Amazon’s AI chatbot Rufus drove sales on Black Friday
On Black Friday, Amazon sessions that resulted in a sale were up 100% in the U.S. when the AI chatbot Rufus was used. They only increased by 20% when Rufus wasn’t used.
Online Shopping
Google will let users call stores, browse products, and check out using AI
Google is infusing artificial intelligence into just about every part of how people shop online — including having an AI tool call local stores on a human’s behalf and purchase items automatically. Beginning Thursday (and ahead of the holiday shopping season) Google users in the US will have access to a slew of new AI […]
Google augments AI shopping with conversational search, agentic checkout and an AI that calls stores for you
Google is expanding AI shopping with conversational search, agentic checkout and an AI that calls stores for you about local inventory.
GoWish’s shopping and wishlist app is having its biggest year yet
GoWish, an app for making wishlists, is having a record year, and has doubled its users.
Pinterest’s new AI shopping assistant helps you pick a fit
Move over Andy Sachs, Pinterest is launching an AI-enabled shopping assistant that aims to suggest your next look. Beginning on Thursday, and over the coming weeks and months, Pinterest users will be able to talk to the visual platform about what they’re shopping or searching for. The Pinterest Assistant will come back with personalized recommendations […]
Phia’s founders on how AI is changing online shopping
Phia founders, Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, are building an AI assistant that aims to help you shop, and save.
Adobe predicts AI-assisted online shopping to grow 520% during the 2025 U.S. holiday season
AI-assisted online shopping is still booming, new U.S. holiday e-commerce forecast shows.
Shein is opening its first physical stores
Shein has announced plans to open its first physical locations in France this November, even as the country works on legislation to regulate the fast-fashion industry, as reported by Euronews and Reuters. The online retailer, which manufactures most of its ultra-cheap clothing in China, will open locations inside department stores across Dijon, Grenoble, Reims, Limoges, […]
TikTok is tagging videos from Gaza with TikTok Shop products
In a video from a Turkish broadcaster, a Palestinian woman walks among the rubble, wailing. “Where are my three daughters, my husband, and my cousin?” She went out to get flour, she says, and came back to find her home collapsed, her family apparently trapped inside. Hit pause on the clip and something strange happens: […]
The tariff apocalypse is here
As President Donald Trump’s August 29th deadline for new tariffs rolled around, the first thing that I thought of was 2026 planners. In July, Trump signed an executive order essentially killing a little-known but highly consequential trade rule, which meant that purchases coming from abroad – like $100 in planners and accessories – could enter […]