Top WooCommerce Extensions to Grow a Store

WooCommerce is the open-source plugin from Automattic that transforms a WordPress website into an ecommerce store. WooCommerce‘s many extensions provide additional tools and features.

Here is a list of essential extensions for WooCommerce to customize, manage, and grow a store. Some extensions are from WooCommerce directly, and others are from third-party developers. All are free to install but may require a subscription or fee afterward.

Essential WooCommerce Extensions

AutomateWoo brings automation tools to grow and manage a store. Create triggers, rules, and actions within WooCommerce. Build advanced logic so rules only trigger in certain situations, and define customizable actions when workflows are triggered. Price: $159 per year.

AutomateWoo

Yoast WooCommerce SEO helps increase the Google search visibility of a store and products. Automatically optimize your sitemap. Get search-engine-optimization recommendations for your product content and category pages for the best online results. Includes access to the Ecommerce SEO course in Yoast’s Academy. Price: $79 per year.

WooPayments from WooCommerce is an extension for accepting credit and debit cards and localized methods. Buy-now pay-later options Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm are now available. Price: Free.

LiveChat for WooCommerce is a customer support tool for a store, as well as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Engage shoppers using the automated chat invitations feature while they browse with coupons, deals, and announcements. Price: Free to install. Requires a third-party subscription.

LiveChat for WooCommerce

WooCommerce Tax automatically calculates sales tax upon checkout. Calculate how much sales tax to collect for orders by city, country, and state. Price: Free.

Product Recommendations is an advanced tool to offer upsells and cross-sells. Build intelligent engines that generate automated recommendations. The algorithm analyzes orders to discover meaningful recommendations and adapts to new trends and seasonal patterns. Deploy in-depth analytics to measure a campaign’s impact. Price: $99 per year.

Smart Coupons is a tool for running discounts and promotions automatically. Create advanced discount rules such as bulk discounts, dynamic pricing, percentage discounts, product-based discounts, tiered discounts, and time-based discounts. Price: $129 per year.

B2B for WooCommerce enables the optimization for wholesale customers. Define user roles and modify product visibility accordingly. Create and run a quotation management system. Adjust pricing for individual customers, user roles, and quantity levels. Add discounts on the cart level, in percentage or fixed amounts, and on total quantity or amount. Allow all or selected user roles to claim tax exemption. Restrict shipping methods or payments by those roles. Price: $179 per year.

B2B for WooCommerce

Google for WooCommerce syncs a WooCommerce product feed to the Google Merchant Center. Product listings automatically update with real-time prices, promotions, inventories, and details. Promote your products across Google, including search, Shopping, and YouTube. Price: Free.

Google Analytics for WooCommerce enables performance tracking on the leading analytics platform. Learn which of your store’s channels — search, social, ads, email — drive the most traffic. Track users from a product page to checkout. Compare traffic and transactions across projects. Identify shoppers’ needs by monitoring the pages they land on from search engines. Price: Free.

Jetpack for WooCommerce offers tools to enhance the security and performance of a WooCommerce store. Run automated malware scanning, authenticated customer logins, and brute force attack prevention. Utilize real-time backups to keep sales transactions and data safe. One-click restore enables reversions to any point. Jetpack provides at-a-glance data on orders, trends, and traffic in a centralized dashboard. Price: Free.

Facebook for WooCommerce connects a store to its existing Facebook page, Meta Business Manager, and Meta Pixel to reach prospects across Facebook and Instagram. Create Meta ads directly on WooCommerce — design an ad and set the targeting. Enable Meta Pixel and Conversion API (CAPI) to increase ad performance and improve measurement. Price: Free.

Facebook for WooCommerce

USPS Shipping Method for WooCommerce accesses the United States Postal Service’s API for domestic and international shipping rates. Show customers accurate rates automatically — for individual packs or the built-in box packer. Price: $109 per year.

JetPack CRM​​ is a customer relationship management application for small and medium-sized businesses. Collect leads, create quotes, capture orders, and generate invoices to send directly to your contacts. Develop relationships via email and automation tools. See your team’s interactions with each contact and a performance snapshot on the sales dashboard. Price: Free to install. Requires a third-party subscription.

Back In Stock Notifications for WooCommerce lets you send automated emails to shoppers when their desired products are restocked. Turn sold-out products into waitlists anyone can join. Recover lost sales and build customer loyalty. Price: $59 per year.

Vimeo for WooCommerce provides tools to create, upload, and embed videos. Publish product videos to your WooCommerce storefront or share video ads to social media. Build videos with customizable templates using existing images and videos, or use Vimeo’s stock library and music options. Automate product videos from your page assets. Price: Free to install. Requires a third-party subscription.

Vimeo for WooCommerce

Min/Max Quantities lets you set minimum and maximum quantity rules. Specify lower and upper limits per product or order. Require products or categories to be purchased in predefined quantities and multiples. Exclude individual products from order rules. Price: $49 per year.

Product Add-Ons allows merchants to offer special options such as gift wrapping or personal engravings via text boxes, dropdowns, text areas, checkboxes, custom price inputs, and even sample images. Collect customers’ customization details at checkout without needing to follow up. Price: $79 per year.

Product Bundles facilitates offering related products together. Offer bulk discount packages, personalized product bundles, and assembled products. Create physical, virtual, or downloadable bundles. Group simple, variable, and subscription products. Recommend optional items and let shoppers choose the quantities. Price: $79 per year.

WooCommerce Memberships is a subscription system tied to your store. Sell standalone memberships, grant access to a membership as part of a product purchase, or assign memberships manually in an invite-only members area. Drip content over time to schedule when members have access. Price: $199 per year.

WooCommerce Memberships

New Ecommerce Tools: October 24, 2024

We publish a rundown each week of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes tools for generative AI ads, digital marketing, local search, product returns, cross-border shipping, and holiday marketing campaigns.

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

New Tools for Merchants

Apple expands Business Connect for online businesses. Businesses of all sizes, even those without a brick-and-mortar presence, can now manage how they appear to Apple users using Business Connect. Verified businesses can create a consistent brand and location presence across Apple apps that customers use daily, including Maps, Wallet, and Mail. Through Business Connect, businesses can sign up to display their brand in the Mail and Phone apps and customize their logo in Tap to Pay on iPhone.

Apple Business Connect

Meta introduces AI integrations and tabs for Local, Explore, and Video. Meta is testing Local and Explore tabs that pull Facebook content from Reels, Marketplace, Groups, and Events. Meta is making it easier to find relevant information from public groups, pages, and creator posts with AI Comment Summaries and testing a customizable Group AI to help members find answers. Meta has also launched Messenger Communities for small- to medium-sized communities to connect over shared interests.

Amazon Ads launches AI tools for advertisers. Amazon Ads has introduced an AI creative studio and audio generator, two generative AI tools. The AI creative studio brings Amazon Ads AI-powered image and video generators into a single application where brands can conceptualize, create, and refresh content. Advertisers can use the audio generator to develop interactive audio ad creatives at no additional cost. Advertisers input their Amazon-listed product, and the audio generator will create a voiceover script based on the product information.

Shirofune integrates with BigCommerce to optimize ad campaigns. Shirofune, an advertising automation management platform, has integrated with BigCommerce to predict and optimize ad campaigns based on customer lifetime value. Shirofune states the integration allows advertisers to connect ad performance data with customer lifecycle insights, including whether customers are new or returning, their purchasing behaviors, and predicted lifetime value. Shirofune automatically allocates ad budgets towards campaigns and channels likely to drive higher lifetime returns on ad spend.

Shirofune

Fast Simon integrates with Shopify Markets. Fast Simon, a Shopify Plus Certified App Partner, has unveiled a no-code Shopify Markets feature with AI search and merchandising optimization to simplify and improve complex cross-market selling. Shopify Markets helps merchants sell to multiple countries from a single store. The combination of Shopify Markets and Fast Simon aims to provide an integrated solution to scale internationally, enabling merchants to offer different products with different prices in different markets.

Bonanza removing shipping assessment fees and tripling marketing investment. The Bonanza marketplace is removing the $2 shipping assessment fee for merchants starting in November. Bonanza is also (i) tripling its marketing investment to increase traffic and visibility for sellers and their products and (ii) offering automatic upgrades on purchases of its Vercado Standard Edition web store builder.

Amazon Ads unveils new tools for product launch, optimization, and measurement. Amazon Ads has released new product campaigns, a managed service to introduce products to shoppers within the first 90 days of launch. Advertisers using Amazon Marketing Cloud can now adjust their Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products bids for audiences who have seen their streaming television ads and visited their website. Amazon Ads has announced a multi-touch attribution model that helps advertisers understand how their marketing works to drive conversions.

Amazon Ads

DHL Express introduces a label-free service for shipment returns. Global shipper DHL Express has introduced a label-free service for package returns, replacing the traditional printing option with a digital eco-friendly service. Customers receive a QR code and show it at a DHL ServicePoint for package drop-off or to a DHL courier for pickup. The service is live in over 50 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Adobe launches GenStudio for Performance Marketing. Adobe has released GenStudio for Performance Marketing, a generative AI application for brands to accelerate advertising and marketing campaigns. The new app provides brands with a single, self-service portal on Adobe to create social media ads, display ads, banners, marketing emails, and more by leveraging pre-approved, on-brand content. Adobe states the app merges the work of creative teams that define a brand’s voice, channels, and images with marketing teams that deliver variations at scale.

FedEx unveils import tool for trade in Asia Pacific. FedEx has launched an import tool to address the complexities of international trade in the Asia Pacific region. The tool helps reduce manual efforts in customs documentation and regulatory compliance. Features include a unified self-service platform to streamline the shipping process by centralizing document management and shipment tracking, a dashboard for greater visibility into shipments, notifications to expedite the clearance process, and extended monitoring to track shipments.

Feedonomics partners with YouTube’s shopping affiliate program. Feedonomics, a provider of product feed management for ecommerce businesses, has partnered with YouTube to streamline the integration of optimized product listings for the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. The program allows participating YouTube creators to tag products from eligible merchants in videos, shorts, and live streams, allowing viewers to shop as they watch. Feedonomics says it’s the sole feed provider partnering with YouTube.

Feedonomics

Merchants’ Guide to Metaverse Platforms

The hype around the metaverse may have cooled, but immersive virtual experiences remain in the early stages with consumers. For brands and merchants, metaverse platforms are worth following as opportunities in these new economies unfold.

Here is a guide to promising virtual worlds for merchants and brands to explore in the year ahead. Some are accessible through virtual reality headsets; others offer social and gaming platforms with virtual lands and digital currencies. All are immersive, drawing consumers into a new realm.

Roblox

Ikea on Roblox: The Co-Worker Game

Roblox is an immersive platform for creating, playing, and connecting through experiences built by a community of creators. It claims nearly 80 million daily users. Recent platform improvements include an expanded marketplace with dynamic pricing, subscriptions within experiences, a rights manager, video ads, and an enhanced ads manager.

Roblox has also made the most progress in developing ecommerce initiatives with brands and merchants. Recently, Ikea opened a store on Roblox and created The Co-Worker Game to promote it and find employees to staff it. Walmart has launched ecommerce experiences within its Discovered world, allowing users to try out virtual items on their avatars and then purchase through a virtual laptop to access Walmart.com. Shopify is integrating its Checkout solution into Roblox, with a larger launch in early 2025. Developers, creators, and brands on Shopify can sell physical items directly within their Roblox games without leaving that platform.

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Meta Horizon Worlds

Meta Horizon Worlds is an immersive social experience for exploring, playing, and creating. A Meta product where users can log in with their Facebook accounts, Horizon Worlds is accessible via Meta Quest VR headsets in all 23 countries where those headsets are sold and supported by Meta.

Meta continues to develop the platform. Last year, the company released a series of quality VR games. This summer, Horizon Worlds hosted a concert with Sabrina Carpenter. Meta has tested mixed reality in Horizon Worlds (with plans to make it more widely available).

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Microsoft Mesh

Microsoft Mesh

Microsoft Mesh is an immersive three-dimensional environment for people to collaborate using Microsoft Teams, a PC, or a Meta headset. Mesh helps users feel that virtual meetings and events are more like face-to-face connections, with or without a headset. The 3D environments are also customizable, with games such as tossing bean bags and icebreaker questions.

Earlier this year Mesh launched its 3D meetings inside Teams. Mesh event hosts can now see attendees’ raised hands and reactions in all rooms across multi-room events (i.e., events exceeding 16 attendees.)

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The Sandbox

The Sandbox

The Sandbox, launched as a 2D-pixel art game in 2012, is now a 3D environment for world-building games to empower global artists, storytellers, and designers to create, publish, own, and monetize unique content via blockchain technology. Virtual concerts, art exhibitions, and conferences can be attended from anywhere, featuring artists such as Snoop Dogg, DeadMau5, Blondish, and Elvis in The Sandbox. Brands such as Gucci and Adidas are hosting immersive shopping experiences in The Sandbox, with virtual fashion shows, showrooms, and stores. The Sandbox states it has partnered with and assisted more than 200 brands to develop their own worlds.

The Sandbox recently launched its Alpha Season 4. The 10-week in-platform event features over 100 unique experiences, 50 hours of new gameplay, and collaborations with 40 brands alongside user-generated content. Additionally, The Sandbox is offering a reward pool exceeding $2.5 million in value, paid out in Sand, the platform’s native token.

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Decentraland

Decentraland

Decentraland is a virtual 3D world where users buy virtual plots of land as non-fungible tokens using the Mana cryptocurrency, which is based on the Ethereum blockchain. Users can also create and sell wearables. Digital fashion shows, competitions, and themed events are key social activities. Established brands and fashion labels, including Samsung, Adidas, Miller Lite, Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, and Perry Ellis, have purchased properties or participated.

Decentraland’s upgraded desktop client enters public beta on October 22 with enhancements to its graphics and performance, resulting in faster frame rates and reduced loading times for the virtual world. The upgrade will allow greater avatar density, allowing over 200 avatars in the same place, enhancing the social aspect of the world. The platform also plans to introduce features such as quests and badges to track player progress and promote social engagement. The platform will host a three-day music festival in November to test its new capabilities.

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Fortnite

Fortnite

Fortnite, launched in 2017, is a metaverse platform developed by Epic Games. It supports six game modes: Battle Royale, Save the World, Lego Fortnite, Fortnite Creative, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival. All modes are cross-platform compatible, requiring an Epic Games account to save between platforms. In addition, the modes utilize the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, allowing players to edit worlds using Fortnite assets.

Fortnite has hosted a series of successful collaborations with brands and artists, including Lego, Marvel, the NFL, Eminem, and Travis Scott. Earlier this year, Disney announced a multiyear project with Epic Games to build a games and entertainment universe of Disney stories and experiences, along with Disney’s $1.5 billion investment for an equity stake in the developer. The new universe will offer many opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop, and engage with content, characters, and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more. Players, gamers, and fans can create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom, and share content.

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Somnium Space

Somnium Space

Somnium Space is an open-source virtual reality world running on the Ethereum blockchain. Users can discover and purchase land parcels on the main or parallel worlds to build and create a business office, an art gallery, an event hall, a place to socialize, a virtual portfolio to display work, and more. Accessible from VR, PC, and the web, Somnium Space is an alternate reality to connect with friends, customers, and even fans.

Somnium Space recently began taking orders for its next-generation VR headset, Somnium VR1, which claims the widest undistorted field view of any consumer headset. Somnium Space is also testing a Live Forever Mode to immortalize individuals through AI-powered avatars that replicate voice, mannerisms, and movement with just 30 minutes of observation. The mode is intended to enable interactions with mirrored avatars of deceased loved ones.

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The Readyverse

The Readyverse

The Readyverse is a pending interactive digital world that will bring the Ready Player One movie and fiction series franchise to the metaverse in Web3 (i.e., a decentralized web). The project is from the metaverse-focused Readyverse Studios in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. Additional brands and franchises joining The Readyverse will launch in late 2024.

Readyverse Studio recently launched Promptopia, combining multiplayer gameplay with real-time AI asset generation. It allows users to build, share, and play in a world shaped by their own ideas, built inside the Readyverse.

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Nvidia Omniverse

Nvidia Omniverse is a platform of APIs, SDKs, and services that enable developers to integrate Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) and RTX rendering technologies (variable shading and textures), powering 3D product configurators to enhance customers’ shopping experiences. Earlier this year, Nvidia debuted a new omniverse-based workflow integrated with Apple Vision Pro, displaying Nvidia’s RTX cloud renderings in real-time, blending 3D photorealistic environments with the physical world.

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My Happy Place: Bandwagon and McDonald’s Singapore

Bandwagon Labs, the tech division of Asia-based media company Bandwagon, partnered with McDonald’s Singapore to launch My Happy Place. This in-app experience uses Bw.land, Bandwagon’s lightweight metaverse with Web3 capabilities. McDonald’s world combines virtual entertainment through Build-A-Burger and Wheel Of Deals with tangible rewards, enabling users to redeem real-life deals and prizes. The partnership enables McDonald’s to have full control over its virtual environment. Users can access the McDonald’s app without signing in with their digital wallet. The launch follows last year’s collaboration, launching 2,000 Grimace NFTs as limited edition collectibles.

New Ecommerce Tools: October 17, 2024

Every week we publish a list of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes tools for AI-powered shopping assistants, video production, search engines, payment platforms, financing, and user-generated content.

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

New Tools for Merchants

Storfund launches financing option with TikTok Shop. Fintech Storfund has partnered with TikTok Shop to create an embedded financing option for the U.S. social media app. Called Daily Advance, the new product enables Storfund to advance money to sellers as soon as they ship their goods. By providing access to quicker payouts, Daily Advance will assist TikTok Shop as it supports its sellers.

Storfund

Amazon launches AI Shopping Guides for product research. Amazon has introduced AI Shopping Guides for over 100 product types on its U.S. app and mobile site, such as TVs, running shoes, and moisturizers. Amazon’s AI Shopping Guides help consumers save time before purchasing by consolidating information alongside a relevant selection of products. Each guide offers educational content to help make informed purchase decisions.

Google Merchant Center adds video generation and integrates with Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment. Google’s Product Studio now offers AI-powered tools to produce product videos. ​​Choose the product to feature and select a video theme, and Google’s tool will customize the video to match the brand, enhance images, and highlight product attributes. Videos can be downloaded to use across Google Ads campaigns, Merchant Center, a website, and other channels. Additionally, Google Merchant Center has integrated with Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment, providing retailers with more accurate delivery speed estimates.

Marketing platform Blueshift integrates with Shopify. Cross-channel marketing platform Blueshift has announced the launch of its Shopify App integration, designed to help ecommerce merchants and brands unlock the potential of customer data. The integration allows Shopify sellers to synchronize customer data, shopping behavior, and transactional information with Blueshift’s AI-powered platform. Merchants can (i) automatically sync data for personalized marketing campaigns and (ii) launch essential campaigns, including abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase follow-ups, and personalized product recommendations.

Zoovu AI search and product discovery platform available in Microsoft Azure. Zoovu, an AI search and product discovery platform, has joined the Microsoft Azure marketplace, enabling personalized ecommerce experiences at scale. Zoovu’s product discovery experiences — including Zoe, Zoovu’s new generative AI-powered product advisor — are now accessible to Azure customers. Zoe helps shoppers find the product that fits their needs. Shoppers can ask Zoe unlimited questions about the product and get real-time answers.

Zoovu

TikTok launches AI-powered advertising tools. TikTok has introduced Smart+ to automate the advertising process across targeting, bidding, and creative. Advertisers input assets, budgets, and target goals. Leveraging TikTok’s creative AI suite Symphony, Smart+ automatically creates or selects the best creative asset, chooses the right audience, and puts the best ad in front of the right shopper at the right time. Per TikTok, Smart+ drives web, app, and lead-generation campaigns, as well as catalog ads.

Bazaarvoice launches Vibe, an integrated social content service. Bazaarvoice, a platform for user-generated content and social commerce, has introduced Vibe, a comprehensive tool to source and optimize user-generated content across all channels. According to Bazaarvoice, Vibe combines creator marketing, social media marketing, social commerce, and product sampling. Vibe also provides analytics and insights for content, creator, and campaign effectiveness.

Point-of-sale provider Square launches Orders, a commerce platform. Square, a point-of-sale provider and payment processing service, has created Orders, a commerce platform with payments and ordering capabilities for sellers. The order-based infrastructure enables sellers to complete a sale anywhere. According to Square, Orders changes how the company builds products and will provide expanded commerce capabilities such as pre-auth and bar tabs to U.S. sellers.

Prefixbox releases AI Search & Filter for Shopify. Commerce search provider Prefixbox has launched AI Search & Filter on the Shopify App Store, empowering retailers to leverage Prefixbox’s product search and discovery solutions. According to Prefixbox, the new app enables Shopify merchants to access advanced AI-powered search technology to improve result relevancy, dynamic product filtering, detailed search analytics, and easy-to-use merchandising tools.

Lily AI unveils a no-code product attributes platform. Lily AI, a company specializing in AI solutions for retailers and brands, has launched the next generation of its product attribute platform, giving merchants control over product attribute management and workflow. Merchants can source products from their merchandise catalog, process them through Lily AI for enrichment, and propagate the updated product data across online touchpoints for enhanced discovery, return-on-ad-spend, and organic search.

Lily AI

New AI Apps Reinvent Ecommerce Video

New AI-driven applications can generate video from text, edit a batch of short clips from a single long-form source, produce product videos from static images, and more.

Here is a list of new artificial intelligence-powered video tools. Some are designed to produce ads and marketing content, while others are foundational for media. Most are either free or have free plans.

New AI Video Tools

Meta Movie Gen is a free generative AI tool trained on licensed and public datasets to produce video, images, and audio. Use simple text inputs to generate custom videos and sounds, edit existing videos, and transform static images into unique videos. ​​Movie Gen has four capabilities: video generation, personalized video generation, precise video editing, and audio generation.

Meta Movie Gen

Google Product Studio now offers free AI-powered tools to produce product videos from images easily. Choose the product to feature, such as a single image, and select a video theme. Google’s tool will customize the video to match your brand, enhance the image, and highlight product attributes. Use the videos across any channel, such as Google Ads campaigns, Merchant Center, and your website.

Amazon Ads Video Generator uses generative AI from a single product image to produce video ads tailored to an item’s selling proposition and features. Amazon’s new “live image,” part of video generator, can create short, animated campaign images. Both video generator and live image are free and available in beta to select U.S. advertisers.

TikTok Symphony is a free suite of creative tools powered by generative AI that turns minimal inputs, such as assets or a simple product URL, into videos in minutes. The AI-powered Symphony Assistant delivers applicable recommendations to elevate organic and paid content. Symphony’s suite of creative enhancement features is integrated into TikTok ad campaigns through its Ads Manager workflow.

TikTok Symphony

OpenAI Sora is a text-to-video AI model that generates videos up to one minute long while maintaining visual quality and adherence to the user’s prompt. Sora can produce complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details of the subject and background. The model understands the user’s prompt and the physical world. Plans start at $24 per month.

Clips, from AI video editor Veed, is a free application for turning long-form videos into edited versions that are auto-framed, subtitled, and ready to share and convert into social media clips. The Clips app is free. Veed’s watermark version is free. Premium plans start at $12 per month.

Runway is an applied AI research company that builds tools to generate videos, images, and audio. It recently launched Gen-3 Alpha to power Runway’s text-to-video, image-to-video, and text-to-image tools — with control modes such as motion brush, advanced camera, and director mode, as well as upcoming tools for structure, style, and motion. Users can explore ideas in near real-time using an advanced video generation model. Free for 125 one-time credits. Premium plans start at $12 per month.

Runway’s Gen-3 Alpha

JoggAI quickly converts product images into videos. Choose an avatar and template from the asset library. Use the AI writer to generate scripts and the batch mode to produce videos at scale. Free for up to three videos. Premium plans start at $15 per month.

Fliki combines text-to-video and text-to-speech AI capabilities to provide an all-in-one platform for content creation. Fliki features avatars, natural voices, on-brand templates, and AI media to create videos with voiceovers. The platform’s AI voices mimic human speech patterns and tonalities. Create videos in more than 75 languages and 100 dialects. Free up to five minutes monthly. Premium plans start at $21 per month.

AI Studios by DeepBrain AI converts text into lifelike AI voices to add to videos. Transform blogs, PDFs, PowerPoint slides, or web pages into videos. Start video projects with editable AI  templates from social media, presentations, and more. Access 80-plus text-to-speech languages and 100 lifelike AI voices at scale. Plans start at $24 per month.

Deepbrain AI Studios

VideoGen is a platform for producing scripts, narrating content, finding stock footage, and combining it all. Transform text into engaging videos. The AI assistant guides you through the video creation process, offering suggestions and tips to craft an effective video and get more views. Customize videos with the editor — make cuts, upload music, generate subtitles, and more. Plans start at $16 per month.

Videco is a platform for personalized sales videos. Record and upload a video. Clone your voices with AI and import contacts instantly. Create a personalized landing page with dynamic elements such as forms, surveys, and Calendly integration. Send personalized videos directly to prospects through cold email campaigns with over 50 integrations, including Apollo and Smartlead.ai. Track metrics, from video views to engagement, and use A/B testing to drive results. Plans start at €17 per month (roughly $18.50).

Synthesia 2.0 is an AI tool for video production and distribution at scale. Use the “expressive avatar” with high-definition cameras for a professional feel, or create a custom avatar in a natural background using your webcam or phone. The AI video assistant can convert a knowledge base into a library of videos and support brand elements such as an organization’s custom fonts, colors, and logos. Free for 36 minutes per year. Premium plans start at $18 per month.

Synthesia 2.0

Report: Gen AI to Transform Operations, Revenue

Generative artificial intelligence has the potential to transform businesses in two key ways: automating operations and growing revenue.

While much of the focus in 2024 remains on operational improvements, the next generation of AI tools promises to enhance revenue and open new profit opportunities.

Automate Operations

In 2023, McKinsey & Company released a report titled “The economic potential of generative AI,” which estimated that globally, “generative AI could add the equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion in value annually across the 63 use cases” that the firm analyzed.

In retail, the expected “value” — i.e., cost savings — could eventually reach $240 to $390 billion annually.

The economic potential of generative AI

Generative AI’s workflow and automation capabilities can streamline processes within an organization. For example, retailers now use generative AI to produce product descriptions, marketing materials, interactive chatbots, and even product search features.

Generative AI tools can convert long-form videos into shorts for YouTube, Reels, TikTok, and X — and repurpose into text-based blog and social media posts.

“Current generative AI and other technologies have the potential to automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time today,” wrote the authors of the McKinsey report.

The result is elevated employee productivity, allowing a focus on relatively more critical or complex tasks that artificial intelligence cannot or should not manage.

Automating operations, however, is only the first step.

Grow Revenue

Generative AI can also grow revenue. The McKinsey report cites examples.

• Better search engine optimization. Gen AI can help marketers achieve higher conversions from organic search via superior page titles, image tags, and URLs.

• Increase the probability of a sale by creating comprehensive consumer profiles from structured and unstructured data and suggesting actions to improve engagement from client preferences.

• Improve lead development by syncing product info with customer profiles and creating discussion scripts to facilitate sales conversations, follow-ups, and lead nurturing.

• Enhanced use of data by interpreting multiple sources, such as customer feedback and behavior, to inform marketing strategies.

• Enhanced design by selecting and using better materials and optimizing designs for manufacturing, aesthetics, and market appeal.

• Improved product testing and quality. Generative AI can reduce testing periods and accelerate trial phases, improving a product’s time-to-market.

In short, generative AI offers companies immediate operational efficiencies and the promise of revenue gains. Merchants that optimize both areas will reduce costs and unlock sales growth, putting them ahead in a rapidly changing market.

New Ecommerce Tools: October 10, 2024

This installment of our weekly rundown of new products for ecommerce merchants includes tools for visual search, AI, payments, shipping, warehouse management, and automated marketing campaigns.

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

New Tools for Merchants

Google Lens introduces new features, including shopping ads. Google has updated Lens, its visual search tool, to include shopping ads alongside the visual results. Users will also see a results page displaying key product information, such as reviews, price comparisons, and available purchasing options. Additionally, users can now use Lens to search by taking a video or asking a question by voice.

Google Lens

eBay U.K. removes selling fees. eBay U.K. has removed fees for private sellers across all categories except motors. Private sellers will no longer pay final value fees or regulatory operating fees. Also, sellers can quickly list items with AI-generated descriptions and photo-enhancing tools and offer simple and local delivery options. Starting mid-October, eBay Balance will enable sellers to use earnings to shop on eBay, promote listings, purchase labels, or withdraw cash.

Vizit raises $25 million for a visual AI platform. Vizit, a provider of visual AI software for brands and retailers, has announced a $25 million funding round led by Industry Ventures. The proceeds will accelerate Vizit’s mission to transform how brands connect with audiences via visual content. By leveraging AI models that develop human preferences, Vizit’s technology helps to deliver personalized content.

Tink launches Merchant Information for transaction visibility. Tink, an open-banking platform from Visa, has launched Merchant Information to give consumers a more detailed overview of their transactions. Merchant Information, a service within Tink’s Consumer Engagement offering, means banking app transactions are shown with a clear brand name, logo, location, and merchant contact details, helping consumers recognize transactions. Merchant Information will complement Tink’s existing data enrichment capabilities, including categorization, recurring transaction prediction, and CO2 emissions.

Tink

ShipEngine integrates with QuickBooks Online. ShipEngine, a shipping API from Auctane, has announced an integration with Intuit QuickBooks for customers in the U.S. The integration enables QuickBooks Online customers to access ShipEngine’s QuickBooks Online Shipping Manager to generate, purchase, and print discounted shipping labels. Businesses can sync customer addresses directly from invoices into their shipping details, print labels, and manage it within one unified platform.

Etsy to host Holiday Pop-Up in New York City. Etsy is starting the holiday season with Holiday Pop-Up, an immersive shopping experience in New York City’s West Village for one weekend only. Launching in late October, the Etsy Holiday Pop-Up will offer consumers the chance to shop original gifts, get a first look at holiday trends, and discover interactive gifting installations. It will also feature giveaways, holiday gift guides from celebrity partners, and the reveal of the 2024 Etsy Design Award winners.

Pallet raises $18 million to reinvent logistics software. Pallet, a transportation and warehouse management platform, has announced an $18 million funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures. Pallet’s platform is a unified, AI-powered transportation management, warehouse management, and accounting and billing system. Pallet will use the funds to grow its team, expand operations, and invest in new enterprise product capabilities.

Pallet

OroCommerce introduces AI for B2B commerce. OroCommerce, a B2B-focused commerce platform, has introduced AI SmartAgent and AI SmartOrder. The tools are designed for B2B commerce, streamlining interactions and automating order processing. SmartAgent empowers buyers to navigate the catalog, review account details, request quotes, and place orders, all through a conversational interface. SmartOrder eliminates manual work and potential errors, automatically converting offline purchase orders into digital, seamlessly integrating them into a workflow.

DoorDash introduces a commerce platform for merchants. DoorDash, a food delivery and ordering platform, has launched a suite of products to help merchants manage and grow their businesses. The DoorDash Commerce Platform consists of five core products: Drive On-Demand, Online Ordering, Phone Ordering, Tableside Order & Pay, and Customer Support Solutions. In addition, the new platform allows merchants to create their own branded iOS or Android mobile apps. DoorDash has also updated its Business Manager app.

Pinterest releases AI and automation campaign features for advertisers. Pinterest has unveiled the Performance+ suite, a collection of AI and lower-funnel ad products. Advertisers now have the option to use Performance+ campaigns for consideration, conversions, or catalog sales objectives. Advertisers can create product images at scale through generative AI, converting flat color backgrounds into lifestyle imagery. Additionally, Pinterest has enhanced its search and home feeds with personalized promotions and deals ads modules.

Amazon launches new visual search features. Amazon now shows descriptive image suggestions while shoppers are typing a search query. Shoppers can add text to any image they upload to Amazon Lens, tap “More Like This” on product image search results to find similar products, and watch product videos within the search results without clicking.

Amazon Lens

13 New AI Productivity Tools for SMBs

A wave of new productivity tools has launched. Most leverage recent advances in AI to get things done and supercharge a business.

Here is a list of new productivity tools for small and mid-sized businesses. Nearly all of these tools have a free plan to get started. There are tools for email marketing, audience research, project and team management, AI assistants, voice-powered dictation, and video production.

New Productivity Tools

Wispr Flow is a voice-powered dictation tool with real-time auto-edits, tone matching, and support for over 100 languages. Free up to 2,000 words per week. Premium plans start at $12 per month.

Wispr Flow

Buzzabout is a quick and easy audience research tool. Get key insights from thousands of real-time social media discussions. Use it to refine your ads, product strategy, or content. Enter a keyword and choose a data source. Free to use on Reddit. Premium plans start at $79 per month.

Seamailer is an email marketing application with a drag-and-drop editor and customizable templates. Build marketing automation and segments that connect with the right audience, personalized through behavior, preferences, or demographics. Monitor performance, segmentations, and funnels and get data-driven insights. Free up to 12,000 emails per month. Premium plans start at $8.99 per month.

Flowith is an AI tool for collaborative content generation. The AI agent, Oracle, manages complex tasks, reading your intentions and adjusting plans in real time. Interact with AI within a multi-threaded canvas, and extract and organize key insights from your data. Collaborate with your team via real-time editing and feedback tools. Starter plan is free. Premium plans start at $4.99 per month.

Flowith

Motiff is an AI-powered user-interface design platform with two primary categories. Motiff Basics includes tools for intricate designs, cloud collaboration for team projects, prototyping, and development. Motiff AI advances design capabilities, featuring an AI toolbox with reduplication and layout. Motiff AI is free for a limited time. Motiff Basics is free for up to three Motiff files. Premium plans start at $4 per month.

Jogg is a tool to convert product images into videos quickly. Choose an avatar and template from the asset library. Use the AI writer to generate different types of scripts. Use the batch mode to create videos at scale. Free for up to three videos. Premium plans start at $15 per month.

Amploo is a collaborative tool that manages projects, assets, and human-resource data in one place. Visualize projects, organize team tasks, design custom workflows, and establish feedback loops. Access a customizable sandbox to tailor workflows, dashboards, and tasks. Create a user-friendly digital environment where employees can collaborate, discuss, brainstorm, and learn. Plans start at $4 per month.

Amploo

Thunderbit is a Chrome extension that automates web tasks. Create a personalized web AI copilot. Build AI app automation by filling out a simple template. Create a new user interface for all your apps. Free up to 100 steps per month. Premium plans start at $9.90 per month.

Dubble is a Chrome extension that watches you work and creates step-by-step guides with videos and screenshots in real time. Hit record, and then perform your task. Dubble’s AI captures every click and keystroke, automatically generating detailed guides. The standard plan is free. Premium plans start at $18 per month.

Wordware is an application for teams to build AI agents. Use the editor to build, test, collaborate on, and deploy prompts and their logic. Watch live as the app you wrote runs step by step, prompting you for inputs, and showing the outputs as they’re produced. See the AI’s responses in real time and interact with the AI as it generates content. Publish a flow as a standalone app to share with anyone, anywhere. The starter plan is free. Premium plans start at $199 per month.

Wordware

Progress Planner from the co-founders of Yoast is a free WordPress plugin to prevent procrastination, plan tasks, and keep a website on track. Monitor the actions on your website, from publishing posts to updating pages, and see how they contribute to your overall site health. Use gamification with achievements and badges to motivate work. Keep content and maintenance tasks in one place.

Epsilla is a platform for building AI agents powered by private or public data. Manage the entire lifecycle of large-language-model app development, testing, and deployment. Create your own customizable AI solution to support your business. Free for one project. Premium plans start at $29 per month.

Hoop, from early Trello executives, is an AI-powered task and project management application. Hoop automatically captures tasks across meetings, chats, and emails. Tasks appear in Hoop with transcripts, summaries, and links to quickly regain context. Identify work priorities and watch as matching tasks get automatically prioritized with attached due dates. Activate focus mode to make progress on your priorities. A freemium seven-day free trial is available. The standard plan is $35 per month.

Hoop

New Ecommerce Tools: October 3, 2024

Every week we publish a list of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes updates on search ad campaigns, financing, collecting reviews, supply-chain management, and cross-border shipping.

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

New Tools for Merchants

TikTok introduces Search Ads Campaign. TikTok‘s new Search Ads Campaign enables keyword-based ads to target TikTok’s search results page. With Search Ads Campaign, brands control how their content appears on search results, ensuring the right creative aligns with the right users. Search Ads Campaign supports traffic and web conversion objectives, enabling advertisers to optimize for scale and performance. TikTok Search Ads Campaign supports both video and image carousel assets.

TikTok for Business: Search Ads Campaign

Amazon launches fully managed supply chain service. The fully managed Supply Chain by Amazon service is now available. Sellers can continue to choose supply chain services to manage product movement or have Amazon automate movement with a fully managed option. Sellers provide product details and pickup locations, and Amazon oversees the rest, including carrier pickup, inventory consolidation, placement into fulfillment centers, and optimization based on demand, inventory, and costs.

Marketing portal GetResponse launches content monetization platform. GetResponse, a global email and digital marketing portal, has launched its content monetization platform, empowering online educators, solopreneurs, and creators with tools to create, market, and monetize their content. The platform’s features include an AI course creator, webinars, premium newsletters, advanced email marketing, and automation. The platform will launch with a lineup of courses from industry leaders alongside content from GetResponse’s brand evangelist.

Selfridges partners with Criteo on sponsored products. Criteo, a retargeting platform, has partnered with Selfridges, a luxury department store. Criteo is enabling sponsored products across Selfridges’ online properties and powering its onsite display. This enables Selfridges’ brand partners to access retail networks enhanced through Criteo’s measurement capabilities and comprehensive reporting in near real-time. Brand partners can create personalized, full-funnel customer engagements for all shoppers.

Criteo

Trustpilot integrates with HubSpot to help businesses collect reviews. Trustpilot, a consumer review platform, is now listed in the HubSpot App Marketplace. The integration is intended to streamline review collection, improve customer experiences, drive conversions, and build brand trust. According to Trustpilot, by automating review invitations at critical moments in the customer journey, businesses can capture quality feedback, strengthening relationships and enhancing credibility. Additionally, businesses can leverage reviews at scale through Trustpilot’s marketing assets.

eBay partners with Liberis on Flexible Cash Advance. eBay has partnered with Liberis, an embedded finance platform, to expand its Seller Capital program in the U.S. with the introduction of Flexible Cash Advance. According to eBay, the option provides sellers with quick access to $5,000 to $2 million with the flexibility to unlock even more as they pay.

Ecommerce fulfillment provider ShipTop closes seed round funding. ShipTop, a platform for ecommerce logistics, has announced closing a $500,000 seed round led by Dino Verbrugge and Jared Vegosen, co-founders of DV Trading Company, a Chicago-based securities firm. With this capital, ShipTop plans to enhance its technology platform, expand service offerings, and reach a broader market of ecommerce merchants. This funding round will also enable ShipTop to continue its mission of providing sustainable and eco-friendly shipping solutions.

ShipTop

ChannelEngine integrates with SAP order management services. ChannelEngine, a provider of marketplace integration software, is now available on the SAP Store. According to SAP, this integration enables order managment efficiency for marketplace selling while leveraging advanced AI capabilities to optimize multichannel operations. The integration with SAP’s order management services allows merchants to automatically synchronize inventory, receive orders, update shipments, and manage cancellations across 950 marketplaces, social commerce, and third-party channels.

DHL Global Forwarding introduces a cross-border ecommerce platform in China. DHL Global Forwarding, the freight specialist of DHL Group, is introducing a variety of cross-border ecommerce services ahead of the holiday season. The solutions will offer cross-border shipping from China with different service levels and features, as well as an integrated tracking platform for end-to-end visibility. The ecommerce solutions feature access to over 10,000 local specialists, simple integration options, fully managed customs clearance, and expedited service to other markets.

Klarna and Xero bring buy now, pay later to small businesses. Klarna, a payments service, is working with the accounting platform Xero to help small businesses accept payments from consumers who want a buy-now, pay-later option. For Xero’s customers, offering Klarna’s alternatives to traditional credit means they can get paid upfront without high interest rates and hidden fees. Klarna provides an alternative to credit cards with controls that enable responsible spending.

Ecommerce solutions provider Carbon6 joins Amazon’s embedded third-party apps program. Carbon6, a provider of Amazon seller tools, has announced the inclusion of its advertising feature PixelMe by Carbon6, in Amazon’s embedded third-party apps program. With PixelMe embedded in Seller Central, sellers can track advertising costs across multiple channels — Amazon, social media, and search platforms — all from a customizable dashboard. This integration also unlocks opportunities for sellers to optimize advertising campaigns through improved keyword recommendations and enhanced control over external traffic drivers.

Carbon6

New Ecommerce Tools: September 26, 2024

We publish a rundown each week of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes updates on AI assistants, video ads, website builders, multichannel fulfillment, composable commerce, B2B financing, and cross-border and last-mile logistics.

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

New Tools for Merchants

Amazon launches a generative AI-based selling assistant. Amazon has introduced in beta a generative AI-powered personal assistant for sellers, codenamed Project Amelia. Project Amelia can respond to sellers’ questions and offer fast access to critical business metrics and reports. According to Amazon, Amelia will provide a more personalized experience and increasingly gain the ability to converse with sellers, anticipate their needs, take actions, and resolve issues on their behalf.

Amazon’s Project Amelia

ShipStation integrates with Google Merchant Center to enhance delivery predictions. ShipStation, a shipping platform with over 400 integrations and partnerships, has announced an integration to Google Merchant Center, utilizing Google’s Content API for Shopping. The feature enables ShipStation customers to offer precise, location-specific delivery predictions on Google at the moment of purchase. ShipStation synchronizes order tracking history with Google, including key timestamps and tracking details. Google’s machine learning models analyze this data to predict accurate delivery times for shoppers.

Saltbox unveils a shipping platform for emerging ecommerce businesses. Saltbox, a flexible warehousing and logistics solutions provider, has launched Parsel, a shipping platform for emerging and scaling ecommerce businesses. Parsel features shipping savings (up to $2 per shipment), automated fulfillment, packing suggestions, and access to exclusive carriers with special rates, all designed to help smaller ecommerce businesses ship faster and more affordably. ​​Parsel integrates with major ecommerce platforms and is designed to work alongside Saltbox’s workspaces and logistics services.

FedEx launches Fdx, a commerce platform for customers. FedEx has announced that Fdx.com is live and available to customers in the U.S. Fdx is a data-driven commerce platform that leverages FedEx network insights to connect the customer journey. Fdx can be customized and scaled based on a company’s needs and brand. Core features include predictive delivery estimates, advanced modeling from CO2 emissions data, branded order tracking, and a centralized branded platform to generate labels, track return status, and view insights.

Fdx

HubSpot launches embedded AI for marketing growth. HubSpot has launched Breeze, its embedded AI to power the marketing platform. Breeze includes Copilot, a chat-based AI companion offering personalized insights and recommendations about leads, customers, and engagements. Copilot can create content, research companies, and summarize tickets. Breeze also includes four agents in beta — Content Agent, Social Media Agent, Prospecting Agent, and Customer Agent — to provide marketing, sales, and service teams with AI experts to get results fast.

Amazon Ads launches an AI video generator. Amazon Ads has launched a tool using generative AI technology to create video ads. The generator uses a single product image to curate custom AI-generated videos tailored to a product’s selling proposition and features. Amazon also introduced live image as part of video generator to create short, animated campaign images. Both video generator and live image are available in beta to select U.S. advertisers.

DreamHost launches an AI-powered website builder for WordPress. DreamHost, a provider of web hosting and managed WordPress services, has released DreamHost Liftoff, an AI website builder to create customized WordPress websites in seconds by answering a few questions. Using AI, users can generate and edit website copy and images directly within the WordPress editor. Liftoff includes WordPress-native components for a faster customization experience. Liftoff is available now to all DreamHost customers at no additional cost.

DreamHost

Amazon’s Buy with Prime and Multi-Channel Fulfillment announce enhancements. Amazon Buy with Prime merchants can now launch Amazon Demand-Side Platform campaigns to drive traffic to their ecommerce websites. Buy with Prime merchants can display the Prime brand and real-time delivery estimates in TikTok ads. Also, Prime has expanded payment options with PayPal and enhanced integration with Shopify Checkout. Amazon says its Multi-Channel Fulfillment is speeding up standard delivery, providing real-time delivery estimates, and integrating estimated delivery dates with ads on Google Shopping and TikTok.

Checkout.com partners with Slope to enhance payments for U.S. enterprise merchants. Checkout.com, a digital payments provider, and Slope, a B2B financing platform for enterprise companies, have announced a strategic partnership to boost payment performance for U.S. merchants. Slope provides short-term financing and simple payment options for the B2B sector. Slope selected Checkout.com as its strategic partner. ‍Slope recently announced a $65 million strategic round to expand its order-to-cash automation platform for enterprise clients.

Commercetools launches composable products on AWS marketplace. Commercetools, a provider of composable commerce solutions, has announced that its composable commerce for B2C and B2B products is now available on the Amazon Web Services marketplace. According to Commercetools, customers can quickly find, buy, and deploy software directly from their AWS account, reducing procurement complexity and accelerating time to market. Additional benefits to Commercetools customers include consolidated billing with AWS and enhanced security and compliance through the AWS platform.

ePost Global launches Canada eDGE to streamline ecommerce deliveries. ePost Global, a direct-to-consumer international shipping provider, has launched Canada eDGE to streamline domestic and cross-border ecommerce in that country. Canada eDGE leverages ePost Global’s network of last-mile delivery providers, including postal and postal-alternative carriers, and features complete coverage across Canada, cost-effective shipping solutions, tax advantages for local warehousing and fulfillment, and simplified operations. The network utilizes ePost’s proprietary routing logic and ePost Global’s strategically located East Coast (Toronto) and West Coast (Vancouver) hubs.

ePost Global