Economy
30 September 2022
This week in ecommerce: Shopping tech for the holidays
Check out the news that moved the needle from Sept. 26-30.

Check out the news that moved the needle from Sept. 26-30.
Happy Friday, especially to those in Philadelphia for Natural Products Expo East. We’re adding a countdown for Prime Early Access Sale alongside our Black Friday ticker, and keeping everyone in Hurricane Ian’s path in our thoughts. Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s ecommerce news:
(Photo via Amazon)
Amazon got the week off to a roaring start by making long-rumored news official: A second deals event for Prime is coming October 11-12. This one is called Prime Early Access Sale, and it’s being positioned as a kickoff to the holiday season. While reports indicate Amazon has already been in touch with many merchants about sending in deals and inventory, brands will still have to decide whether and how they want to participate.
The takeaway: Embedded in this new shopping holiday is a bid to shift holiday shopping earlier. Amazon isn’t alone in this, as Walmart will kick off discounts on Oct. 1, and Target is holding its own Deal Days event Oct. 6-8. But only Prime Day has shown the power to bend the calendar to Amazon’s will, while delivering for consumers who have been so far unable to resist a deal. With a second edition, the closest competition isn’t other retailers. It’s Black Friday.
In-store shopping is on the rise this year, and it’s expected to be a bigger part of the holidays, NPD reported. But there will still be plenty of tech involved. Shopify released an updated point-of-sale for brick-and-mortar retailers as it saw offline GMV rise in the second quarter. This comes just after Instacart released a host of new tools for in-store grocery shopping, such as smart carts and out-of-stock trackers. We also spoke with Kadro CEO Rick Johnson about his learnings from years of helping retailers implement buy online pickup in store, or BOPIS.
The takeaway: The return to traditional in-store shopping underscores the importance of aligning brick-and-mortar and ecommerce operations. Inventory is going to become a big talking point.
New shopping features for users were among the highlights at Google’s Search On conference, which rolled out a host of updates to the world's largest search engine. Overall, the features are designed to provide a more visual experience, and bring the trends and research that Google already has onhand into the shopping experience.
The takeaway: We’ve been watching Google talk more about prioritizing shopping over the last year as it made updates to give brands more tools and revamp ad upgrades with Performance Max. The user-facing updates appear to aim to embed shopping within the search experience, rather than relying on a specific tab. These features arrive in the same week that Instagram is beginning to test a previously-reported change that would remove the Shop tab from the home feed. It seems that platforms are looking to make shopping a built-in part of the user experience.
Apple made a big splash back in June when it announced it would roll out a Buy Now Pay Later service with iOS 16. But, as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman noted, iOS 16 arrived, and there was no Apple Pay Later to be found. Engineering issues were cited as the reason, but Apple gave no official word.
The takeaway: This comes at an unsettled moment for BNPL as a whole. Inflation could be a boost to these services as consumers look to stretch dollars, but falling interest rates will likely cut into profit margins. Klarna recently made a second round of layoffs. Affirm and Afterpay are looking for expansion in Canada. Meanwhile, regulation looms and Apple’s entrance looms. Is consolidation in the market next?
Ciara with the items she curates for Instacart. (Courtesy photo)
For the first time in 50 years, the White House held a conference focusing on nutrition, hunger and health this week. Given the food focus, it’s no surprise that CPG and grocery were well-represented, and took this moment to make a splash. Instacart rolled out a sweeping health initiative that included product updates, partnerships, policy planks and new research. Shipt and Albertsons each made pledges to fight food insecurity. Meanwhile, the White House rolled out a new proposal to add front-of-package food labels and change how items are classified as healthy.
The takeaway: While that proposal will likely see plenty of debate and we’ll have to see how companies follow up on their pledges, it’s striking how the act of holding a conference can bring this much policy engagement from the industry. When you’re the White House, just inviting people over is a meaningful act, in and of itself.
Quick hits: J&J’s consumer health company has a name. Mondelez seeks “disruptively delicious” startups. Walmart builds in Roblox. Macy’s launches a third-party marketplace. Sephora adds same-day delivery subscription. H&M could start charging for returns. Peloton will grind into Dick’s. Lululemon looks in the Mirror. Retextion and RetentionEngine merge.
Earnings: Nike beat estimates but earnings were weighed down by continued excess inventory and supply chain issues. Bed Bath and Beyond sales were down 28%.
Economy: PCE inflation jumped more than expected. Consumer confidence and sentiment are improving. New home sales rose unexpectedly. Core capital goods orders surged.
Thread of the week: Walmart+ is the biggest consumer product no is talking about.
Weekend reading: User reviews are much less important for DTC sites.
New tools from Adobe and Levi's generate product images in multiple variations.
An AI-generated model. (Photo courtesy of Levi's)
AI is at the top of the conversation across technology in 2023, as new models such as ChatGPT and GPT4 show how ingesting and training large amounts of data can not only help businesses find insights in what already exists, but create something new.
While there is plenty of off-hours time being devoted to experimentation with these new models, the uses of tools that bring together automation and creativity in a way that is valuable for businesses and embraced by their customers are still coming into view.
In ecommerce, the promise of AI appears to be massive. Across marketplaces, advertising and customer service, brands and retailers have seen demands for content and customer touchpoints grow exponentially. With executives constantly in search of efficiency, AI tools stand to help generate voluminous content at scale.
To be sure, it remains early days. AI has not yet arrived permanently in ecommerce workflows, and some of the tools that lead to it arriving may not use the same models that are gaining so much press today. But the teams inside brands and retailers are interested in experimenting with this technology, and pilots can offer hints at where it might be heading.
This week delivered a pair of new launches from Levi’s and Adobe that showed how new tools can help to change how product images are generated. Let's take a look:
Photoshoots featuring models wearing products in real-world settings have long been a staple of the marketing playbook in fashion. Levi’s is piloting a new approach that could bring AI into the equation.
Through a partnership with Amsterdam-based Lalaland.ai, Levi Strauss is planning to test the use of customized, AI-generated models. Designed to supplement human models, Lalaland.ai’s technology is built to help show products for a diverse range of body types, ages, size and skin tones.
Levi’s positioned this as a move to supplement human models. Typically, a product page on the Levi’s app or website only has one model. Using this technology to create multiple images can help create a way for customers to see themselves represented in the products that are shown. It can also help to increase diversity, equity and inclusion within Levi's ecommerce stores, the company said.
“While AI will likely never fully replace human models for us, we are excited for the potential capabilities this may afford us for the consumer experience,” said Dr. Amy Gershkoff Bolles, global head of digital and emerging technology strategy at Levi Strauss & Co., in a statement. “We see fashion and technology as both an art and a science, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Lalaland.ai, a company with such high-quality technology that can help us continue on our journey for a more diverse and inclusive customer experience.”
A new tool from Adobe is also aiming to automate the work of showing images in multiple variations on ecommerce stores, but this goes beyond fashion.
According to Reuters, the new tool is designed to allow ecommerce brands and retailers to create 3D images that show products from a range of categories in a variety of formats and configurations, as well as settings. It can be used for home goods, toys, furniture, apparel and more. Product images are used across a range of content, from product pages to emails to social campaigns. So the content needs for brands and retailers are voluminous. From Reuters:
But even keeping up with making renderings has created a tremendous amount of work for e-commerce companies as marketing campaigns have become more tightly targeted, said Francois Cottin, senior director of marketing for Adobe's Substance 3D business.
For example, Cottin said, a company selling a coffee machine might want to show the gadget against a different background in different countries, because German kitchens might look different from California kitchens. Most companies have to tap 3D artists to create each image.
This advance is as much about transforming the work of teams as it is about creating the variations of product images themselves. 3D models are currently used by many of the large ecommerce players, but creating them remains the work of large teams with specialty skills in visual effects. The images then head to the hands of marketers and merchandisers who find a home for them on product pages within the customer experience.
Automation can help make all of this work more efficient. Such a tool could also have a huge impact on smaller brands and retailers. If these capabilities move into wider release, a pool of content that would’ve only been available to the most-resourced companies now could be opened up for everyone to use.
While Adobe typically works with enterprises and this product is likely designed for that market segment, its release presents a question worth asking for the future: Will AI be the next ecommerce advance that further levels the playing field between storied brands and fast-rising startups?