E-commerce marketplaces are rolling out new AI features [MDSR #21]

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Hot Off the Presses 📰

An increasing number of e-commerce marketplaces including Etsy, eBay, and ThreadUp are rolling out AI-powered personal shopping tools. E-commerce companies are looking to use AI to make it easier for customers to navigate the millions of items on their platforms.

More:

• Etsy rolled out Gift Mode which uses AI to help customers locate the ideal gift for someone in their life.

• EBay's "shop the look" feature leverages AI to analyze a customer's shopping history to recommend clothing items that align with their preferences.

• The company's "magical listing" feature uses AI to quickly generate detailed product descriptions for merchants.

• ThreadUp has integrated AI into its search engine, resulting in better results and an increase in searches.

There were over 500,000 U.S merchants on TikTok Shop's platform at the end of 2023 TikTok Shop had over 15 million merchants globally by the end of 2023.

More:

• TikTok Shop launched in the U.S. in September 2023.

• Earlier this year, TikTok announced that it would raise seller fees from 2% per order to 8% per order.

• Some TikTok Shops merchants have complained they've had to raise prices to offset the increase in seller fees, which has resulted in higher churn rates.

• In April, President Biden signed a bill that would force Chinese tech company ByteDance to divest its stake in TikTok within nine months or it would be banned from the U.S.

• TikTok has vowed to challenge the move but an increasing number of merchants are deprioritizing the platform amid an uncertain future.

Shopify's revenue rose by 23% YoY in Q1 to $1.9B. GMV rose by 23% YoY to $60.9B in the quarter. The company recorded a profit of $68M in Q1 2023, but posted a loss of $273M in the latest quarter.

More:

• Shopify expects revenue to grow by a "high-teens percentage rate" in Q2.

• The company's revenue has grown by at least 20% for the past six quarters.

• The company is expecting revenue growth to slow down in Q2 due to "some softness in European consumer spending."

• Shopify's stock price is down 19.5% year-to-date and it has a market cap of $99.5B.

The Federal Reserve voted to keep interest rates between 5.25%-5.50%. The Federal Open Markets Committee said the move was due to a "lack of further progress" on bringing inflation down to its target of 2%.

More:

• Inflation increased by 3.5% YoY in March and has fallen from its peak of 9.1% in June 2022.

• Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices and is the Fed's preferred metric, rose by 2.8% YoY in March.

• The Federal Reserve raised rates 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023 but has since kept rates constant.

• While some economists, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, have urged the Fed to raise rates, Powell said that was "unlikely" to be the central bank's next policy move.

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Weekly Reading 📖

This week's recommended reading is "The Best 90 Days Ever: How 10-minute marketing can transform your business one day at a time" by Hannah Isted. The book provides 90 separate actions you can take to boost your company's revenue. Isted provides valuable and proven strategies that will help you improve your email marketing and video content.

"The Best 90 Days Ever: How 10-minute marketing can transform your business one day at a time" has a 4.5/5 rating on Amazon.

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E-commerce Tool of the Week 🏫
Video Commerce and customer engagement platform Firework rolled out its new Instagram Uploader tool. Brands can use the tool to turn Instagram stories, posts, and reels into shoppable video experiences. The tool simplifies the process of creating interactive content using existing posts that can boost conversion rates and customer engagement.

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Videos Worth Watching 💸

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An Event You Should Attend! 🗓️

Affiliate Summit East will be held in New York City between July 29-30.

Why you should Attend:

• The list of speakers includes Ronak Shah, CEO and Co-Founder of CPG brand Obvi and Don Batsford, Head of Industry at Google.

• 86% of previous attendees have described the networking opportunities as excellent.

• ASE has been consistently ranked in the top 5% of events in the world.

Click here to view the agenda and here to buy tickets.
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Did You See That Post

How to Fix Your Popup Page

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If you are looking for a business professional community made for e-commerce entrepreneurs, then consider applying today. 

*To qualify, you must be a full-time seller or brand owner and do at least 1 million in verified annual revenue.

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Quick Hits:

• The National Labor Relations Board ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy broke labor laws in 2022 when he made multiple comments discouraging employees from unionizing.

• Temu is looking to increase sales from $18B in 2023 to $60B in 2024.

• Both Amazon and Walmart are rolling out new private-label grocery brands.

• Two Democratic senators introduced a bill designed to increase safety at warehouses.

• Amazon rolled out its South African marketplace.

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Until Next Time ✌️

As always, thanks for sticking with us until the end. 

If you’d care to share your thoughts on this newsletter, we’re all ears. Just hit reply to sound off. 

See you next time with more of the latest and greatest content you need to succeed this year 🔥

Sincerely,