New Ecommerce Tools: July 10, 2025

Every Thursday we handpick and publish a list of new products and services from vendors to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes updates on multilingual messaging, loyalty programs, global D2C and B2B storefronts, AI-powered shopping assistants, ecommerce payments, and shipping.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

Babeltext launches multilingual messaging for Shopify merchants. Babeltext, an AI-powered multilingual message platform, has launched its integration with Shopify, enabling merchants in Australia, the U.S., and the U.K. to provide real-time customer support across 195 languages and multiple messaging channels. With its Shopify API and omnichannel messaging engine, Babeltext enables merchants to communicate instantly with customers in their preferred language via web chat, SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, and Discord — all from a single dashboard.

Babeltext

Alibaba.com and Wix announce strategic partnership. Alibaba.com, a global B2B marketplace, and Wix, the website builder platform, have announced a strategic partnership aimed at empowering entrepreneurs, new businesses, and SMBs. This strategic collaboration will enable Wix merchants to expand their global wholesale capabilities through Alibaba.com while providing Alibaba merchants the opportunity to establish robust D2C and B2B storefronts powered by Wix’s commerce infrastructure. The platforms collectively facilitate global trade across over 200 countries and regions.

Productsup launches Google Comparison Shopping Services extension. Productsup, an enterprise feed management and syndication company, has launched a comparison shopping service add-on to help brands and retailers with Google Shopping campaigns. According to Productsup, the add-on enables businesses to manage campaigns, optimize product content, and drive more qualified traffic from a single, centralized solution. Productsup’s highlight feature, Keyword CSS, dynamically adjusts Shopping ad URLs based on the shopper’s search query and directs them to merchant-branded landing pages tailored to the query intent.

Alby introduces capabilities for AI shopping assistants. Alby, an AI shopping agent for ecommerce brands, has announced four tools — Product Advisor, Playbooks, In-Session Context, and Recommendations — to guide shoppers. According to Alby, (i) Product Advisor transforms product discovery into a conversational, human-like exchange, (ii) Playbooks enables brands to coach an AI agent using simple, natural-language instructions, (iii) In-Session Context enables the AI agent to remember what shoppers have already browsed, clicked, or searched during their session, and (iv) Recommendations enables contextual product suggestions to assist shoppers.

Alby

eBay updates tracking to reduce claims and improve customer experience. eBay has redesigned the tracking experience across Seller Hub and the buyer shipment flow. Seller Hub now offers a more consistent and intuitive tracking status visualization, such as on the View Order page, making it easier to manage shipments. Buyers view all deliveries for an order in a single, comprehensive view, including separate tracking for both outbound and return items. For delayed deliveries, buyers see a clearer status update to reduce uncertainty.

Meta launches enhanced marketing messages. Meta is introducing marketing messages on Messenger to help businesses re-engage and retain customers through chat. Businesses can (i) initiate promotional messages to people who have subscribed to receive them, and keep conversations going, (ii) add subscribers by leveraging existing CRM lists, custom audience lists, or ads that click to Messenger, and (iii) write messages for each customer, or broadcast one message to everyone. Down-funnel measurement helps businesses understand their results and inform their marketing strategy.

Talon.One secures $135 million for enterprise loyalty programs. Talon.One, an enterprise loyalty and promotion platform, has announced a $135 million funding round to deliver AI-powered intelligence and predictive insights. Participating investors include Silversmith Capital Partners, Meritech Capital, and existing investor CRV. With a headless architecture and intuitive Rule Engine, Talon.One says its loyalty and promotion software enables marketing and product teams to launch and manage any incentive through a unified system. Partners include Braze (an email and engagement platform) and Shopify.

Talon.One

Amazon Q Business launches customized responses. Amazon Q Business, a generative AI-powered assistant for finding information at work, has introduced response customization for Q Business applications, enabling organizations to tailor how their Q Business applications generate and format responses to user queries. With response customization, companies can provide instructions for identity, tone, and output style when configuring Q Business applications. This customizes the chat persona, communication formality, response length, and detail to match specific needs, per Amazon.

Finix launches WooCommerce plugin to simplify ecommerce payments. Finix, a payment processor for online and physical businesses, has launched its plugin for WooCommerce to accept credit and debit cards, ACH transfers, and Apple Pay. The plugin enables merchants to manage disputes, refunds, and ACH returns with built-in webhook support and real-time automation. Merchants can access interchange-plus pricing and get next-day deposits or same-day payouts.

Netcore Cloud launches Insights Agent for real-time marketing metrics. Netcore Cloud, a provider of AI-powered marketing automation and customer engagement, has launched Insights Agent, a marketing analytics agent that delivers campaign feedback instantly. According to Netcore Cloud, Insights Agent trains on marketing campaign data and contextual behaviors across email, WhatsApp, SMS, and push notifications. With AI-personalized recommendations, cross-channel intelligence, and instant access in Netcore’s UI, Insights Agent can reduce cognitive overload, reclaim valuable time, and enhance ROI across campaigns, per the company.

ShipStation launches features to optimize fulfillment operations. ShipStation, an ecommerce shipping platform, has launched four major feature updates to its logistics suite: Automated Rate Shopping, Returns and Exchanges, Analytics and Inventory, and Warehouse Management. Automated Rate Shopping allows businesses to find the most cost-effective and efficient delivery options without manual effort. The Returns and Exchanges update includes a branded customer returns portal and return management tools. Analytics includes seven new reporting dashboards. Inventory and Warehouse Management includes forecasting tools and lot tracking.

ShipStation

New Ecommerce Tools: July 3, 2025

Every week we select and publish a rundown of new products and services from vendors to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes updates on AI-powered storefronts, B2B payments, generative AI content, email marketing, stablecoin payments, reverse logistics, and product information management.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

Adobe Commerce releases two product offerings. Adobe has announced two new product offerings to help brands deliver personalized shopping journeys. Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service is a full-stack, cloud-native ecommerce platform. It enables brands to create global, multi-brand B2B and B2C storefronts, with genAI-powered content creation and streamlined digital asset management. Adobe Commerce Optimizer is a headless storefront that empowers brands to upgrade the front end of their ecommerce sites while allowing the backend system to remain unchanged.

Adobe Commerce

Mirakl launches connector for Shopify. Mirakl, a provider of ecommerce software, is releasing Mirakl Platform Connector for Shopify, designed to accelerate marketplace deployment through pre-built synchronization of taxonomy, products, offers, sellers, and orders. The connector syncs critical marketplace operations, with features including a built-in checkout module, out-of-the-box technical integration, and support for themes and headless storefronts. Per Mirakl, businesses can benefit from standardized and guided integration processes, automated product catalog onboarding, streamlined order management, dedicated technical support, and real-time synchronization of operations.

Balance and Alibaba.com partner on flexible B2B payments for U.S. SMBs. Balance, an AI-powered financial infrastructure platform for B2B commerce, has launched “Pay Later for Business” on Alibaba.com. The embedded financing tool gives U.S. small and medium-sized businesses greater purchasing power and more control over how and when they pay. Alibaba.com’s U.S. business users now have the option to access instant credit at checkout. This BNPL feature is powered by Balance’s AI risk infrastructure with real-time credit management.

Feedonomics and BigCommerce team up with Perplexity for AI product search. Feedonomics, a data feed management platform, and BigCommerce have announced that their customers have access to Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, to optimize visibility and relevance in search results. Feedonomics now provides Perplexity with pre-optimized, structured product data, ensuring that the LLM understands and recognizes merchants’ products, leading to search results that favor the brand.

Feedonomics

Bolt launches Connect for marketplace onboarding and support for stablecoin payments. Bolt, a checkout, identity, and payments platform, has announced Connect to help marketplaces onboard merchants. Bolt Connect gives marketplace operators a single integration to support one-click merchant onboarding, built-in compliance workflows, and low-fee or no-fee payouts. With Bolt managing the infrastructure, marketplaces can grow efficiently while controlling their brand experience and business model. Bolt also announced support for stablecoin payments, giving merchants and shoppers enhanced flexibility through new digital payment infrastructure.

Akeneo joins Shopify’s partner program, providing product content solutions. Akeneo, a provider of product information management tools, is now a Premier Partner of Shopify. Akeneo helps brands, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers centralize, enrich, and optimize product content with AI tools, while Shopify provides a composable infrastructure for high-performing digital storefronts. With the partnership, Akeneo has launched its App for Shopify, allowing merchants to connect Akeneo’s PIM to Shopify storefronts, eliminating manual data entry by automating the syndication of localized product data.

Omnisend launches AI-powered suite for ecommerce email marketing. Omnisend, an email and SMS marketing platform for ecommerce brands, has launched a suite of AI-powered tools. The AI Segment Builder lets marketers describe audiences in plain language and instantly generate precise segments. New AI content tools include generators for subject lines and preheaders as well as direct copywriting — all in multiple languages, using previous campaign insights, and the brand’s tone of voice. The new Personalized Product Recommender suggests products tailored to each customer’s browsing behavior.

Omnisend

Amazon expands Prime delivery to thousands of small towns and rural areas. Amazon is expanding Same-Day and Next-Day delivery to over 4,000 small U.S. cities, towns, and rural communities by the end of 2025. Additionally, Amazon is investing over $4 billion to triple the size of its delivery network by 2026, with a focus on small towns and rural communities across the U.S. Customers can see whether their area has Same-Day Delivery by visiting Amazon.com/samedaystore and browsing by category, price point, and retail store.

Geodis unveils two complementary returns tools. Geodis, a global logistics provider, has launched two returns tools: workflow automation and management. The returns workflow automation module enables the end consumer to create a shipping label to initiate the return or exchange without requiring the shipper’s involvement. The returns management module optimizes the reverse logistics process inside the warehouse. Geodis integrates with Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and other ecommerce platforms.

Tulip AI debuts for personalized customer engagement. Tulip, a cloud-based retail customer engagement platform, has launched a suite of AI tools to create stronger customer experiences. Tulip AI acts as a virtual assistant, streamlining daily tasks and enabling more meaningful customer connections at scale, including intelligent message writing, instant profile summaries, customer search, and segmentation, according to Tulip.

Klaviyo launches AI-powered platform enhancements for omnichannel marketing. Klaviyo has announced AI-powered platform enhancements. Omnichannel Campaign Builder helps plan, launch, and measure complex, multi-day campaigns across email, SMS/RCS, push, and WhatsApp. Channel Affinity automatically learns customer preferences, then delivers messages where and when they’re most likely to convert. Multi-Touch Attribution provides real-time visibility into what’s driving revenue.

Klaviyo

New Ecommerce Tools: June 26, 2025

This installment of our weekly rundown of new products and services for merchants includes rollouts for video, cross-border payments, agentic commerce, shipping management, point-of-sale systems, live video shopping, ecommerce platforms, reverse logistics, and post-purchase upselling.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

Payabl partners with PrestaShop to optimize ecommerce payments. Payabl, a fintech provider, has integrated with PrestaShop, an open-source ecommerce platform, to optimize customer payments for merchants. The plugin enables PrestaShop users to connect to Payabl’s infrastructure, providing sellers access to over 300 local payment methods, multi-currency support, fraud prevention, and real-time reporting. PrestaShop’s 250,000 merchants can connect to Payabl’s technology and offer customers an optimal, secure, and scalable checkout experience, according to Payabl.

PrestaShop

Yep AI launches sales agent on Shopify app store. Yep AI, a chatbot provider, has launched its sales agent plugin on the Shopify app store. Yep AI’s chatbot delivers contextual, proactive engagement to help merchants convert visitors. Yep states that its AI sales agent acts like a trained in-store associate, analyzing browsing behavior, identifying intent signals, and providing personalized recommendations in real-time.

CorrelLink launches ecommerce shipping management platform. CorrelLink, an Australia-based software developer, has launched Shipperfy, a shipping management platform, to streamline order management across eBay, Amazon, Shopify, and other marketplaces, eliminating the need to switch between multiple systems to process shipments. The platform connects with merchants’ existing carrier accounts and displays shipping quotes from multiple providers on a single screen. Merchants can generate shipping labels, automatically notify sales channels when orders ship, generate order invoices, and create packing slips.

Invideo launches v4.0 update for product videos at scale. Invideo, an AI video creation platform, has launched its v4.0 update, enabling users to clone themselves or their products to generate videos. Users record a short video to create a lifelike digital version of themselves to unlock video creation in 50-plus languages, formats, and platforms. Users (i) paste a product link or upload photos, (ii) generate ad-ready visuals of that item in multiple real-world contexts, and (iii) choose from a library of actors to front the videos.

Invideo

Shopware launches Agentic Commerce platform. Shopware, a Germany-based open-source ecommerce platform, has introduced Agentic Commerce and additional AI-driven tools for its expansion into B2B. Agentic Commerce enables intelligent agents to make decisions, shortening the sales cycle from quote to purchase. Shopware’s additional AI tools include a chat-based Copilot, an AI assistant for managing routine tasks, and an image editor for placing products into campaigns. With the new offerings, Shopware aims to help merchants increase revenue, lower integration costs, and create more differentiated shopping experiences.

Mollie launches Tap for in-person payments. Mollie, a financial technology company based in Amsterdam, has introduced Tap, a payment terminal to facilitate contactless payments. Tap operates on the Android platform and lets customers make payments by tapping their card or smartphone against it. The integration of Tap into Mollie’s platform allows businesses to manage both online and offline transactions from a unified dashboard. Tap is available in the Netherlands, with plans to enter Belgium, Germany, and Austria.

Bambuser partners with Alibaba Cloud to bring live video shopping to China. Bambuser, a video commerce provider, has partnered with Alibaba Cloud, a division of Alibaba Group, to bring its shoppable video tools to the China market. Alibaba Cloud’s customers can leverage its full suite of video commerce products, including Digital Clienteling, Live Video Shopping, Shoppable Videos, and Chat, providing more control and autonomy while addressing the needs in China.

Bambuser

DHL eCommerce UK expands partnership with ZigZag for international returns. DHL eCommerce UK is expanding its collaboration with ZigZag, a global returns management platform. According to ZigZag, the enhanced partnership will simplify international returns for consumers while helping retailers recoup costs from export duties paid on returned goods. ZigZag connects retailers to over 200 global warehouses and 1,500 carrier services in 170 countries.

Unbound Commerce and Znode partner for B2B app development. Unbound Commerce, a custom app development provider, has signed a partnership agreement with Znode, a B2B ecommerce platform. Znode’s B2B functionality enables management of customer-specific catalogs, multiple web storefronts, workflow approvals, complex pricing, product types, and quote management. According to Unbound Commerce, the partnership enables Znode B2B customers to extend their websites into apps.

Nosto launches Post-Purchase Upsell for Shopify’s checkout. Nosto, a commerce experience platform, has launched Post-Purchase Upsell for Shopify merchants. Nosto utilizes real-time shopper data, including affinities, browsing and purchase history, and current cart context, to deliver targeted product offers. The new module enables Shopify sellers to implement targeted product offers the moment a shopper completes a transaction, appearing on a new post-purchase page that sits between the checkout and thank you pages.

Barrett Distribution Centers and Two Boxes partner on reverse logistics. Barrett Distribution Centers, a third-party logistics provider, has partnered with Two Boxes, a reverse logistics technology platform, to deliver flexible returns for modern ecommerce brands. Barrett says the need for a more streamlined process to manage inspections has grown as return processes have become more complex. Barret selected Two Boxes for its user experience, seamless integration with platforms such as Shopify and Loop Returns, and intuitive design for warehouse operators.

Two Boxes

New Ecommerce Tools: June 19, 2025

Every week we publish a handpicked list of new products and services from vendors to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes updates on stablecoins, chargebacks, live streaming, digital ad campaigns, cross-border payments, customer experience management, and open box programs.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

ShipBob debuts zone skipping in the U.S. ShipBob, an ecommerce and omnichannel fulfillment platform for SMBs, has announced the launch of zone skipping in the U.S., with integrated tracking through its logistics network. With zone skipping, ShipBob can transport shipments in dedicated trucks to regions and then utilize carrier partners for last-mile delivery. ShipBob states that it reduces transit times for these deliveries by one full day. ShipBob has also launched TrackBob, an integrated, time-stamped tracking page.

ShipBob

Chargeflow launches automated chargebacks for WooCommerce. Chargeflow, a chargeback platform, has launched its native app in the WooCommerce Marketplace. WooCommerce merchants can use Chargeflow to automate chargeback cycles from initial disputes to evidence collection and representation. Chargeflow Alerts enable merchants to deflect disputes at the earliest stage with a network collaboration powered by Visa and Mastercard. Chargeflow Automation leverages generative AI and machine learning to create compelling dispute evidence automatically. And Chargeflow Insights delivers post-transaction analytics.

Adobe updates products for customer personalization. Adobe has introduced products to deliver personalized customer experiences at scale. GenStudio has new generative AI capabilities for short-form video ads and display ad campaigns. Firefly Services now offers APIs for creating short-form video, 3D imagery, and digital avatars. LLM Optimizer helps businesses improve response rankings on AI-powered browsers and chat services. Agentic AI capabilities are now live.

PayPal launches Storefront Ads for merchants. PayPal is expanding its digital advertising options with the launch of Storefront Ads, transforming ad space on the open web into a functional storefront. The PayPal transaction graph, a repository of cross-merchant purchase signals, powers Storefront Ads. By combining checkout through PayPal and Venmo’s payment flow with a storefront that lives inside the ad, shoppers do not have to leave the content.

PayPal Storefront Ads

Intuit Mailchimp unveils new tools and integrations for customer data. Intuit Mailchimp has announced a suite of tools and integrations to help marketers and SMBs leverage customer data. Enhanced integrations with Meta, TikTok, Google, Snapchat, and LinkedIn help marketers bring lead information into Mailchimp for hyper-personalized campaigns. Mailchimp offers more than 100 new pop-up form templates. Its Metrics Visualizer provides over 40 performance datapoints across email and SMS channels.

eBay U.K. launches live-streaming and open box program. eBay U.K. has launched Live, a platform that offers real-time, interactive auctions, connecting fans directly with business sellers. Currently in beta, eBay Live will soon invite applications in select categories. eBay U.K. has also launched a new certified open box program to enhance open box listings in Electronics & Home Improvement, enabling sellers to highlight those listings with the Certified Open Box badge.

Shopify introduces USDC for borderless payments. Shopify is partnering with Coinbase and Stripe on enabling secure payments with USD Coin (USDC), a regulated stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar. Merchants can accept USDC from customers worldwide on the Base network, utilizing existing payment and order fulfillment processes. Customers can pay with USDC on Base from hundreds of supported crypto wallets, on guest checkout, and with Shop Pay. Merchants will receive their local currency by default, with no foreign transaction or exchange fees.

USDC on Shopify

Fermàt raises $45 million for AI-powered commerce. Fermàt, an AI-native commerce platform for brands, has raised $45 million in a funding round led by VMG Partners, with participation from existing backers QED Investors, Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures, and Courtside Ventures. Fermàt says the investment will accelerate its mission to help enterprise brands and agency partners prepare for agentic commerce.

TerraPay and Whalet partner on cross-border payments for SMEs. TerraPay, a global money movement company, has partnered with Whalet, a payment platform, to enable cross-border payouts worldwide. The collaboration aims to enhance payment efficiency for Whalet’s core customer base, which includes cross-border sellers from the Asia-Pacific region. Whalet supports SMBs by providing one-click store setup, pay-ins, payouts, global accounts, currency exchange, and card issuance. By integrating TerraPay’s technology, Whalet can streamline transactions, reduce settlement complexities, and improve operational efficiencies.

European fintech Paynt acquires E-xact Transactions for North American expansion. Paynt, a Europe-based payment technology company, has announced its acquisition of Canadian firm E-xact Transactions. According to Paynt, the acquisition of E-xact, which processes over CAD 3.5 billion annually across more than 50 million transactions, will add a new operational hub in Vancouver, Canada. E-xact Transactions delivers secure payment processing and supports leading ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce.

Lily AI optimizes product discovery on search engines, answer engines, and genAI. Lily AI, a retail technology company for retailers and brands, has launched a tool to enhance product content for discoverability by traditional search engines, answer engines, and generative AI platforms, including Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Features include machine-optimized knowledge graph for every product, query intelligence, content refresh, and shopper-friendly language.

Lily AI

New Ecommerce Tools: June 12, 2025

We publish a rundown each week of new products and services from vendors to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes updates on AI-powered checkout, loyalty programs, subscriptions, payments, tax compliance, shipping optimization, and AI research and analytics.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

HubSpot launches a research connector with ChatGPT. HubSpot has launched a deep research connector with ChatGPT. Customers can now bring their customer context into the HubSpot connector, ask questions, and take action on insights to empower marketing, sales, and support teams. The connector will be available automatically to all HubSpot customers across all tiers with a paid ChatGPT plan.

HubSpot

Pattern unveils suite of AI-powered ecommerce tools. Pattern, an ecommerce acceleration provider, has announced a suite of AI-powered tools for brands. Chessboard is an analytics engine using data science, visibility modeling, and attribute-level analysis to identify product features that drive purchases. TrendVision, a tool for brands on TikTok and Instagram, analyzes social content and generates scripts and assets. The Portal is a product photography engine that combines high-fidelity image capture with data-driven creative generation.

Bolt and Palantir launch AI-powered checkout. Bolt, a checkout technology company, and Palantir, a provider of AI software, have partnered on intelligent ecommerce checkout. According to the companies, Checkout 2.0, a self-learning, self-improving checkout system, provides an adaptive, real-time solution that responds to each shopper’s preferences, behaviors, and context. Checkout 2.0 delivers personalized flows that evolve with the user, prioritizing preferred payment methods, remembering selections, and surfacing relevant information at just the right time.

RevenueCat and Paddle integrate to power cross-platform subscription growth. RevenueCat, a subscription platform used by mobile apps, and Paddle, a merchant of record for SaaS and digital product companies, have launched an integration to help developers unify subscriptions across web and mobile. With the integration, users can subscribe on one platform and automatically unlock access across web and mobile. All subscription events across iOS, Android, and web are centralized in the RevenueCat dashboard, enabling accurate real-time analytics, while Paddle handles payments, tax, and compliance.

RevenueCat

Google adds markup support for loyalty programs. Google has announced the addition of structured data markup support for loyalty programs. Businesses that add structured data for loyalty become eligible to appear with member benefits directly in search results. The update establishes a pathway for merchants without Merchant Center accounts to define their loyalty programs through Organization structured data, combined with loyalty benefits under Product structured data. However, businesses with Merchant Center accounts should define their loyalty programs within that platform instead.

Santander UK partners with Worldpay on merchant services. Santander UK, a financial services provider and part of multinational Banco Santander, has partnered with Worldpay, a provider of payments technology. The partnership will provide Santander Business Banking customers with solutions for point-of-sale, ecommerce, and integrated payment needs. Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking customers will also benefit from dedicated ecommerce and implementation consultants on hand to offer support and provide value-added services.

Sovos partners with Shopify to automate sales tax compliance for merchants. Sovos, a tax and regulatory compliance provider, has partnered with Shopify for the preparation, filing, and remittance of sales tax returns for merchants. Sovos’s Sales and Use Tax Filing service now integrates with Shopify Tax, offering merchants a streamlined experience for managing sales tax compliance. With automated filing, merchants reduce the time preparing and filing monthly returns. This feature is available to Shopify‘s eligible U.S. merchants.

Sovos

Intelligent Audit launches a parcel audit platform for SMBs. Intelligent Audit, a freight bill and payment optimization platform, has launched Catalyst, a program to help businesses optimize their parcel shipping operations and recover hidden overcharges. Businesses can audit parcel invoices, reclaim shipping overcharges, and get cost-effective shipping strategies. This program is designed for retailers and manufacturers who ship high volumes of small parcels, including growing ecommerce and D2C brands, regional specialty retailers, and subscription box companies.

Amazon launches an infrastructure region in Taiwan. Amazon has announced the launch of the AWS Asia Pacific Region to provide developers, startups, entrepreneurs, enterprises, and more a greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from AWS data centers located in Taiwan. Additionally, Amazon plans to invest more than $5 billion to support the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of its data centers in Taiwan.

Block adds conversational AI assistant to Square’s business technology platform. Square, the point-of-sale app from Block, now has a conversational AI assistant, Square AI, integrated directly into the Square dashboard. Sellers can ask questions about their business using natural language and receive instant, direct answers. Square AI interprets the question, digs through relevant data, and surfaces the answer. Square AI is now available in public beta for all sellers in the U.S.

Glance and Samsung Galaxy produce AI shopping experiences. Glance, a Google-backed smart lock screen provider for Android devices, has launched Glance AI, a platform delivering genAI-led commerce and content discovery. Glance AI users can instantly visualize themselves in outfits and destinations, and purchase their favorites with a tap. As part of the partnership, Samsung Galaxy users will gain access to Glance’s AI shopping and styling experiences for trending content, local events, and social media.

Glance AI

New Ecommerce Tools: June 5, 2025

This week’s rundown of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants includes rollouts for local payments, headless commerce, ad platforms, Bitcoin, B2B commerce, retail media solutions, and parcel delivery robots.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

Ppro, a local payments platform, launches subscriptions. Local payments provider Ppro has announced the launch of Subscriptions for Local Payments, enabling merchants to accelerate development through optimized local strategies. Businesses can (i) access local payment methods such as Twint and Bancontact with native recurring functionality, (ii) deploy subscription flows with dedicated features to cut down on free trial abuse, (iii) reduce payment declines, (iv) allow flexible billing, and (v) leverage Ppro-signature enhancements.

Ppro

Fast Simon integrates with Shopify Hydrogen 2. Fast Simon, a provider of AI shopping optimization, has announced its integration with Hydrogen 2, Shopify’s headless commerce framework. The integration brings server-side rendering capabilities to Fast Simon’s AI-driven merchandising, search, and personalization suite for Shopify merchants. Fast Simon states that its integration enables merchants to capitalize on Hydrogen 2’s infrastructure, ensuring that search and merchandising components render server-side, boosting crawlability, improving time-to-first-byte, and maintaining rich content without sacrificing visibility for search engines.

Pacvue integrates with TikTok Shop and Shop Ads. Pacvue, a commerce acceleration platform, has announced its integration with TikTok Shop and TikTok Shop Ads. Brands and agencies can now manage TikTok Shop operations and advertising through Pacvue’s platform, offering a unified view of performance across channels. The integration enables brands and sellers of all sizes to manage their shoppable social campaign strategies, tap into new audiences, and optimize performance, according to Pacvue.

Amazon Ads launches Sponsored Ads and Stores in Ireland. Eligible sellers and vendors on Ireland’s Amazon.ie can now leverage Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Brand Video, and Brand Stores. Sponsored Products ads help promote individual listings. Sponsored Brands ads let sellers include multiple products, along with a brand logo and custom headline. A Store allows sellers to showcase bestsellers and collections, publish videos, or tell a brand story, all at no cost.

Amazon Ads

WordPress.org launches AI team. WordPress.org has announced the formation of a dedicated team focused on accelerating and coordinating AI projects across the WordPress ecosystem. The AI team will coordinate efforts to explore AI-powered features, publish and maintain a public roadmap of AI initiatives and canonical plugins, and collaborate closely with Core, Design, Accessibility, and other grooups to ensure strong integration and shared standards. The initial team has contributors from Automattic, 10up (web development), and Google.

Visa launches pay-by-bank platform in the U.K. Visa has launched Visa A2A, a pay-by-bank platform, in the U.K. The offering introduces enhanced consumer protections for account-to-account transfers. According to Visa, A2A provides a seamless experience for users by integrating payment management into banking apps. For businesses, A2A delivers enhanced benefits through real-time settlement via “Pay.UK” (a faster payment system), improved cash flow visibility, and enriched transaction data. Merchants also receive alerts when customers modify payment permissions.

Block to roll out Bitcoin payments on Square. Block, formerly Square, is launching Bitcoin payments on the Square point-of-sale app, enabling merchants to accept Bitcoin payments directly through their Square hardware for near-instantaneous, low-cost transactions. Square says the rollout will begin in the second half of 2025 and reach all eligible Square sellers in 2026. Square’s new Bitcoin for Businesses offering will build upon its Bitcoin Conversions feature, which automatically converts a portion of daily sales into Bitcoin.

Square

Visa deploys new AI-enabled products for the APAC region. Visa has announced a suite of AI tools in the Asia-Pacific region, providing regional partners, platforms, fintechs, banks, and merchants with a simple way to connect to the Visa network and deliver secure payment experiences. The Visa Intelligent Commerce initiative integrates APIs and a commercial partner program, allowing engineers to deploy Visa’s AI commerce capabilities at scale. Additionally, Visa is exploring partnerships with Ant International (a fintech company), Grab (a “super app”), and Tencent (the owner of WeChat) for AI-enabled checkout optimization.

Zaelab launches Portul in Europe to simplify B2B commerce on Shopify. Zaelab, a provider of digital B2B tools, has announced the European launch of Portul, a B2B app for Shopify. According to Zaelab, Portul will simplify the requirements of enterprise B2B commerce and assist organizations in modernizing selling experiences. Portul’s features include advanced account management, KPI tracking, efficient reordering workflows, account-based quoting scenarios, integration with ERP systems, and specialized solutions for search, product configuration, visualization, and content management.

Pairzon launches retail media tool to maximize first-party data. Pairzon, an AI-powered marketing intelligence platform, has launched its retail media tool to help retailers leverage first-party data. Pairzon accesses in-store and online transactional data to generate predictive audience segments in real-time. It then uses those segments across Meta, Google, TikTok, and other platforms to deliver performance at scale while maintaining data privacy. Pairzon says retailers can securely share personalized audiences with brands across in-store and online channels through precise shopper targeting.

Veho and Rivr partner on ecommerce delivery through AI-powered robots. Veho, a parcel delivery platform, and Rivr, a physical AI and robotics provider, have launched an initiative to improve the ecommerce delivery experience and efficiency through the use of parcel delivery robots. The robots will enable humans to deliver more parcels, faster, with less physical strain, while maintaining the superior delivery experience. The deployment begins in Austin, Texas, with plans to expand to additional markets later this year.

Rivr

New Ecommerce Tools: May 29, 2025

This week’s rundown of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants includes cross-border shipping, agentic commerce, virtual try-on, AI-powered store builders, embedded financing, fulfillment platforms, product summaries, and hosting.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

DHL Group partners with Shopify to accelerate cross-border shipping. DHL Group has expanded its shipping partnership with Shopify. DHL now integrates with the Shopify platform, enabling sellers worldwide to access the carrier’s global network and shipping services with just a few clicks. Sellers on Shopify will no longer need to onboard a logistics provider independently, per DHL, adding that the integration helps sellers manage complex customs, legal, and administrative tasks.

DHL Group

StellarWP launches StellarSites to build and launch a WordPress site. StellarWP, a provider of solutions for WordPress, has launched StellarSites to remove the complexity of traditional WordPress setups. According to StellarWP, publishing a full-featured site is now fast and easy with pre-built templates, premium plugins, and WordPress bundled in. Features include an AI setup wizard, automatic updates, backups, and built-in optimization. Premium plugins include KadenceWP (themes), The Events Calendar, GiveWP (fundraising), LearnDash (courses), IconicWP (WooCommerce tools), and SolidWP (security).

Shopify debuts an AI-powered store builder and new AI tools. At its semi-annual “Editions” showcase earlier this month, Shopify released an AI store builder and an AI element generator for banners and other creative. The platform also upgraded Sidekick, its AI assistant, with new voice chat and screen sharing capabilities. Shopify also introduced a new public theme called “Horizon,” which includes built-in AI to assist merchants with designs.

YouLend to finance sellers on eBay. YouLend, an embedded financing platform, has entered a partnership with eBay Germany to provide sellers with flexible access to capital. YouLend and eBay Germany will provide personalized, pre-approved financing offers to sellers, enabling them to determine their eligibility before applying. Via the integration, eBay Seller Capital will support sellers in accessing up to €2 million.

YouLend

Google adds AI shopping features to search. At its annual I/O conference, Google announced several new AI features, including a new shopping experience in AI Mode with a virtual “try it on” feature and an agentic checkout experience within search. With Google Search’s AI Mode, shoppers can conversationally chat what they’re looking for, and the AI feature draws from Google’s visual images and Shopping Graph. Shoppers have the option to let the agentic agent pay autonomously.

Manhattan Associates integrates order management with Shopify. Manhattan Associates, a provider of supply chain commerce solutions, announced that a connector to its Active Order Management is now available in the Shopify App Store. Manhattan’s Order Management and Store Inventory and Fulfilment tool is available as part of Active Omni, which helps enterprises provide customer service, inventory visibility, and store fulfilment capabilities.

InfoSum integrates with Amazon Ads for first-party insights. InfoSum, a data collaboration platform, has announced a new set of integrations with Amazon Ads to enable first-party signals across Amazon DSP (Demand Side Platform) and Amazon Marketing Cloud. According to InfoSum, advertisers can push first-party signals directly to Amazon Ads using InfoSum’s secure user interface. Advertisers can also create custom audiences for targeting in Amazon DSP and leverage insights within Marketing Cloud for advanced analysis. Per InfoSum, advertisers can optimize their media strategies with real-time access to audience insights.

InfoSum

CommerceIQ launches agentic AI for ecommerce. CommerceIQ, an ecommerce platform, has released Ally, a suite of role-specific AI agents to help brands across ecommerce platforms. Trained on data across more than 1,400 retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target, Ally provides ecommerce businesses with insights, performance recommendations, and instant optimizations. The suite offers a Sales Teammate, a Category Teammate to track and manage SKUs, and a Media Teammate to improve ad performance.

Worldpay partners with Yarbie for U.K. SMBs. Point-of-sale provider Yabie has partnered with payments platform Worldpay to power merchant tools within Worldpay 360, a management and payment platform for small to midsize businesses in the U.K. Available across retail, hospitality and service sectors, Yabie integrates with Worldpay’s payment hardware and technology. Worldpay 360 enables merchants to set up and access features such as inventory management, table management, and customizable receipts.

Amazon’s generative AI-powered audio feature synthesizes product summaries. Amazon is testing short-form audio summaries on select product detail pages, with AI-powered shopping experts discussing key product features. Shoppers can listen to the summaries by tapping the “Hear the highlights” button in the Amazon app. The initial test feature focuses on products that typically require consideration and is available to a subset of U.S. customers.

Bluehost launches open-source ecommerce plans for creators and businesses. Bluehost has announced its new WordPress eCommerce Hosting plans for content creators and businesses. The platform bundles hosting, plugins, and store management, including AI‑powered site building, payment integrations, paid courses and memberships, social logins, email templates, and search engine optimization tools.

Bluehost

Shopify’s New AI Tools Empower Merchants

Last week Shopify released “Editions,” its semi-annual platform update, with a slew of AI-fueled tools to ease launching, operating, and scaling a store.

For more than a decade, ecommerce platforms have competed on extensibility. The best solutions were often the most customizable and adaptable, with open APIs, app marketplaces, and flexible themes.

Extensibility

Shopify has thrived because of extensibility, the ability to tailor seemingly endless storefronts — from local boutiques to billion-dollar direct-to-consumer brands.

This flexibility has paid off for merchants, too. The combined sales of all U.S.-based Shopify merchants trail only Amazon among all nationwide retailers, ahead of eBay and Walmart.

But extensibility is now a lesser competitive edge.

The advent of generative AI has changed how people work. Shopify now inserts AI at its platform’s core, empowering merchants with speed, simplicity, and autonomy.

Horizon Theme

Consider Shopify’s new Horizon theme. It’s not merely an aesthetically trendy refresh of the Dawn theme, but the apparent foundation for a new generation of merchant experiences built around modularity, speed, and AI-assisted design.

Horizon represents a new foundation for theme-building, such as Pitch for beauty, fashion, and skincare.

At the core of Horizon is Theme Blocks, a new concept introduced to developers last fall. With drag-and-drop controls, merchants can rearrange these modular, self-contained components, such as product sliders, image galleries, promotional banners, and custom content sections.

Shopify includes a robust set of ready-made Theme Blocks but also allows for AI-generated versions.

AI can generate Shopify Theme Blocks with custom layouts.

Merchants can describe design elements such as “a banner with text overlay and fade-in animation,” and the system will generate a functioning Theme Block to match.

Adding Theme Blocks and generative AI implies that some small and mid-sized storekeepers who might have purchased a custom theme or hired a developer to tweak one can now do it themselves. It’s a significant usability gain built atop Shopify’s extensible base.

AI-Powered Store Builder

Shopify’s new AI-powered store builder turns a week-long process into something closer to a guided conversation. Rather than starting from scratch, a store owner can enter a couple of descriptive keywords. Shopify will return three layout options, each populated with images, text, and structure — ready for editing.

The builder lowers the barrier to launching a quality storefront without sacrificing aesthetics.

Sidekick

Shopify’s AI-powered assistant, Sidekick, also received usability upgrades.

Sidekick now connects multiple data sources, performs multi-step analysis, and delivers relatively more insights.

For example, Sidekick can help a merchant diagnose why sales dipped on a product line, suggest ways to re-engage a lapsed customer segment, or walk users through admin tasks via voice chat and screen sharing.

These enhancements make Sidekick less like a chatbot and more like a co-pilot, or at least the foundation for one. It is another sign that Shopify prioritizes tools that reduce complexity and give everyday merchants more control without requiring technical expertise or development resources.

Usability and Extensibility

Shopify’s “usability” updates have not reduced its extensibility. Developers can still access Liquid, APIs, and the platform’s vast app ecosystem.

Sellers can extend, customize, and integrate Horizon themes, like previous versions.

But now, non-technical merchants have a customization path via natural language, drag-and-drop editing, and AI assistance. Shopify is layering usability on top of extensibility, expanding who can build, launch, and manage a storefront.

The Trend

Shopify’s usability push likely reflects a general software and digital commerce trend.

As generative AI becomes more capable, platform value shifts away from raw flexibility and toward outcomes such as how quickly a merchant can grow without adding complexity.

It’s especially relevant as entrepreneurs bootstrap solo ventures or side hustles. These merchants need tools that lower friction and overhead.

AI tools on Shopify and elsewhere now:

The new usability mindset isn’t just for new sellers. Experienced operators can do more with fewer resources.

New Ecommerce Tools: May 22, 2025

We publish a rundown each week of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes updates on virtual shopping, agentic commerce, analytics, dropshipping, omnichannel payments, logistics, loyalty programs, promotions, and gamification.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

Roblox launches APIs for in-game shopping of physical items. Roblox, an online gaming platform and virtual universe, is expanding its selling capabilities with Commerce APIs and Shopify as its first integrated partner. Eligible creators and brands can sell physical products within Roblox experiences. Roblox’s new Approved Merchandiser Program connects physical shopping with virtual goods and benefits.

Roblox

Talon.One brings advanced promotions and loyalty capabilities to Shopify Enterprise. Talon.One, an incentive engine for loyalty, promotions, and gamification, has partnered with Shopify. Per Talone.One, brands that use both Talon.One and Shopify Enterprise have a single point of access to over 30 incentive tools, including personalized offers, gamified rewards, and advanced loyalty programs.

Zoho enters U.S. payments market. Technology platform Zoho has launched a unified payment solution for online businesses using multiple payment methods such as cards and ACH. The solution offers native payment capabilities within Zoho, enabling companies to manage payments directly within their existing financial workflows. Pricing for U.S. domestic cards is 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction, including Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, and Discover. Pricing for international cards is 1.5% plus the domestic card fee.

Nuvei joins the European Payments Initiative to launch Wero for ecommerce. Nuvei, a Canadian fintech company, has announced its membership in the European Payments Initiative, becoming one of the first payment services providers to enable ecommerce businesses to accept Wero, EPI’s digital wallet, in their checkouts. Wero facilitates instant account-to-account transfers using SEPA Instant Credit Transfer protocols, allowing users to send money within 10 seconds via mobile numbers, email addresses, or QR codes. Wero has attracted over 40 million users since its launch in 2024.

Nuvei’s Wero

Perplexity selects PayPal to power agentic commerce. Perplexity, an AI answer engine, has partnered with PayPal to power agentic commerce across its Pro platform. Starting this summer in the U.S., consumers can check out instantly with PayPal or Venmo when they ask Perplexity to find products, book travel, or buy tickets. The process — payment, shipping, tracking, invoicing — will occur behind the scenes with PayPal’s account linking, secure tokenized wallet, and emerging passkey checkout flows.

WooCom Made Easy achieves HIPAA compliance for healthcare integration. HIC Global Solutions, a Salesforce consulting company, has announced WooCom Made Easy, an integration software connecting WooCommerce and Salesforce, is now HIPAA compliant. The update enables healthcare providers, companies, and businesses handling sensitive patient data to sync their ecommerce and customer-management platforms without compromising privacy. All data transfers are now encrypted and compliant with HIPAA guidelines, protecting personal health information while powering real-time sync and multi-store operations.

Amplitude and Twilio launch partnership for co-selling and deeper integration. Amplitude, a digital analytics platform, has partnered with Twilio Segment, a customer data platform. Amplitude recommends Twilio Segment as an optimal customer data platform, and Twilio recommends Amplitude as the digital analytics provider of choice. Amplitude has also released ready-made dashboards that connect its platform to Twilio Segment’s CDP.

Amplitude

Kibo Commerce debuts unified marketplace and dropship solution. Kibo, a composable commerce platform, has introduced an integrated marketplace and dropship tool to help retailers and brands expand product assortments and reduce operational costs without managing physical inventory. With Kibo’s tools, clients can onboard third-party vendors using self-service registration portals or targeted invitation workflows. Kibo says its integrated tools help merchants upload product catalogs, manage pricing, and fulfill orders, while analytics help operators track KPIs, vendor performance, and gross merchandise value.

Global Payments launches Genius POS Platform. Global Payments, a provider of payment technology and software solutions, has announced the release of Genius, a point-of-sale command center for business operations. According to Global Payments, the Genius platform enables global expansion and vertical specialization at scale. It also unlocks opportunities in specialized retail segments such as age-regulated, higher education, and consumer service businesses.

Global-e and Shopify sign new multi-year strategic partnership agreement. Global-e, a direct-to-consumer ecommerce provider, and Shopify have announced a three-year renewal of their partnership for 1P (Shopify Managed Markets) and 3P MoR (merchant of record) solutions to empower international D2C transactions on the Shopify platform. For 1P, Global-e remains the exclusive provider of MoR services. Future versions of Managed Markets will leverage Shopify Payments and other elements of the Shopify suite of services.

Stord acquires Ware2Go, a specialty warehouse business, from UPS. Stord, a provider of high-volume fulfillment services and ecommerce technology, announced its acquisition of Ware2Go, a subsidiary of UPS. With this acquisition, Stord adds 21 fulfillment centers to its network and tech platform (warehouse management, order management, customer service). Ware2Go brings an additional 2.5 million square feet of fulfillment centers, complementing Stord’s existing North American footprint and partner network.

Stord

New Ecommerce Tools: May 15, 2025

We publish a rundown each week of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes updates on AI-powered site-search, shopping assistants, product listings, merchant financing, point-of-sale solutions, cross-border transactions, and warehouse automation.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.

New Tools for Merchants

Miva expands ecommerce platform with AI search infrastructure and no-code tools. Miva, an ecommerce software and service provider, has launched Miva 10.12, introducing tools to help ecommerce teams move faster and scale. The update adds platform infrastructure for Vexture, Miva’s AI-powered search engine that uses vector-based technology to interpret shopper intent. Merchants can now create and assign product page designs — a new design control panel helps teams manage fonts, buttons, and page spacing. Also, background tasks are now easier to monitor, prioritize, and troubleshoot.

Miva

eBay launches warranties for open-box goods. eBay is offering a warranty program on open-box products in the Electronics and Home categories. Listings in those categories will automatically display the Certified Open Box badge when they meet key service standards and offer free shipping and returns. Each Certified Open Box item comes with a one-year warranty serviced by Allstate Protection Plans.

New genAI tool helps Amazon sellers improve product listings. Amazon has launched Enhance My Listing, a new genAI tool wherein sellers can automatically maintain and optimize their product listings. The tool generates timely, relevant recommendations for product titles, attributes, descriptions, and missing details. Sellers can review, customize, or decline these suggestions, ensuring that listings reflect their expertise while benefiting from Amazon’s detailed knowledge.

Storfund launches merchant financing on marketplaces via Mirakl Connect. Storfund, an ecommerce cash-flow provider, has announced a new partnership enabling businesses to use its cash-flow solution on the 400 marketplaces powered by Mirakl, an ecommerce software provider. Designed to eliminate the standard delay of 25 days between sale and payout, Storfund’s new Daily Advance pays sellers as soon as they ship their goods. Sellers can apply for cash flow on hundreds of marketplaces at the same time.

Storfund

WooCommerce names Square as preferred POS partner. WooCommerce has named Square as its preferred point-of-sale provider for in-person payments. The strategic partnership enables seamless synchronization of inventory, orders, and customer data across digital and physical retail. Square’s POS integration is available to WooCommerce merchants in eight countries: the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, the U.K., France, Spain, and Ireland.

Ebanx integrates UPI recurring payments for cross-border ecommerce in India. Ebanx, a global provider of payment services for emerging markets, has integrated UPI Autopay, the recurring payments feature of India’s instant payments system, Unified Payments Interface, into its cross-border payments platform. With the integration, Ebanx’s global ecommerce merchants in industries such as SaaS, streaming, and other subscription-based businesses can now offer recurring payments to their India-based customers.

Bluecore brings AI shopping assistant Alby to Shopify merchants. Bluecore, a marketing technology company, has expanded Alby, its genAI customer-service agent. Merchants can access Alby through Shopify to power conversational AI shopping unique to their brand and customers. Once activated, the AI agent will learn, make decisions, and act on a brand’s behalf, pulling from product data, brand assets, and the company’s tone of voice to ensure accurate responses.

Alby

Fluent and Rebuy partner on post-purchase advertising for Shopify merchants. Fluent, a provider of commerce media solutions, and Rebuy, an ecommerce personalization platform for Shopify brands, have announced a strategic partnership to launch Rebuy Ads powered by Fluent, designed to help merchants further engage their customers while unlocking additional revenue at no cost. The partnership pairs Fluent’s AI-powered advertiser marketplace and demand-generation expertise with Rebuy’s Shopify integration and partner network.

Shopify updates its Sidekick AI tool. Shopify has updated its AI-powered commerce assistant, Sidekick, with multi-step reasoning. Merchants can ask complex questions, and Sidekick will analyze multiple data sources to pinpoint the issue and make suggestions. Sidekick can now generate custom images based on text prompts to help merchants create visually appealing content for hero banners, marketing materials, and illustrations. Also, Sidekick now supports all 20 admin languages, automatically responding in the language detected.

Uber rolls out Courier XL in India to deliver packages up to 1,650 pounds. Uber has launched Courier XL in India, an expanded service under its logistics arm aimed at transporting packages weighing up to 750 kilograms (1,650 pounds). Initially rolled out in Delhi and Mumbai, the service is part of Uber’s broader strategy to strengthen courier offerings and compete in the large-package delivery space, with plans to expand to more cities in the coming months. Courier XL builds on Uber’s two-wheeler parcel service, Courier.

Robotic warehouse firm Pio expands product lineup. Pio, a warehouse automation provider, has announced its global expansion with a new product lineup. Pio now offers four scalable, modular systems: P100 for businesses with fewer than 10,000 monthly orders; P200 for mid-sized operations; P400 for high volume fulfillment centres; P600 for larger high-capacity warehouses. According to Pio, customers can reduce picking labour costs by up to 80%, and installations take as little as five days.

Pio