazon to agree to bargaining dates for a union contract by Dec 15th.

Since then roughly 10,000 employees have gone on strike as of Dec 19th, forming pick lines in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco, and Skokie.

Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said:

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it. These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they’ve pushed workers to the limit and now they’re paying the price. This strike is on them.”

Amazon claims the Teamsters have “continued to intentionally mislead the public” about the situation:

“The truth is that Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”

The Teamsters say this is “the largest strike against Amazon in US history,” but Amazon told CBS News it doesn't expect it to impact its operations, as the 10,000 strikers represent just a fraction of the company's 1.5M people in its warehouses and corporate offices. At this point, I'm confident that Amazon hires extra seasonal warehouse workers to supplement the inevitable strikes it deals with each year. Amazon's simply built striking workers into its cost of doing business — which is apparently cheaper than paying fair wages and providing safe working conditions. 

Amazon has neither acknowledged the Teamsters declarations of unionization nor agreed to bargain with workers at JFK8 since the vote to unionize, more than two years ago.

New York Attorney General Letitia James visited the Staten Island center on Saturday and led a “Union busting is disgusting” chant with the protestors. He said during a short speech, “Power comes from the ground up, not the top down. And it’s important that individuals understand that this amazing country was built by working-class people and by the labor movement.”

9. Other e-commerce news of interest

Nearly half (48%) of Amazon's corporate workforce are applying for new jobs, with 68% saying they are “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to leave Amazon within the next year after the company announced its return to office mandate, which begins in January, according to a survey by the Strategic Organizing Center. 81% of respondents said their relationships with coworkers would either remain the same or become worse as a result of the new policy, and 45% indicated that they weren't even assigned to the same office as their manager. 

The good news for thousands of Amazon workers, albeit it temporary good news, is that Amazon is delaying return dates as much as four months for workers in at least seven cities including Austin, Dallas, and Phoenix, due to insufficient office space, according to Bloomberg sources. Amazon said that the vast majority of workers will be returning to office on January 2nd, and that they are communicating directly with employees that will be on different timelines. 

Beast Games, the game show on Amazon Prime Video hosted by MrBeast that offers a $5M prize (the largest gameshow prize in history), debuted Thursday. The show has led to mixed reviews online, with some loving it and others calling it awful and boring. The show has also had numerous claims made against it, including failure to pay minimum wages and overtime, failure to prevent sexual harassment, subjecting contestants to infliction of emotional distress, and not providing meal breaks, rest breaks, or access to basic hygiene. Have you watched the first two episodes? (I haven't yet, but plan on it.) If so, what do you think so far?

Wirecutter and Google Shopping partnered up to help procrastinating shoppers find last-minute holiday gifts. From Dec 20th to Dec 26th, Google Shopping buttons will appear next to 150 curated Wirecutter products, pointing consumers toward search result pages that display offerings from online and local merchants.

Google is testing a new brand control feature in its PMax campaigns designed to exclude brand traffic from the campaign type, which has long been a complaint of advertisers. A new checkbox in the brand exclusions setup allows advertisers to exclude brand traffic from their PMax campaign, but not from the Shopping ad inventory, eliminating the need for fallbacks and other workarounds.

A California family is suing Amazon One Medical after the death of a 45-year-old man who died after seeking help via telemedicine. The complaint claims that One Medical failed to order appropriate testing for the man and lacked “adequately trained and qualified staff,” resulting in treatment that was “careless, reckless and negligent.” Amazon One Medical said it is “prohibited by law from discussing patient records.”

Affirm is expanding its partnership with Adyen, making it the first BNPL provider to support Adyen for Platforms, a payment solution designed for marketplaces, SaaS providers, and platforms to facilitate payments, payouts, and financial management for their users. Affirm will become available to customers of Adyen for Platforms, while Adyen merchants in Canada will access a wider range of Affirm’s installment payment offerings, adding monthly instalments alongside the existing biweekly payment option.

Amazon agreed to implement additional safety measures at its US facilities following ten complaints filed by OSHA regarding worker injuries, including back and ergonomic issues. The settlement, which resolves the complaints, will introduce features like adjustable-height workstations, ergonomic mats, harnesses, and job rotations, while establishing a process to address hazards identified by employees. The settlement also includes penalties of $145k, which is roughly 90% of what OSHA initially sought.

In other news of Amazon worker mistreatment… Amazon is settling a group claim from delivery drivers in the UK who said that the company deprived them of thousands of pounds by misclassifying them as self-employed drivers when the company dictated their working conditions like employees. In 2021 the law firm brought a claim against Amazon and its Delivery Service Partners, arguing that at least 3,000 drivers were entitled to an average of £10,500 in compensation for each year they had worked for the company, which amounted to more than £140M in total claims. The drivers have now received settlement offers, with some payouts worth tens of thousands of pounds. 

Snapchat is rolling out an expanded creator monetization program that's set to launch just days after TikTok could be banned in the US. The expanded program adds new monetization opportunities to Spotlight videos, which are entertaining snaps meant to be viewed by users across the platforms (ie: Snapchat's TikTok), as opposed to stories videos, which are meant to be shared with friends and followers.

Meta is bringing new AI features to Instagram that let users modify their videos with text prompts. In a demo video, IG head Adam Mosseri appears in his original clothes and location, and then both suddenly start to change, showing him in various locations including Paris, New York, and a pool, while changing his clothes accordingly. The technology build's on Meta's Movie Gen AI model, which is the company's answer to similar tools from rivals like OpenAI's Sora.

Speaking of video AI… YouTube announced an update that will allow creators to control third-party AI access to their content for training large language models, as AI companies increasingly seek high-quality, human-created data to improve their models. The new feature will let creators decide which AI firms can use their videos for training, while also ensuring that unauthorized scraping remains banned under the platform's TOS. Companies currently included on the list are OpenAI, Meta, Amazon, Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Anthropic, xAI, Nvidia, IBM, and others. The announcement did not address whether AI firms would compensate creators for the use of their videos.

India's Department of Consumer Affairs is launching three apps designed to enhance consumer protection against dark patterns, which are manipulative design strategies that trick consumers into making choices they might not otherwise make, such as hidden charges or misleading subscription traps. The new apps are designed to strengthen the CCPA's ability to fight dark patterns in the digital marketplace by alerting users about potentially unsafe URLs while they browse the web and allowing consumers to report suspected dark patterns directly.

Amazon sellers experienced a glitch in the system last week that resulted in them not receiving payment credits despite shipping orders. Some sellers were charged thousands of dollars in seller fees and advertising fees that would normally be taken out of their account balance, but because their sales revenue wasn't being added to their balance, the fees resulted in a negative account balance. Amazon reports that the incident has been fixed since Friday.

Meta is making supported product affiliate links more prominent within Reels, videos, photos, and text posts, boosting exposure for affiliate links by giving them more presence. Products will also now appear pinned above comments for even more exposure. Prior to this update, affiliate links could only be shown as URLs in the captions. Honey's going to take those commissions! LOL.

Instagram is poised to surpass half of Meta's ad revenue for 2025 in the US, with projected revenue of $32.02B next year, marking a 24.4% increase YoY. In 2015, Instagram contributed only 7% to Meta's total US revenue, but ten years later, the app is projected to account for over half of the company's overall ad revenue for the first time. 

Apple stopped development of its iPhone hardware subscription program, which would let consumers pay a monthly fee for an iPhone and get a new model each year. The company had planned to launch the program in 2022, delayed it until 2023, kept delaying it, and now has scrapped it due to software bugs and concerns about potential regulatory scrutiny. The subscription effort was overseen by the company’s Apple Pay group, which also shuttered its BNPL program earlier this year.

Around 157.2M people were expected to do holiday shopping in stores, online, or both this past Saturday and Sunday on the final weekend before Christmas, according to an annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, up from 141.9M people last year. 37% of people with at least half of their shopping left to do said they were still figuring out what to buy, while 27% reported having other financial priorities before December as the reason for their delayed shopping. 24% said they were still waiting on friends or family to tell them what gifts they wanted.

2.6% of Canada's attempted e-commerce transactions between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday were suspected to be fraud, up 51% from last year, according to a TransUnion Analysis. The analysis reviewed attempted e-commerce transactions from across the globe and found that 4.6% of transactions worldwide were suspected to be fraudulent over the same time period.

Temu signed a voluntary product safety pledge with the Canadian government called the Canadian Product Safety Pledge, which launched in 2023 and is aimed at ensuring consumers' welfare when shopping online. By signing the pledge, Temu agreed to take preventative and corrective actions whenever necessary to protect consumers' health and safety including increasing seller awareness of product safety issues, identifying and proactively preventing unsafe products from being sold, working in tandem with Health Canada, and empowering consumers with knowledge on issues surrounding product safety. The pledge is voluntary and not legally binding, so ultimately as worthless as a pinky promise. 

Apple's most downloaded free app in 2024 was once again Temu for the second year in a row. Meta's Threads app took the number two spot and TikTok took the number three, despite its potential ban in the US. 

Meta named longtime executive John Hegeman as its new chief revenue officer, a role that was not directly filled after the company's former CRO David Fischer departed in 2021. The leadership restructure is meant to bring Meta's business and product organizations closer together, according to an internal note to staff from Meta COO Javier Olivan.

Amazon Prime users in India will now be limited to just five devices signed into one account, including a maximum of two TVs, according to new rules that will take effect in January 2025. Currently, Amazon Prime subscribers in the country can be logged into 10 devices at once including phones, laptops, tablets, and TVs. Some might argue that changing the maximum number of devices allowed for annual Prime Members who prepaid for the year is a breach of contract, as they originally signed up with the 10 device limit, but Amazon seems to be able to do whatever they want in this regard without consequence.

Klarna will start randomly drug testing employees in Sweden starting in January, according to internal Slack posts discovered by Business Insider. The company's director of people and HR, Mikaela Mijatovic, said the move was “part of a larger effort to strengthen security across Klarna.” Honestly, it sounds like one more excuse to let go of more workers and replace them with AI. 

One in four parents of preschool-aged children have used Santa or the threat of no gifts to address their children's behavior, according to a new study by C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. More than half of the parents surveyed said they sometimes used incentives or bribery to encourage good behavior.

Rumors circulated last week that Jeff Bezos would be marrying his fiancée Lauren Sanchez next Saturday in an extravagant $600M wedding in Aspen, Colorado. However Bezos denied the wedding claims saying, “This whole thing is completely false – none of this is happening. The old adage ‘don't believe everything you read' is even more true today than it ever has been.” Bezos and Sanchez have kept extraordinary secrecy around their wedding ever since he proposed aboard his $500M superyacht in May 2023.

10. Seed rounds, IPOs, & acquisitions

David's Bridal, an American retailer with 300+ locations that specializes in wedding dresses and formal wear, acquired Love Stories TV, a NYC-based media brand that provides wedding inspiration and emotional video content, creating the Pearl Media Network. The company's goal is to unlock new streams of B2B advertising revenue via other wedding brands tapping into its customer base and viewers.

CredibleX, a UAE-based fintech company specializing in embedded finance solutions for SMEs, raised $55M in a seed round consisting of an equity investment from Further Ventures and debt capital from Kilgour Williams Capital, Berkley Square Finance, and others. The company boasts over 35 distribution partners and has enabled financing opportunities for more than 100,000 SMEs.

Alibaba Group is selling its department store arm, Intime, to Youngor Fashion Co, a textiles and clothing conglomerate, for 7.4B yuan (around $1B). Offloading the company is believed to be part of Alibaba's ongoing strategy to focus more on core e-commerce operations and its cloud-computing business.

Aiwyn, a Charlotte-based platform that automates and reconciles payments and invoices for CPAs and their customers, raised $113M in a round led by KKR and Bessemer Venture Partners, bringing its total amount raised to $127M. The company will use the funds to develop a comprehensive accounting practice management platform with tax-focused applications to help CPA firms elevate their operations and client relationships.

Ecomtent, a London-based AI startup focused on helping sellers and retailers optimize for AI-powered search, raised $1.4M in a round led by MaRS IAF. The platform generates visual and written content optimized for AI-powered search, such as Amazon's RUFUS, streamlining workflows and saving weeks of manual effort, which eases bottlenecks for content teams and agencies.

Safara, a Los Angeles-based hotel booking website that claims to curate the best hotels in the world and rewards travelers with cashback on every booking, raised an undisclosed amount in a round led by Sequoia and Defy.vc, bringing its total amount raised to $14M. At the same time, the company acquired Skipper, an online booking engine used by independent hotels. The company plans on bringing the two softwares together to create deeper connected experiences for hotels and their guests. 

Sendcloud, a Netherlands-based shipping automation platform that helps e-commerce businesses streamline their shipping processes by integrating with multiple carriers, acquired Lox, a delivery issue management company that specializes in automating the detection and resolution of shipping problems, such as lost, delayed, or damaged parcels. The deal strengthens Sendcloud's mission to solve shipping globally by addressing the cost and complexity of managing delivery issues. 

Amazon sold its 4% stake in Shoppers Stop, one of India's largest retail chains, for ₹276 crore (around $32M). Amazon initially invested ₹179.26 crore (around $21M) in Shoppers Stop in January 2018 to strengthen its offline retail presence in India but is shifting gears to refocus on e-commerce and web services. Amazon didn't disclose this, but I'm curious if the sale has to do with India's foreign direct investment policy for e-commerce, which restricts online marketplaces from owning retail brands that sell on their platforms. 

Parafin, a San Francisco-based fintech that provides embedded financing solutions for small businesses, raised $100M in a Series C round led by Notable Capital, at a $750M valuation. Parafin has funded nearly $1B annually for small businesses in the US and Canada since its Series B round in 2022, and expects to reach profitability within six months.

H&M Group, a Stockholm-based global fashion and design company that sells clothing, accessories, and home goods, acquired Voyado, a Stockholm-based SaaS company that provides AI-powered customer experience and marketing automation platforms for retailers. H&M has been a customer of Voyado for several years and called the investment a natural evolution of its partnership that will strengthen collaboration. 

DHL eCommerce and CTT Expresso, a Lisbon-based parcel delivery and logistics company specializing in express shipping and e-commerce solutions, formed a strategic partnership to expand e-commerce and parcel delivery services across Spain and Portugal, creating the region's most comprehensive delivery network. CTT Expresso will acquire DHL eCommerce's Portugal business, focusing on B2C services, while DHL eCommerce will streamline B2B operations in Spain, enhancing efficiency and customer experience across Iberia.

Descartes Systems Group, a Canadian tech company that specializes in logistics, supply chain management, and transportation software solutions, acquired Sellercloud, a New Jersey-based e-commerce platform that offers multichannel inventory, order, and fulfillment management solutions. The deal expands Descartes' product suite with advanced inventory and order management capabilities that its customers have been requesting. 

Shapeways, a NYC-based digital manufacturing platform that provides 3D printing services and customized production solutions, acquired Thangs, a 3D model community and collaboration platform that offers geometric search capabilities, enabling users to find, share, and collaborate on 3D models. The integration of the two companies enables designers on Thangs to expand its offering beyond digital assets by leveraging Shapeway's digital manufacturing engine to sell physical products directly to consumers.

Bureau, a San Francisco-based risk intelligence platform designed to prevent digital fraud, raised $30M in a Series B round led by Sorenson Capital, bringing its total amount raised to $46.5M. The AI-powered platform delivers real-time, contextual fraud prevention across the entire customer lifecycle, going beyond traditional rule-based systems.

Bizom, an Indian retail intelligence platform that optimizes distribution processes for retail brands, raised $12M in a Series B round led by Pavestone. The company will use the funds to scale its AI-driven Real Intelligence initiative, which focuses on advanced problem-solving capabilities.

Boomi, a cloud-based integration platform that helps businesses connect applications, data, and systems, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Rivery, a data integration provider that offers Change Data Capture for real-time, efficient data movement, for an undisclosed amount. Rivery's data management team will join Boomi to help accelerate the company's position in the integration and automation space.

Affirm, a San Francisco-based BNPL firm, secured a long-term capital partnership with Sixth Street, an investment firm that manages over $80B in assets. Under the agreement, Sixth Street will utilize its Asset-Based Finance platform to invest up to $4B by acquiring Affirm loans, as part of a three-year forward flow arrangement, marking the largest capital commitment Affirm has secured to date. The deal enables Affirm to extend more than $20B in loans over the next three years.

Volume, a London-based fintech that specializes in account-to-account payment solutions that reduce transaction fees for online merchants, raised $6M in a round led by United Ventures, bringing its total amount raised to $8.4M. The company, which offers a flat-rate pricing model, plans to obtain FA approval in the UK and expand internationally.

Revibe, a UAE-founded marketplace for refurbished electronics that offers guarantee-backed devices, raised $7M in a Series A round co-led by ISAI and Resonance, following a $2.3M seed round last year. The company aims to become the region's most trusted marketplace for refurbished tech by offering a comprehensive 1-year warranty, free shipping and returns, a 10-day return policy, and 24/7 human-led customer support.

LINE Yahoo, a Japanese tech company offering Internet services, messaging, and e-commerce solutions, announced its plans to acquire BEENOS, a Japanese e-commerce and investment company that operates global marketplaces and provides cross-border trading solutions. With this acquisition, LINE Yahoo aims to tap into the company's expansive network, enhancing its ability to sell products internationally.

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PAUL

Paul E. Drecksler
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PS: How much did Santa pay for his sleigh? Nothing, it was on the house!