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200 articles
Pinterest cut AI costs 90% by gutting a frontier model's vision layer
At 620 million monthly users, calling a frontier model for every image recommendation isn't a strategy — it's a bill. Pinterest CTO Matt Madrigal solved it by gutting Qwen3-VL's vision layer and rebuilding it with proprietary embeddings, cutting costs 90% and boosting accuracy 30%. Madrigal’s team has been heavily investing in customizing open-source models “foundationally in-house.” “If you've g
Temu Hit With Fine in E.U. Over Sales of Unsafe Goods
The Chinese e-commerce platform faces a penalty of more than $230 million for selling baby toys and other products the European Commission said could harm consumers.
EU fines China’s Temu €200mn for failing to prevent sale of illegal goods
Online retailer becomes second company to be punished under bloc’s Digital Services Act after Elon Musk’s X
Starbucks quietly retired its AI agent just months after deployment after it miscounted coffee shop inventories and slowed down baristas
“It started off not particularly accurate and got less accurate over time,” one Starbucks employee told Fortune.
East meets West: How AI and social commerce are reshaping the future of retail
NielsenIQ's Commerce Revolution report reveals how agentic AI is replacing traditional product discovery, with Morgan Stanley projecting AI-assisted shoppers could drive up to $385 billion in US e-commerce by 2030. Brands that fail to adapt risk becoming invisible.
Costco CEO Ron Vachris says tech is ‘elevating’ workers,’ not replacing them—as IBM and Delta bosses make the same bet on humans
As companies like Meta and Amazon use AI to justify headcount reductions, Costco is doubling down on $1.50 hot dogs and humans at the cash register.
Gartner Survey Finds Consumers Want AI Shopping Help, But Not AI Purchase Decisions
As brands race to invest in agentic commerce, consumer willingness to let AI make purchase decisions topped out at 11% across lower-stakes categories, such a...
Google’s Fitbit Air Gives Whoop Some Serious Competition
The Fitbit Air, a new $100 screenless wearable from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, represents a major evolution in what consumers can expect from fitness trackers as tech companies race into an era of personalized health and artificial intelligence-powered wellness insights.
AI compliance startup Certo raises $4m seed round led by Daphni to scale regulatory platform for beauty and CPG brands
The Paris-San Francisco startup, founded by Bastien Deliège-Coste and Jean Duquenne, is already working with major global consumer goods groups. Entrepreneurs First, Motier Ventures and Transpose Platform also joined the round French-US startup Certo, an AI-powered regulatory compliance platform for consumer goods companies, has raised a 4 million US dollars seed round led by French […]
Nearly 500 New York Small Businesses Back Moratorium Push on AI Data Centers - Business2Community
Nearly 500 small business owners across New York have signed a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and the state…
AI Expands From Multibillion-Dollar Enterprises to Main Street
Artificial-intelligence agents scraped a bakery’s spreadsheets to help manage its growth.
AI in the Trades: Key Statistics on Automation Adoption Among Home Service Operators
Explore how AI in the trades is transforming home care with improved scheduling and streamlined operations for service providers.
Exclusive: Starbucks scraps AI inventory tool across North America | Reuters
Starbucks rapidly rolled the tool out to North American stores in September, the company announced at the time. The AI -powered app aimed to replace hand counts of some products with automated ones that were expected to be faster and more accurate.
Zara Owner Inditex’s CEO Bets on Diversification, AI for Growth
Zara owner Inditex SA is banking on diversification across brands and countries as well as artificial intelligence to spur growth at the world’s largest listed retailer, Chief Executive Officer Óscar García Maceiras said.
UK gets a fresh new unicorn as beauty and wellness platform Fresha lands €68.9 million from KKR
Fresha, a London-based AI-powered marketplace and business management platform for the beauty and wellness industry, has announced a €68.9 million ($80 million) primary growth investment from funds managed by KKR, a global investment firm. This deal values Fresha at over €861.9 million ($1 billion) and brings Fresha’s total capital raised to €245.5 million ($285 million). […]
AI didn’t kill brand consistency — it made it mission-critical
Presented by Design.com Generative AI has made design radically more accessible. A founder can now create a logo, launch a website, build social campaigns, generate presentations, and produce marketing collateral in a single afternoon — work that once required agencies, freelancers, or internal creative teams. But as design generation becomes easier, maintaining a recognizable identity becomes harder. The problem is no longer whether businesses can create content. It’s whether all of that content still feels like it comes from the same company. That shift matters most for emerging businesses. Established enterprises already have brand governance systems, design teams, and years of customer recognition reinforcing their identity. Small businesses and solo founders often have none of those advantages. Their brand is built almost entirely through digital touchpoints — websites, presentations, social posts, ads, emails, and customer interactions that may be created across multiple tools and platforms. In the AI era, inconsistency scales just as fast as creativity. AI has turned branding into a systems problem The biggest risk with AI-generated design is not necessarily poor-quality output. In many cases, individual assets look polished on their own. The problem is fragmentation. A logo generated in one tool may not align with the visual language of a website created elsewhere. Marketing graphics evolve independently from presentation templates. Messaging shifts between channels. Colors, typography, layouts, and tone gradually drift as more assets are produced. Over time, the business stops presenting a coherent identity. Consumers increasingly encounter brands through dozens of micro-interactions rather than a single destination. A customer may discover a company through social media, visit its website, receive an email campaign, then view a proposal or presentation later. If those experiences feel disconnected, credibility erodes quickly — particularly for younger companies still trying to establish trust and legitimacy in crowded digital markets. That changes the role of design itself. Instead of treating design as a series of one-off deliverables, businesses increasingly need connected brand systems that carry identity consistently across every asset they create. Why static style guides are no longer enough Traditional brand style guides were built for slower creative cycles. Teams manually referenced approved logos, fonts, colors, and tone guidelines while producing a relatively limited number of assets. AI changes both the speed and scale of content generation. When businesses are producing dozens — or hundreds — of design variations across channels, consistency cannot rely entirely on humans manually enforcing brand rules after the fact. Brand governance increasingly needs to become embedded directly into the creation process itself, allowing brand rules and visual systems to persist across every generated asset. That is where platforms like Design.com are trying to evolve beyond standalone design generation tools. Rather than treating a logo, website, presentation, and marketing assets as separate projects, the platform carries core branding decisions — visual identity, typography, color systems, and stylistic direction — across multiple asset types from a shared starting point. A founder who creates a logo, for example, can extend those same brand elements into websites, social graphics, business collateral, and promotional materials without rebuilding the visual system each time from scratch. The shift may sound subtle, but it reflects a larger transition happening across AI-powered creative workflows: from isolated asset generation to integrated brand orchestration. Coherence is becoming a competitive advantage As AI commoditizes content creation, the ability to generate more assets becomes less meaningful on its own. What increasingly matters is recognition. The brands that stand out may not be the ones producing the highest volume of content, but the ones creating a clear and consistent identity across every interaction. That consistency influences more than aesthetics. It shapes whether customers perceive a business as established, trustworthy, and credible enough to engage with. For solo entrepreneurs and small businesses especially, that changes the value proposition of design tools entirely. The goal is no longer simply to create professional-looking assets faster. It is to ensure that every new asset reinforces the same brand rather than diluting it. AI is making content creation nearly infinite. That makes coherence — not just creativity — one of the most important signals a brand can project. Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.
Allbirds’ 600% stock surge says a lot about how ‘AI washing’ became the new ‘greenwashing’
In the early 2000s, corporate sustainability faced a similar credibility crisis — every company measured sustainability differently.
Cox Media, two others settle US FTC claims over AI marketing service
Cox Media Group and two marketing firms agreed to pay $930,000 to settle FTC allegations regarding deceptive claims about using AI to listen to smart device conversations for ad targeting.
ThredUp’s CEO has a warning for five-day companies: You’re going to lose the talent war
A four-day workweek leaves employees more content and well-rested, and that directly translated to increased and sustained revenues.
AI shift forces skills rethink at India tech hubs, Kimberly-Clark executive says
AI is reshaping hiring and job roles at India's booming offshore centres, with companies placing less emphasis on coding and more on domain and product skills, a senior Kimberly-Clark executive said. The U.S.-based consumer goods maker is increasingly seeking workers who can apply ...
Retailers Facing An 'AI Paradox' In Turning Pilot To Profit, Says McKinsey | ESM Magazine
Many grocers face an "AI paradox" in terms of turning experimentation into clear profit-and-loss benefits, McKinsey's Simon Wintels said.
Boundedly Rational Meta-Learning in Sequential Consumer Choice
arXiv:2605.16532v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Many consumer decisions are repeated choices under uncertainty. Standard models capture these decisions using Bayesian learning and dynamic programming: consumers update beliefs from feedback and use those beliefs to guide future choices. In many markets, however, learning does not restart when consumers enter a new context: prior experience with a brand, product, or provider can shape beliefs in later, related decisions. We study this cross-context knowledge transfer, or meta-learning, in sequential choice. We design a hierarchical laboratory task in which participants repeatedly choose among airlines across routes and observe noisy binary outcomes. Reduced-form evidence shows that participants improve not only within routes, but also across routes: they choose better airlines earlier in later routes and reduce pseudo-regret. To identify the mechanism behind this transfer, we compare human choices to a no-transfer benchmark and a fully integrated Bayesian meta-learning benchmark. In particular, we introduce a class of boundedly rational meta dynamic programming policies, BRMDP(D), that approximate full integration using a limited number of hyper-posterior draws, denoted by D. Trial-by-trial likelihood comparisons show that low-D boundedly rational meta-learning, especially BRMDP(1), fits participant behavior better than both no transfer and fully integrated Bayesian transfer. Consumers, therefore, transfer brand-level regularities across contexts, but through coarse representations of prior uncertainty. The findings imply that models of consumer learning should allow for approximate cross-context transfer, and that managerial counterfactuals based on either no-transfer or fully integrated learning can be misleading.
Google is building a ‘universal’ AI shopping cart that tracks prices, offers suggestions, and finds discounts | The Verge
At Google I/O, the company announced its latest iteration of AI-powered shopping: a “universal” cart that works across retailers and platforms, powered by Gemini.
Frustrated franchisee sues Pizza Hut over crappy kitchen AI
The Hut stands accused of breaching its franchise agreement by forcing 'algorithmic behaviors that slowed production and delivery' on restaurants, leading to $100M in losses one group wants back
Meet the California cheese mogul who turned to AI agents to save his iconic $50 million business
When the pandemic pushed a 113-year-old California institution to the brink of collapse, Larry Peter called his cousin.
Mixed Integer Goal Programming for Personalized Meal Optimization with User-Defined Serving Granularity
arXiv:2605.13849v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Determining what to eat to satisfy nutritional requirements is one of the oldest optimization problems in operations research, yet existing formulations have two persistent limitations: continuous variables produce impractical fractional servings (1.7 eggs, 0.37 bananas), and hard nutrient constraints cause infeasibility when targets conflict. A systematic review of 56 diet optimization papers found that none combine integer programming with goal programming to address both issues. We propose Mixed Integer Goal Programming (MIGP) for personalized meal optimization. The formulation uses integer variables for practical serving counts and goal programming deviations for soft nutrient targets, with inverse-target normalization to balance multi-nutrient optimization. Per-food serving granularity allows natural units (one egg, one tablespoon of oil) without post-hoc rounding. We characterize the integrality gap in the goal programming context and identify a deviation absorption property: GP deviation variables buffer the cost of requiring integer servings, making the gap structurally smaller than in hard-constraint MIP. For meals with 15+ foods, the integer solution matches the continuous optimum in every benchmark instance. A computational evaluation across 810 instances (30 USDA foods, 9 configurations, 3 methods) shows MIGP finds strictly better solutions than GP with post-hoc rounding in 66% of cases (never worse) while maintaining 100% feasibility; hard-constraint IP achieves only 48%. Solve times stay under 100 ms for typical meal sizes using the open-source HiGHS solver. The implementation is available as an open-source Python module integrated into an interactive meal planning application.
South Korean court seeks to probe intent behind Coupang's algorithm design
A judge in a criminal case against Coupang has emphasized the need to examine the business intent and decision-making processes behind the company's algorithm modifications.
Africa E-Commerce Giant Jumia to Cut Workforce Due to AI
Jumia Technologies AG is planning to cut an initial 10% of its workforce of about 2,000 people as the African e-commerce giant implements artificial intelligence across its departments, Chief Executive Officer Francis Dufay said.
Amazon’s AI Success Sends Stock Racing Toward $3 Trillion Club
Investors are growing increasingly optimistic about Amazon.com Inc.’s position in artificial intelligence, lighting a fire under the stock and sending the company’s market capitalization soaring toward the rarefied $3 trillion level.
AI to infest eight in ten premium phones within two years
And Counterpoint sees fad spreading from pricey handsets to smart rings and earbuds too... whether you asked for it or not
Walmart restructuring AI and technology teams; 1,000 roles to be affected
The move is part of a broader modernisation strategy being driven under CEO John Furner as competition in global retail intensifies
AI Backlash Grows Across US, UK, and Canada: More Customers Reject Bots for Human Support in 2026
/PRNewswire/ -- AnswerConnect, a leader in business services and software, has released new research revealing a growing consumer backlash against AI in...
AI Backlash Grows Across US, UK, and Canada: More Customers Reject Bots for Human Support in 2026 | The AI Journal
New research in the US, UK, and Canada shows attitudes toward AI in customer service are worsening, with more customers rejecting bots, losing trust, and
Is Big Brother watching you shop? – podcast
From supermarkets to corner shops, live facial recognition could be coming to retailers near you. Jessica Murray on the AI systems increasingly used by the police and stores Live facial recognition is being hailed as a powerful new frontier in the fight against crime, not only by police but by private companies too. Retailers from supermarkets to corner shops hope it will help them fight back against shoplifting. But the Guardian’s social affairs correspondent, Jessica Murray, points out that it will also expand surveillance into more and more public spaces. And the technology doesn’t always get it right. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Martha Stewart’s new AI startup wants to manage your home before things break | Fortune
That idea is now Hint, an AI home management startup cofounded by Stewart, home-services veteran Yih-Han Ma, and chief technology officer Rush. The company raised $10 million in seed funding led by Slow Ventures, Fortune learned exclusively. Montauk Capital (who incubated the company), Tusk ...
Why personalised pricing could be a good deal for shoppers
Selling the same thing to different people at a different price sounds unfair, but it needn’t be bad news for consumers
Playing Games with My Heart: An Evaluation of AI Companion Apps
arXiv:2605.08093v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The use of chatbots for various forms of companionship is growing rapidly, raising a myriad of questions about simulated relationships, emotional dependence, and psychological harm. While major platforms such as ChatGPT, Grok, and Character.AI are the subject of a growing body of research and legal inquiries, apps explicitly built for simulating intimate interpersonal relationships remain under-explored. In this work, we evaluate the five most popular AI companion mobile applications in the EU and UK markets for factors that encourage parasocial interaction and may manipulate users. We do this by manually annotating the user experience each offers. Specifically, we systematically record and quantify design dark patterns, anthropomorphism, stereotypes, erotica, and technical performance issues. We find that all apps contain substantial dark patterns aimed at increasing monetisation and user engagement. Erotica and gamification features such as levelling are also prevalent, and although other features vary considerably between applications, all apps have highly anthropomorphic design. These findings shed light on the mechanics used to leverage users' simulated relationships. On that basis, we put forward concrete recommendations for regulators to strengthen consumer protection in this rapidly emerging market. Content warning: This article contains objectifying images of women, erotic images, textual references to incest, and other potentially sensitive, offensive, and distressing text.
Spanish watchdog seeks new AI product safety regulations for SMEs, digital platforms
Spain's CNMC has proposed a draft decree to update product safety rules for AI and digital platforms to improve consumer protection and market fairness.
Walmart Lays Off or Relocates About 1,000 Corporate Workers
The retailer is cutting positions as it combines more of its global-tech and product teams.
Marketers strain to juggle media budgets, AI and high expectations from CEOs
A new survey reveals sustained pressure on budgets as CMOs struggle to deliver on marketing goals and AI objectives.
Alibaba Revolutionizes Taobao Shopping with AI-Powered Conversational Commerce Platform
Alibaba is embedding its Qwen AI platform into Taobao to transform shopping through conversational interfaces, marking its largest AI initiative.
Exploring the "Banality" of Deception in Generative AI
arXiv:2605.07012v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Current approaches to addressing deceptive design largely focus on visible interface manipulations, commonly referred to as "dark patterns". With the rise of generative AI, deception is becoming more difficult to spot and easier to live with, as it is quietly embedded in default settings, automated suggestions, and conversational interactions rather than discrete interface elements. These subtle, normalised forms of influence, which Simone Natale frames as "banal deception", shape everyday digital use and blur the line between AI-enabled assistance and manipulation. This position paper explores banality as a lens through which to reason through deception in generative AI experiences, especially with chatbots. We explore what Natale describes as users' own involvement in their deception, and argue that this perspective could lead to future work for introducing friction to safeguard users from deception in generative AI interactions, such as empowering users through raising awareness, providing them with intervention tools, and regulatory or enforcement improvements. We present these concepts as points for discussion for the deceptive design scholarly community.
Cracking The Code of Campaign Success with Google's AlphaEvolve Agent
An experiment using Google's AlphaEvolve-style agentic methods to improve campaign prediction and optimization, showing potential accuracy gains.
This Gen Zer dropped out of college to become an influencer—now he’s a millionaire from selling products like Medicube and Neutrogena on TikTok Shop
Logan Walter, a 21-year-old content creator selling products on TikTok Shop, reels in a seven-figure monthly income making videos in his childhood bedroom.
Amperity Unveils Real-Time AI Capabilities
Amperity has launched real-time AI capabilities and new assistants at Amplify 2026, aimed at enhancing personalized customer engagement through integrated decision-making systems.
Popular dating app Bumble is killing off the 'swipe' in favor of AI matchmaking
Bumble is phasing out its iconic swipe mechanic, replacing it with an AI-driven matchmaking system.
The New Rules of Customer Experience in the Age of Agents
This article discusses how AI agents and answer engine optimization are transforming customer experience, discovery, and brand engagement.
EU's simplified AI rulebook creates 'dangerous loopholes,' consumer group warns
The consumer group BEUC warned that the EU's newly adopted AI Omnibus creates dangerous loopholes and rolls back key consumer protections.
Coalition calls for ban on surveillance pricing, electronic shelf labels in New York
A coalition is calling for a ban on surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels in New York.
Deco: Extending Personal Physical Objects into Pervasive AI Companion through a Dual-Embodiment Framework
arXiv:2605.03882v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Individuals frequently form deep attachments to physical objects (e.g., plush toys) that usually cannot sense or respond to their emotions. While AI companions offer responsiveness and personalization, they exist independently of these physical objects and lack an ongoing connection to them. To bridge this gap, we conducted a formative study (N=9) to explore how digital agents could inherit and extend the emotional bond, deriving four design principles (Faithful Identity, Calibrated Agency, Ambient Presence, and Reciprocal Memory). We then present the Dual-Embodiment Companion Framework, instantiated as Deco, a mobile system integrating multimodal Large Language Models (LLMs) and Augmented Reality to create synchronized digital embodiments of users' physical companions. A within-subjects study (N=25) showed Deco significantly outperformed a personalized LLM-empowered digital companion baseline on perceived companionship, emotional bond, and design-principle scales (all p<0.01). A seven-day field deployment (N=17) showed sustained engagement, subjective well-being improvement (p=.040), and three key relational patterns: digital activities retroactively vitalized physical objects, bond deepening was driven by emotional engagement depth rather than interaction frequency, and users sustained bonds while actively navigating digital companions' AI nature. This work highlights a promising alternative for designing digital companions: moving from creating new relationships to dual embodiment, where digital agents seamlessly extend the emotional history of physical objects.
Coupang Warns of 2026 Slowdown After Data Breach Hits Spending
Coupang Inc. warned revenue growth will slow this year after a bigger-than-expected March-quarter loss, reflecting the extent to which a historic cyber-intrusion is depressing spending across South Korea’s biggest online retail platform.
Beyond Distributive Justice: Hermeneutical Fairness in Ad Delivery
arXiv:2605.03419v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Fairness in online advertising is often formalized as a distributive justice problem, aiming to ensure that impressions, opportunities, or outcomes are allocated comparably across protected groups. Yet online advertising can still produce harms arising from ads' content and from how recipients interpret and uptake them. To capture this dimension, we draw on Miranda Fricker's notion of hermeneutical injustice. We model ad delivery as a mechanism that distributes interpretative resources and can fail in two ways: relevant concepts can be withheld through systematic under-exposure, leading to hermeneutical deprivation; and recipients may experience hermeneutical distortions when saturated with low-uptake or skewed framings. Grounded in exploratory correlational patterns from the AIDS Advertising Evaluation surveys (1986-1987), we introduce a group-level hermeneutical fairness constraint and a hermeneutically aware utility cost. We integrate them into a benchmark, utility-driven ad allocation framework that already enforces distributive justice, yielding a distributively fair, hermeneutically aware framework that prevents deprivation and distortion from concentrating within protected groups. Through controlled simulations, we explore trade-offs between economic utility, classical distributive fairness constraints, and hermeneutical cost. The results show that purely utility-based allocation drives under-delivery to the disadvantaged group. When the hermeneutical stakes of withholding ads are high, distributive constraints reduce hermeneutical cost at modest utility loss. Conversely, weighting hermeneutical cost without distributive constraints can yield policies concentrated on the disadvantaged group. These findings motivate expanding fairness analyses of online advertising beyond distributive notions to include epistemic conditions of interpretation and uptake.
Consumer Choice Over Shopping Baskets
arXiv:2511.11846v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: I introduce a novel approach to structural modelling and estimation of continuous demand systems, utilising consideration sets to analyse differentiated products markets with very large choice sets and purchases over multiple goods, multiple units, and across product categories. I apply it to study intra-store competition in the Portuguese supermarket industry between 2020 and 2023, during which the country faced the COVID pandemic. Anonymised transaction-level point-of-sale data is sufficient to estimate price elasticities across almost 30 000 goods and more than 500 product categories. Results suggest mark-ups remained stable throughout the sample period, with a short-lived, slight increase post-pandemic observed only in the highest-mark-up-percentile goods. The implied mark-ups match observed price volatility, profit margin surveys, as well as reports on shifting consumer tastes during the sample period.
The CEO of Saks Global Says the Company Is Ready for a Comeback
Geoffroy van Raemdonck has a plan to return the luxury retailer to profitability and start growing again.
Ebay weighs GameStop’s unsolicited $56bn offer for online marketplace
Video game retailer offers $125 a share for resale web group with plans to bring in ‘entrepreneurial mindset’
‘It’s crucial’: how AI is reshaping the fragrance industry
From hyper-personalisation to cutting costs, artificial intelligence is getting a hold on your perfume cabinet
Dairy Queen pauses Middle East growth plans
Dairy Queen has put expansion plans in the Middle East on hold due to war in Iran and supply-chain disruptions.
Old Phones Could Save the Industry
That old phone in the kitchen drawer could save an industry. Users have less cash to burn and less patience for AI in new models... now where to get the used stock
Restaurants lean on AI to cut waste and reduce costs
Hospitality sector has been slower than others at adopting the technology
How to Move from AI Experimentation to AI Transformation
This article provides a framework for scaling AI beyond fragmented pilots, using a Lowe's case study to illustrate the path toward enterprise-wide AI transformation.
Agentic AI, fraud and the fight for customer loyalty | Retail Dive
As AI-powered commerce grows into a multi-trillion-dollar space, speed, personalization, and automation are becoming standard expectations. However, this shift fundamentally changes how security must be approached. When bots act on behalf of users, businesses are no longer verifying just a person. They must also verify the legitimacy and authority of the agent acting for them. This introduces a new layer of complexity that many current systems ...
Guilty until proven innocent: shoppers falsely identified by facial recognition system struggle to clear their names
People shamed and ordered to leave shops after being misidentified then ‘given no help’ to investigate verdicts
Why eBay, in Its Latest Incarnation, Is a Takeover Target for GameStop
A focus on collectibles could make the online marketplace a match for the videogame retailer.
Thermos Recalls 8.2 Million Jars and Bottles After Customers Are Injured
The company received reports that the stoppers on some of its products had “forcefully ejected,” striking customers and causing permanent vision loss in a few cases, safety regulators said.
Estee Lauder Raises Fiscal-Year Outlook as Turnaround Continues to Bear Fruit
Estee Lauder Companies boosted its full-year profit outlook and said it will cut more jobs in its restructuring than it initially expected.
A Mark Cuban–backed vegan cheese company trained AI to scrutinize cardboard boxes. It’s saved $400,000
Austin-based Rebel Cheese says an AI agent helped uncover shipping-box overcharges after a holiday rush and has saved the company $400,000 in one year.
The best pressure washers in the UK for cleaning garden furniture and patios – tested
Our expert puts the best power washers through their paces on the toughest – and muckiest – outdoor chores, from grimy paving slabs to dirty decking • The best lawnmowers to keep your grass in check The trouble with the great outdoors is that it gets a bit untidy. Your garden tools might do a good job of keeping your plot in check, but keeping your patio, decking and outdoor furniture spick and span can take hours, especially if you rely on a bucket of soapy water and a scrubbing brush. That’s where a pressure washer comes in.
Retailers are rushing to build AI apps. It's unclear if shoppers will use them
Retailers and brands are launching shopping apps within ChatGPT and Claude at a rapid pace. It's unclear if shoppers are equally as excited.
That old phone in the kitchen drawer could save an industry
Users have less cash to burn and less patience for AI in new models... now where to get the used stock Secondhand phones sales are booming - relatively speaking - and the industry has rising inflation, AI bloat, and consumers' growing apathy toward overpriced new handsets to thank for it.…
Guiding without Generating: Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Enabled Topic Nudges in Online Reviews
arXiv:2511.09877v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Digital platforms increasingly face a common challenge in the age of artificial intelligence (AI): how to elicit richer and more useful user-generated content (UGC) without fully automating content production. We study this question in the context of online reviews by examining Yelp's introduction of an AI-enabled topic nudging tool in 2023, whi
4 in 10 enterprises see 40%+ productivity gains from AI in customer support: Report - Storyboard18
Kapture CX survey shows 40% enterprises reporting over 40% productivity gains from AI in customer support, with growing automation, uneven adoption, and cost benefits tied to deeper workflow integration.
Popsa AI-Driven Content Creation
This article presents a case study of Popsa using generative AI models like Amazon Nova and Claude Haiku to generate personalized photo book titles through a RAG-based approach. Our analysts highlighted that while it demonstrates AI-driven content creation improving user engagement, the use case is relatively narrow and limited in broader strategic significance.
When Agents Shop for You: Role Coherence in AI-Mediated Markets
arXiv:2604.26220v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Consumers are increasingly delegating purchase decisions to AI agents, providing natural-language descriptions of their preferences and identity. We argue that these representations constitute an information channel, role coherence, through which sellers can infer willingness to pay without explicit disclosure by the buyer agent, leading to preference leakage. In an experiment where a language-model buyer agent shops on behalf of a verbal consumer profile, we show that seller-side inference from dialogue alone recovers willingness to pay nearly one-for-one. Comparing this setting to a numeric-budget condition with confidentiality instructions cleanly isolates role coherence as distinct from instruction-following failure. Because this leakage arises from delegation itself, it cannot be mitigated at the prompt level. Instead, we propose architectural interventions that trade off personalization against preference privacy.
Hierarchical Multi-Persona Induction from User Behavioral Logs: Learning Evidence-Grounded and Truthful Personas
arXiv:2604.26120v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Behavioral logs provide rich signals for user modeling, but are noisy and interleaved across diverse intents. Recent work uses LLMs to generate interpretable natural-language personas from user logs, yet evaluation often emphasizes downstream utility, providing limited assurance of persona quality itself. We propose a hierarchical framework that aggregates user actions into intent memories and induces multiple evidence-grounded personas by clustering and labeling these memories. We formulate persona induction as an optimization problem over persona quality-captured by cluster cohesion, persona-evidence alignment, and persona truthfulness-and train the persona model using a groupwise extension of Direct Preference Optimization (DPO). Experiments on a large-scale service log and two public datasets show that our method induces more coherent, evidence-grounded, and trustworthy personas, while also improving future interaction prediction.
As AI Alters the Customer Journey, Retailers Focus on Experience, Content and Curation
Discover how AI is transforming retail, shifting focus to customer experience, curated content, and sustainability for long-term growth.
Gifting marketplace Flowwow rebrands to Udora, separating from Russian business and raising €8.5 million for European growth
Udora, a global gifting marketplace formerly known as Flowwow, has closed a €9.2 million private investment round and relaunched under their new brand to investe in a deeper local presence across Europe, expanding its product catalogue, and advancing AI-powered personalisation. According to a representative of the company, the rebranding is part of a long-planned separation […]
Online marketplace Etsy beats revenue estimates on steady demand
Online marketplace Etsy beat Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, helped by growth in gross merchandise sales as more active buyers joined the platform and shoppers spent more on each purchase.
Snapchat moves ads into chats with AI agents designed to feel like conversation
Snapchat is integrating advertisements into its AI-powered chat features to monetize user interactions.
Maryland law spotlights momentum — and limits — of US state surveillance pricing bans
Maryland has become the first state to restrict “surveillance pricing,” as lawmakers across the US seek to curb the use of personal data to tailor prices.
Beyond chatbots: How agentic AI can boost productivity and decision-making in food
Agentic AI is already being used in food. The more autonomous, flexible form of AI is being used by Nestlé to help employee productivity, streamlining sales tasks and supporting finance teams to make better decisions. Danone is also using agentic AI, helping it analyse production data, simulate ...
GoTo Posts First-Ever Net Income After Cost Cuts Bear Fruit
GoTo Group reported its first-ever net income, a major milestone in the Indonesian ride-hailing and food delivery company’s turnaround effort as it seeks to gain fresh momentum in its long-standing rivalry with Grab Holdings Ltd.
Amazon launches an AI-powered audio Q&A experience on product pages
Amazon is introducing a new feature that uses AI to answer customer questions about products via audio.
Epicure: Multidimensional Flavor Structure in Food Ingredient Embeddings
arXiv:2604.22776v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: A chef's intuition about flavor, texture, and cultural identity represents tacit knowledge that is difficult to articulate yet central to culinary practice. We show that this knowledge is already encoded in FlavorGraph's 300-dimensional ingredient embeddings, trained on recipe cooccurrence and food chemistry, and that it can be systematically recovered. An LLM-augmented curation pipeline consolidates 6,653 raw FlavorGraph ingredients into 1,032 canonical entries, substantially strengthening the recoverable structure. We identify at least fifteen independently classifiable dimensions spanning taste, texture, geography, food processing, and culture.
Lowe’s Enhances Customer Experience With Gen AI and Digital Twins
Lowe's is leveraging generative AI, digital twins, and edge computing to optimize store operations and inventory management, though specific ROI metrics remain undisclosed.
Your Next Pair of Good American Jeans Won’t Be Designed by AI
Emma Grede, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Good American jeans, said her businesses are being changed by artificial intelligence, though there are some areas that are off limits.
AI Transforms Mother's Day Shopping
As Mother's Day approaches, shoppers increasingly rely on AI tools for gift discovery, with many willing to explore new brands. Marketers are advised to focus on personalized messaging and timely AI-driven insights to convert and engage customers, as Optimove garners recognition for its strategic capabilities in this domain.
AI is transforming innovation in Unilever Beauty & Wellbeing | Unilever
Discover how Unilever's Beauty & Wellbeing scientists are using AI to decode consumer trends and mine decades of research data.
AI's Role in Modern Pricing Strategies: Unlocking ai-driven pricing solutions
Pricing is one of the most powerful levers in retail. But with thousands of SKUs and ever-changing market conditions, setting the right price can feel like trying to hit a moving target in the dark. That’s where AI steps in. Today, I want to share how AI's role in modern pricing strategies ...
Why AI search broke the marketing playbook
AI is changing how audiences are reached, forcing marketing teams to adapt to automated workflows and a zero-click search environment.
In Wine Country, Sales Are Down and Fraud Is Rampant
The industry’s murky supply chain has long attracted scammers and con artists. In the words of one expert, “Wine and fraud go hand in hand.”
Wedding Dresses Now Come With a Legal Waiver for Brides on GLP-1s
Selling wedding gowns has always been a high-stakes business. New weight-loss drugs make fitting brides for the big day even more fraught.
Companies Are Rushing to Deploy AI Agents. The Smart Ones Are Doing Something Crucial First
Companies Are Rushing to Deploy AI Agents. The Smart Ones Are Doing Something Crucial First # Companies Are Rushing to Deploy AI Agents. The Smart Ones Are Doing Something Crucial First AI agents are set to transform the workplace, but companies need to take a key step to ensure success. BY KOLAWOLE ADEBAYO, COLUMNIST Apr 25, 2026 SHARE LinkedInFacebookXBlueskyLink ADD ON GOOGLE Illustration: Getty Images Listen to this Article More info 0:00 / 0:00 Michael Treacy, the head chef of Domino’s Australia, is not who you’d typically expect to be an early enterprise AI adopter. But earlier this year, the pizza chain deployed Snowflake’s AI platform across its 3,503 stores, and Treacy became one of its most active users—querying product performance data across international markets without touching a dashboard or waiting on an analyst. There was no technical training nor SQL queries—
Canadian Retail Sales Improve Ahead of Expected Squeeze
Canadians’ retail spending rebounded during the first quarter, highlighting consumer resilience that is likely to be tested by a jump in fuel costs.
Claude is connecting directly to your personal apps like Spotify, Uber Eats, and TurboTax
Anthropic is introducing personal app connectors for Claude, allowing the AI to interact directly with services like Spotify and Uber Eats.
Diagnosing Urban Street Vitality via a Visual-Semantic and Spatiotemporal Framework for Street-Level Economics
arXiv:2604.19798v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Micro-scale street-level economic assessment is fundamental for precision spatial resource allocation. While Street View Imagery (SVI) advances urban sensing, existing approaches remain semantically superficial and overlook brand hierarchy heterogeneity and structural recession. To address this, we propose a visual-semantic and field-based spatiotemporal framework, operationalized via the Street Economic Vitality Index (SEVI). Our approach integrates physical and semantic streetscape parsing through instance segmentation of signboards, glass interfaces, and storefront closures. A dual-stage VLM-LLM pipeline standardizes signage into global hierarchies to quantify a spatially smoothed brand premium index. To overcome static SVI limitations, we introduce a temporal lag design using Location-Based Services (LBS) data to capture realized demand. Combined with a category-weighted Gaussian spillover model, we construct a three-dimensional diagnostic system covering Commercial Activity, Spatial Utilization, and Physical Environment. Experiments based on time-lagged geographically weighted regression across eight tidal periods in Nanjing reveal quasi-causal spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Street vibrancy arises from interactions between hierarchical brand clustering and mall-induced externalities. High-quality interfaces show peak attraction during midday and evening, while structural recession produces a lagged nighttime repulsion effect. The framework offers evidence-based support for precision spatial governance.
Gen AI penetrates over half of US internet households | Retail Customer Experience
Generative AI has reached more than half of U.S. internet households, 58%, but there's still a lag when it comes to monetization and trust.
Amazon's Anti-Counterfeit Crusade
Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit has removed 15 million counterfeit items and closed over 100 scam websites in 2025 using AI to enhance brand protection.
‘Get back to work’: Amazon faces fresh scrutiny over workplace safety record
Workers and labor advocates say the company’s injury rates and how it treats injured staff remain a problem Amazon, one of the world’s largest employers, has for years faced scrutiny over its safety record. When Billy Foister, a 48-year-old worker, died after a heart attack inside one of the tech giant’s warehouses in September 2019, managers were accused of telling staff to “get back to work”. When another worker died this month at a distribution center in Troutdale, Oregon, an Amazon spokesperson claimed they had collapsed from an “existing medical issue”.
The best hair straighteners in the UK for foolproof styling, tried and tested by our expert
Whether you want cordless designs or a budget buy, we’ve tested the top hair straighteners for every hair type • The best hair dryers, tested Straighteners are here to stay – but thankfully, heat styling has come a long way since GHD’s first ceramic straighteners ushered in an era of poker-straight hair in 2001. Today’s models feature adjustable heat settings and protective technology for hairstyling with minimal damage. The looks you can achieve with a straightener have become more versatile as well: one twist of a modern, curved-edge straightener can create styles from ultra-smooth strands to structured ringlets and soft, beachy waves.
A Deep Learning Approach to Heterogeneous Consumer Aesthetics in Fast Fashion
arXiv:2405.10498v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Aesthetics drives product differentiation in industries such as fashion, interior decor, luxury goods, real estate and hospitality. However, visual differentiation is hard to encode in formal economic analysis. This paper analyses millions of purchase records from H\&M in the Netherlands, including product images, text descriptions, prices, and consumer demographics. I fine-tune Fashion CLIP embeddings with a three-tower approach that builds separate channels for product visuals and text, consumer history, and price, which makes downstream analysis tractable and scalable. The embeddings feed a latent-class deep demand system that captures price and taste sensitivities through deep nets, recovers rich substitution patterns, reveals meaningful heterogeneity, and performs much better than competing alternatives. Then, a supply-side inversion recovers sensible markups and costs and supports conduct tests and counterfactuals on sustainability practices. I also estimate machine learning hedonic pricing models that perform much better than competing alternatives. This model allows us to construct quality-adjusted price indices, make it possible to price completely new designs, and with an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition reveal the underlying sources of price changes. Finally, a Poisson event study around the COVID-19 lockdown shows that the range of demand responses across embedding-based product and user clusters exceeds anything recoverable from simple text-based attributes or demographic labels alone. The methodology is portable to any market where products are differentiated along sensory dimensions that are hard to encode but meaningfully important for consumer choices.
Lisbon-based DOJO AI secures €5.1 million to expand its AI marketing platform in the U.S.
DOJO AI, a Portuguese intelligent marketing system that brings integrated AI to marketing teams, today announced a €5.1 million ($6 million) Seed round at a €25 million ($30 million) valuation. The round was led by Armilar, with participation from Heartfelt VC. The funding will support continued product development and accelerated expansion in the United States. […]
EssilorLuxottica AI Glasses-Led Sales Gains Disappoint
EssilorLuxottica SA reported a rise in first-quarter sales that disappointed investors, as a weaker dollar limited the gains from its AI-glasses partnership with Meta Platforms Inc.
How the AI Race Will Impact the Global Luxury Market | Vogue
AI is evolving at different speeds across regions, creating fragmented systems that are reshaping consumer expectations — and forcing luxury brands to think carefully about how they use the tech in each market.
Ex-Dunzo Chief Kabeer Biswas Raises ₹102 Cr for AI Concierge Startup 'M' | Whalesbook
Kabeer Biswas, former co-founder of Dunzo, is back in the startup world with 'M', securing significant seed funding to automate household management. This capital injection shows strong investor confidence in his vision and the growing appeal of AI consumer platforms, a sector drawing substantial venture capital attention in 2026. 'M' aims to simplify daily consumer services by automating decisions and coordination, addressing a clear market ...
Yelp Unveils AI Assistant for Reservations and Service Scheduling
Yelp is introducing an AI-powered Assistant in its app to streamline tasks like booking reservations and ordering takeout in one conversation. This move enhances user experience by integrating with major platforms like DoorDash and Grubhub, and includes features like personalized home pages and AI-driven photo tools, marking a significant step …
Puig Shares Gain as Suitor Estee Lauder Said to Be Shaping Funding Package
Spanish financial daily Expansion reported Estee Lauder is seeking financing for a planned business combination, adding fresh impetus to a deal that would create a rival to France’s L’Oreal.
EssilorLuxottica faces test to grow smart glass sales without hurting margins
EssilorLuxottica faces test to grow smart glass sales without hurting margins
What China's AI Agents Reveal About the Future of Commerce
This article explores the shift toward agentic commerce, where AI handles discovery and execution, using China's integrated ecosystems as a primary example.
Allbirds’ Move to AI Has Echoes of the Dot-Com Frenzy
The faltering shoe company says it will become an AI computing provider
Inside San Francisco's AI-run store
Andon Market is an Anthropic-backed retail experiment testing whether an AI model can effectively run a business, from inventory to customer engagement.
AI-Run Store in San Francisco
A new retail experiment in San Francisco's Marina District is testing whether an AI model can run a business. The store, called Andon Market, is part store and part social experiment, with an AI agent named Luna handling everything from hiring and inventory to pricing and customer engagement.
AI Consumer Devices Steal the Show at China's CICPE Expo, with Rokid's Glasses Leading the Charge
At the China International Consumer Products Expo, AI-enabled consumer devices, notably Rokid's AI glasses, are a major highlight, showcasing advancements in integrating AI into daily life.
on ai matchmaker apps: a continued destruction story
AND - we arrive at the same lie. In Justin’s words about what Overtone might be => “…cutting-edge AI capabilities with deep respect for the messy, human journey of connection…to create something people actually want.”
Airbnb adds hotels to its platform in bid to boost growth
Company expands accommodation options alongside home rentals but analysts warn of stiff competition.
Beauty Industry Uses AI to Help Consumers
Artificial Intelligence in the beauty industry is becoming increasingly common, both in consumer-facing offerings and behind the scenes in research and development. Bloomberg This Weekend's Lisa Mateo dives into how AI is reshaping the industry. (Source: Bloomberg)
r/technology on Reddit: Allbirds stock tumbles after nearly 600% rally as the shoemaker rebrands as an AI company
I'll be glad when we've got the day that AI tracks the buys and sells and shows us who's really making out.
Myseum takes flight after Allbirds in fresh AI rebrand wave | Reuters
April 16 (Reuters) - A day after ... tab was up 146% early on Thursday, in the latest sign of an investor mania for artificial intelligence stocks....
RiskWebWorld: A Realistic Interactive Benchmark for GUI Agents in E-commerce Risk Management
arXiv:2604.13531v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Graphical User Interface (GUI) agents show strong capabilities for automating web tasks, but existing interactive benchmarks primarily target benign, predictable consumer environments. Their effectiveness in high-stakes, investigative domains such as authentic e-commerce risk management remains underexplored. To bridge this gap, we present RiskWebWorld, the first highly realistic interactive benchmark for evaluating GUI agents in e-commerce risk management. RiskWebWorld features 1,513 tasks sourced from production risk-control pipelines across 8 core domains, and captures the authentic challenges of risk operations on uncooperative websites, partially environmental hijackments. To support scalable evaluation and agentic reinforcement learning (RL), we further build a Gymnasium-compliant infrastructure that decouples policy planning from environment mechanics. Our evaluation across diverse models reveals a dramatic capability gap: top-tier generalist models achieve 49.1% success, while specialized open-weights GUI models lag at near-total failure. This highlights that foundation model scale currently matters more than zero-shot interface grounding in long-horizon professional tasks. We also demonstrate the viability of our infrastructure through agentic RL, which improves open-source models by 16.2%. These results position RiskWebWorld as a practical testbed for developing robust digital workers.
Antitrust on Aisle Five: How Well Do Divestiture Remedies Work?
arXiv:2604.15045v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Antitrust authorities frequently rely on structural divestitures to address competitive concerns raised by mergers. Using census-level establishment data and proprietary transaction records from the U.S. grocery sector, we provide systematic evidence on the long-run effects of such remedies. Divested stores experience an average 31 percent decline in employment over five years, driven by elevated exit rates and persistent contraction among surviving establishments. Sales similarly decline. Transaction-level evidence indicates that divested assets are systematically weaker and are often transferred to lower-capability buyers. These findings suggest that structural remedies may be less effective when the implementation of divestitures allows merging parties substantial discretion over the assets and buyers involved.
US companies that jumped ship to tech, AI businesses over the years | Reuters
Sneaker company Allbirds' pivot to AI computing has revived a Wall Street trend in recent years: smaller companies leaning into tech-focused transformations to win over AI-hungry investors.
The Allbirds Pivot Is a Terrible Idea … Right?
Its turn to AI could be an escape hatch for a company with nothing to lose.
The Tyranny of AI Everywhere
Sneakers? Why stop there?
LLM-HYPER: Generative CTR Modeling for Cold-Start Ad Personalization via LLM-Based Hypernetworks
arXiv:2604.12096v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: On online advertising platforms, newly introduced promotional ads face the cold-start problem, as they lack sufficient user feedback for model training. In this work, we propose LLM-HYPER, a novel framework that treats large language models (LLMs) as hypernetworks to directly generate the parameters of the click-through rate (CTR) estimator in a training-free manner. LLM-HYPER uses few-shot Chain-of-Thought prompting over multimodal ad content (text and images) to infer feature-wise model weights for a linear CTR predictor. By retrieving semantically similar past campaigns via CLIP embeddings and formatting them into prompt-based demonstrations, the LLM learns to reason about customer intent, feature influence, and content relevance. To ensure numerical stability and serviceability, we introduce normalization and calibration techniques that align the generated weights with production-ready CTR distributions. Extensive offline experiments show that LLM-HYPER significantly outperforms cold-start baselines in NDCG$@10$ by 55.9\%. Our real-world online A/B test on one of the top e-commerce platforms in the U.S. demonstrates the strong performance of LLM-HYPER, which drastically reduces the cold-start period and achieves competitive performance. LLM-HYPER has been successfully deployed in production.
Personalized pricing a ‘top priority,’ US FTC commissioners tell Congress
US FTC commissioners identified personalized pricing as a top priority during testimony before Congress.
Sneaker Company Allbirds Plans to Pivot to A.I. Yes, A.I.
After selling its business for $39 million last month, the company said it planned to buy powerful computer chips and rebrand itself NewBird AI.
For Its Next Act, Allbirds Makes an Unlikely Pivot From Shoes to AI
The company known for eco-friendly wool sneakers just raised $50 million for its next chapter—a head-spinning move to capitalize on the artificial-intelligence boom.
Allbirds is turning into an AI compute provider, because of course it is
Flipping the ‘Bird
What happens when AI runs a retail store
An exploration of the impact and operational changes that occur when artificial intelligence is integrated into retail store management.
Retail Pulse Report: The Economics of AI and What it Means for Retail Part 1
Lest you think I am relying on one guy’s crusade-driven point of view, I came across another take on the financial mechanics of AI , driven by Apollo Global Management. They estimate that the market expects between $4 trillion and $5 trillion in digital infrastructure investment by 2030.
Seth Cohen on Accelerating AI Adoption for Lasting Business Impact | P&G
P&G’s Chief Information Officer Seth Cohen took the stage at Human[X] to share how companies can leverage AI to drive real, measurable impact across their business.
Sustained Impact of Agentic Personalisation in Marketing: A Longitudinal Case Study
arXiv:2604.08621v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: In consumer applications, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has traditionally relied on the manual optimisation of static, rule-based messaging strategies. While adaptive and autonomous learning systems offer the promise of scalable personalisation, it remains unclear to what extent ``human-in-the-loop'' oversight is required to sustain performance uplift over time. This paper presents a longitudinal case study analysing a real-world consumer application that leverages agentic infrastructure to personalise marketing messaging for a large-scale user base over an 11-month period. We compare two distinct periods: an active phase where marketers directly curated content, audiences, and strategies -- followed immediately by a passive phase where agents operated autonomously from a fixed library of components. Our results demonstrate that whilst active human management generates the highest relative lift in engagement metrics, the autonomous agents successfully sustained a positive lift during the passive period. These findings suggest a symbiotic model where human intervention drives strategic initialisation and discovery, yet autonomous agents can ensure the scalable retention and preservation of performance gains.
AI Revolutionizes Travel Planning
AI is revolutionizing travel planning in 2026, providing real-time updates and personalized itineraries, with widespread adoption in the USA, UK, and China. Major platforms like Rome2Rio are integrating AI to enhance user experience, though concerns about spontaneity and cultural impacts persist.
Meta facial recognition in AI glasses draws opposition of ACLU, other groups
Meta Platforms faces pushback from civil rights groups and labor unions regarding potential plans to introduce facial recognition to its Meta AI smart glasses.
AI is changing how small online sellers decide what to make
AI is changing how small online sellers decide what to make Informed i’s Weekly Business Insights FREE weekly newsletter, sharing knowledge briefs from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES, as a social service to foster business acumen | Since 2017 | Week 447 | April 03-09, 2026 | Archive AI is changing how small online sellers decide what to make By Caiwei Chen | MIT Technology Review | April 6, 2026 3 key takeaways from the article 1. For small entrepreneurs in the US, deciding what to sell and where to make it has traditionally been a slow, labor-intensive process that can take months. Now that work is increasingly being done by AI tools like Accio, which help connect businesses with manufacturers in countries including China and India. Business owners and e-commerce experts told MIT Technology Review that these AI tools are making sourcing more accessible and si
Tesco partners with Adobe to ramp up AI‑driven personalised ...
Tesco partners with Adobe to ramp up AI‑driven personalised marketing | Reuters Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionalsLearn more aboutRefinitiv Tesco logo is seen in this illustration taken February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - Tesco, Britain's biggest food retailer, has partnered with U.S. software group Adobe to deepen its use of artificial intelligence in analysing customer data, aiming to boost sales through more personalised marketing, the groups said on Monday. Retailers are increasingly turning to AI in pursuit of revenue gro
Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon are squeezing India's quick commerce startups
Major retailers like Amazon and Flipkart are intensifying competition, putting pressure on India's emerging quick commerce sector.
Google Launches AI Mode in India for Restaurant Reservations
Google's new AI Mode in India automates restaurant bookings by curating options based on user preferences and integrating with platforms like Swiggy and Zomato.
Singapore’s Staynex acquires Swiss HotelTech startup Sleap.io in €12.8 million deal
Staynex, a Singapore-based AI-powered Web3 travel platform chaired by Priceline and Booking Holdings founder Jeff Hoffman, today announced the full acquisition of Sleap. io, a Zug-based hotel booking technology company, in a transaction valued at €12. 8 million ($15 million).
U.K. Retail Sales Growth Miss Estimates
U.K. retail footfall returned to growth in March, but the increase fell short of expectations ahead of a challenging period due to the conflict in the Middle East.
Block Introduces Managerbot, a Proactive Square AI Agent
Block's new proactive AI agent for Square sellers helps forecast inventory, optimize schedules, and draft marketing campaigns while keeping humans in the loop.
Minor Hotels unveils global AI platform with Google
Minor Hotels unveils global AI platform with Google eCommerceNews UK - Technology news for digital commerce decision-makers # Minor Hotels unveils global AI platform with Google Fri, 10th Apr 2026 (Yesterday) By Mark Tarre, News Chief Minor Hotels has unveiled plans for a global data and AI platform with Google Cloud, Salesforce, OneTrust and Deloitte, as part of a wider digital transformation across its more than 640 properties. Due for full deployment in 2026, the platform is being built as a single digital system separate from the group's legacy technology. It will connect guest data, marketing and service operations so the business can identify guests more consistently across brands and destinations using stay history and stated preferences. The group operates in 63 countries and manages brands including Anantara, Tivoli, Avani, NH
Chatbots are great at manipulating people to buy stuff, Princeton boffins find
Urge restraints before AdLand does this without appropriate disclosures Large language models can be very persuasive, and researchers say that's a problem when they’re used to create advertising.…
People-Led, Tech-Powered: Walmart’s AI Job Shift - Knowledge at Wharton
People-Led, Tech-Powered: Walmart’s AI Job Shift - Knowledge at Wharton Listen to the podcast. #### Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. It’s a question that looms large for any business leader these days, but the stakes are even higher for those that manage massive workforces: As AI transforms the workplace, what happens to jobs and the people doing them? On this episode of Where AI Works, host Matthew Bidwell speaks with Donna Morris, the chief people officer at Walmart, about what it means to introduce AI across one of the largest workforces on the planet; more than 2.1 million associates around the world. Morris explains the company’s “people-led, tech-powered” approach, where AI is used to augment employees rather than replace them. She also discusses the emergence of new roles like AI agent-builders, and explores the skills that matter most in an AI-driven workplace.
Eurozone Retail Sales Fell Ahead of Iran War Energy-Price Surge
Volumes were down 0.2% on month compared with flat growth in January, a little weaker than the decline expected by a consensus of economists.
Agentic commerce and purchase disputes: Did you mean to buy that?
As agentic shopping becomes more commonplace, how do you dispute a purchase your AI made? Read more: Agentic commerce and purchase disputes: Did you mean to buy that?
South Korea to require disclosure of AI characters in advertisements
The Korea Fair Trade Commission is proposing new rules requiring businesses to clearly label AI-generated virtual characters in advertisements, with public feedback open until April 28.
Dublin start-up Zellor bags €850k for AI shopping assistant
Zellor's AI assistant acts as a 'digital concierge' that responds to customer queries with AI-curated content. Read more: Dublin start-up Zellor bags €850k for AI shopping assistant
KREV
AI creative agents for ecommerce brands.
AI is changing how small online sellers decide what to make
For years Mike McClary sold the Guardian LTE Flashlight, a heavy-duty black model, online through his small outdoor brand. The product, designed for brightness and durability, became one of his most popular items ever. Even after he stopped offering it around 2017, customers kept sending him emails asking where they could buy it. When McClary…
Brands Adopt ‘No AI’ Disclaimers to Stand Out Amid the Slop
Marketers move to get ahead of growing consumer skepticism by labeling content that doesn’t use AI.
In 2026, there have been more use cases for AI on display
In 2026, there have been more use cases for AI on display Only nine seats remain for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit, May 6-8 in Palm Springs. # AI talk at retail events shifts to proving real results, defining a true strategy Ivy Liu This story was first published by Digiday sibling Modern Retail. At retail conferences, it’s become practically impossible to get through a full two or three days without having a conversation about the biggest buzzword in the industry: artificial intelligence. There are the tech vendors, scanning attendee name badges to find a willing participant from a brand or retailer to pitch their latest AI-powered upgrade. There are the executives on-stage who are eager to talk up the results from their new AI chatbot. And at the offsite happy hours, managers trade notes on vibe coding and the latest discoveries they’v
I Built 3 AI Agents Into a Restaurant POS. Here’s What They Actually Do. | by Mikael Selander | Apr, 2026 | Medium
I Built 3 AI Agents Into a Restaurant POS. Here’s What They Actually Do. | by Mikael Selander | Apr, 2026 | Medium Sitemap Open in app Sign up Sign in Medium Logo Get app [Write](https://medium.com/m/signin?operation=register&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2Fnew-story&a
Covalo: €3.5 Million Raised To Build Data Backbone For Personal Care Industry
Covalo has secured a €3.5 million funding extension to accelerate its transition from an ingredient discovery marketplace into a foundational data infrastructure platform for the personal care industry. The round was led by Hi inov, with participation from existing investors HTGF and seed + speed Ventures. The post Covalo: €3.5 Million Raised To Build Data Backbone For Personal Care Industry appeared first on Pulse 2.0. Topic group: Economics & Markets
The Home Depot: Franziska Bell Appointed EVP And Chief Technology Officer
The Home Depot announced that Franziska “Fran” Bell has been named executive vice president and chief technology officer. The company said Bell will lead the strategy, development, and alignment of technology, product management, data, and artificial intelligence across the organization. The post The Home Depot: Franziska Bell Appointed EVP And Chief Technology Officer appeared first on Pulse 2.0. Topic group: Adoption & Impact
Shotwell
The screenshot editor for iPhone.
Retail Analytics Market to Skyrocket to $20.6 Billion by 2031 Driven by AI and Omnichannel Strategies
The retail analytics sector is projected to reach $20.6 billion by 2031, fueled by the integration of AI and advanced omnichannel retail strategies.
'Silent killers': How AI start-ups are trying to solve one of the retail industry's biggest problems
The rapid evolution of generative AI has finally made these applications good enough to meaningfully impact retailers' bottom lines.
Retail Analytics Market to Surge
The retail analytics market is set to surge from $11.3 billion in 2026 to $20.6 billion by 2031, fueled by AI-driven tools and data-first strategies enhancing consumer interactions.
Apps promising to help people make new friends
As loneliness becomes a growing concern, a variety of new apps are emerging to help people connect and build friendships.
Glimpse: $35 Million Raised For AI Platform Powering CPG And Retail Operations
Glimpse, an AI platform focused on automating operations for consumer packaged goods and retail brands, announced that it has raised $35 million in Series A funding, bringing its total capital raised to $52 million. The post Glimpse: $35 Million Raised For AI Platform Powering CPG And Retail Operations appeared first on Pulse 2.0. Topic group: Economics & Markets
One Company’s Effort to Make an AI-Ready Catalog of Everything We Buy
In an Arkansas “capture factory,” hand models and food stylists are preparing for the future of shopping. Topic group: Adoption & Impact
The Smarter Way to Cash In on Meta’s Vision for Smartglasses
EssilorLuxottica makes the AI-enabled Ray-Bans that are growing more popular with consumers. Topic group: Economics & Markets
The Retailer That Welcomes Returns
While other retailers cut back, Revolve is doubling down on fast, free shipping and easy returns.
The Revival of the Fashion-Tech Love Affair
Get ready for the return of wearables and a new stage in the fashion-tech relationship. Topic group: Adoption & Impact
Guinness Price Index
Today's legitimate use of an AI agent: Calling every pub in Ireland to inquire about the price of a Guinness in order to create a consumer price index called the Guinndex.
AI Agents Reshape Retail
AI agents are revolutionizing retail by becoming primary buyers and bypassing traditional discovery methods, prompting brands to focus on end-to-end customer journeys.
Weekend Amazon Big Spring Sale Deal Special: Get Unlocked Smartphones Up to 50% Off Google, Samsung, and More at
From AI that talks back to folding screens that actually hold up, these Big Spring Sale deals are getting the party started with savings on top-rated smartphones.
He Was Supposed to Break Up Kraft and Heinz. He Changed His Mind.
Steve Cahillane, a food industry veteran, is trying to revive the company behind Kool-Aid, Oscar Mayer and many other brands.
The AI Hype Misses the People Who Actually Need It Most
Every day someone posts 'AI will change everything' and it's always about agents scaling businesses, automating workflows, 10x productivity, whatever.
Meitu's AI-Driven Growth Soars 41.6%
Meitu's photo, video, and design products soared to RMB 2.95 billion in 2025, largely due to AI Agent adoption and increased global subscribers.
OpenAI Also Killed This Little-Used Shopping Feature This Week
Instant Checkout, introduced in late 2025, allowed users to make purchases from Shopify, Etsy and Walmart sellers without leaving ChatGPT. OpenAI's decision to axe its AI video generator Sora, and stop work on a potentially controversial adult mode for ChatGPT may have been what got most of the attention this week, but it has also killed off <a alt="a little-used …
Meta to Launch New AI Glasses Aimed at Prescription Wearers
Meta Platforms Inc. plans to debut two new Ray-Ban smart glasses models next week intended for prescription wearers.
Macy’s just launched an AI-powered shopping assistant. Customers who use it spend nearly 400% more
The “Ask Macy’s” chatbot may help the company’s comeback and reverse declining sales.
PS5 price hiked by £90 due to global pressures
PS5 price rising from £479.99 to £569.99 in the UK due to global economic pressures.
Norwegian Cruise Line to Overhaul Board After Truce With Elliott
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said it will reshape its board after reaching a truce with activist Elliott Investment Management, as the cruise operator works to address operational missteps that have weighed on performance.
Giraffe360 Raises $10 Million in Funding
Giraffe360, a proptech firm based in London, has raised $10 million in a Series B funding round to enhance its AI-powered digital marketing solutions for real estate. The funding, led by Cipio Partners with participation from Founders Fund, Hoxton Ventures.
Pet SenS AI Pet Analyzer
Pet SenS AI - Pet Analyzer
Agentic Commerce Futures
BCG lays out four possible agentic-commerce futures—an open bazaar, brand resurgence through data ecosystems, super apps, and creator-led authenticity—so marketers can plan for multiple AI-driven market structures instead of betting on a single outcome.
Sous Raises €4 Million in Funding
Sous, an Amsterdam-based AI-powered growth platform for independent food and beverage businesses, has raised €4 million in seed funding. The round was led by Seed + Speed Ventures, with participation from Peakbridge, Ältitude, Gekko Capital, and angel investors.
Cents Raises $140 Million in Funding
Cents, a comprehensive software and payments platform for the laundry industry, has secured $140 million in a Series C funding round led by Sumeru Equity Partners, with additional investment from Camber Creek. This funding aims to enhance Cents' AI-powered product.
AI companies lick their chops as FCC proposes forcing call center onshoring
You actually think companies are going to pay Americans to take customer service calls in the AI age? Uncle Sam is trying to make American call centers great again. The question is whether they will be great because they're filled with local workers or whether this will provide yet another excuse for companies to turn customer service jobs over to AI.
Polish Fashion Retailer LPP Shares Jump to Record on Higher Sales
The Polish fashion retailer was the biggest riser on the Stoxx 600 index after the company reported higher sales for fiscal 2026.
Olaplex to Be Acquired by Germany’s Henkel for $1.4 Billion
The transaction represents a premium of around 55% over Olaplex’s closing price on Wednesday, the U.S. company said.
Amsterdam-based SOUS raises €4 million to become the AI-powered sous chef for restaurant growth
SOUS, an Amsterdam-based startup building AI-powered software to support independent food and beverage businesses, has announced it has raised €4 million in a Seed round to expand its team, enhance its AI platform, and support international growth. The round was led by seed + speed Ventures, with participation from existing investor PeakBridge, along with āltitude, […]
Amsterdam-based SOUS raises €4 million to become the AI-powered sous chef for restaurant growth
SOUS, an Amsterdam-based startup building AI-powered software to support independent food and beverage businesses, has announced it has raised €4 million in a Seed round to expand its team, enhance its AI platform, and support international growth. The round was led by seed + speed Ventures, with participation from existing investor PeakBridge, along with āltitude, […] The post Amsterdam-based SOUS raises €4 million to become the AI-powered sous chef for restaurant growth appeared first on EU-Startups.
Shopping with a Platform AI Assistant: Who Adopts, When in the Journey, and What For
This paper provides some of the first large-scale descriptive evidence on how consumers adopt and use platform-embedded shopping AI in e-commerce. Using data on 31 million users of Ctrip, China's largest online travel platform, we study "Wendao," an LLM-based AI assistant integrated into the platform. We document three empirical regularities.
Agentic retail dispute resolution startup Glimpse raises $35M from Andreessen Horowitz and others
Dispute-tracking software startup Glimpse said today it has closed on an early-stage $35 million round of funding to accelerate its plan to use artificial intelligence to help brands gain more leverage over retailers. The Series A round was led by the high-profile venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and saw participation from 8VC and Y Combinator, bringing […] The post Agentic retail dispute resolution startup Glimpse raises $35M from Andreessen Horowitz and others appeared first on SiliconANGLE.
Powering Product Discovery in ChatGPT
This update highlights new AI-driven content discovery features in ChatGPT that enhance product comparison, visualization, and shopping experiences. Our analysts characterized it as a consumer-focused enhancement aligned with AI-driven commerce trends, but ultimately view it as a routine feature rollout with unclear strategic direction for OpenAI between enterprise AI and consumer applications.
Celsius Stock Jolted After Costco Offers Energy-Drink Brand for Less
Costco recently introduced energy drinks under Kirkland Signature, its private-label brand that has gained a devoted following among its membership for selling everything from toilet paper to vodka at lower prices than those of some national brands.
Your Pricing Strategy Doesn't Work on AI Agents
Delivrd, a North Carolina company profiled recently by the Wall Street Journal, charges $1,000 per deal to negotiate car prices on behalf of buyers using inside knowledge of dealer floors and margins — essentially a human agent for hire. CarEdge offers an AI version of the same service for $40 a month, saving buyers an average of $1,000 per deal.
Meta Glasses Withheld From EU Over Battery Rules, Supply Snags
Meta Platforms Inc.’s rollout of new display-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses in the European Union has been hampered by battery and artificial intelligence regulations in addition to supply constraints.
ChatGPT and Gemini are Fighting
ChatGPT and Gemini are fighting to be the AI bot that sells you stuff
Retailers Split on AI Checkout Options
OpenAI is pushing deeper into shopping with ChatGPT, but retailers like Walmart and Gap are split on who should control checkout. Some retailers are holding onto more control, allowing users to browse in AI chats but complete purchases on their own site.
Agentic commerce runs on truth and context
Successful organizations will implement an architectural decision encoded in identity, context, and control.
Estée Lauder in Talks to Acquire Spain’s Puig to Create Global Beauty Giant
The target company has a market value of about $10 billion, with brands including Carolina Herrera and Charlotte Tilbury.
Syndigo Acquires Taggstar to Enhance AI-Powered Conversion Rate Optimization
Syndigo, a provider of product experience management and master data management solutions based in Chicago, Illinois, acquired Taggstar, a London-based provider of AI-powered conversion rate optimization.
DoorDash Pays Workers for AI Training
DoorDash's new move to pay workers for real-world AI training raises questions about privacy trade-offs, deserving a hard second look before opting in.
Anno Robot Revolutionizes Hospitality
Anno Robot's AI Bartender and robotic kiosks are revolutionizing the beverage and hospitality industry by offering rapid, consistent, and diverse automated services.
Walmart Secures Two AI Pricing Patents
Walmart has secured two AI pricing patents, raising concerns about dynamic pricing and its potential impact on consumers.
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From AI that talks back to folding screens that actually hold up, these early Big Spring Sale deals are getting the party started with epic deals on smartphones by Google, Motorola, Samsung, and more.