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☆ Shopify has acqui-hired AI-driven analytics startup Peel Insights
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Shopify has acquired the team working on analytics startup Peel Insights, the Canadian e-commerce giant confirmed Friday. Peel works primarily with Shopify merchants and can integrate with apps across their tech stack, including Klaviyo and Recharge. Peel's CEO and cofounder, Nicolas Grasset, is now a director of product at Shopify, according to his LinkedIn, and the Peel app is still available on the Shopify App Store. Related stories"With the Peel Insights team at Shopify, we can supercharge insights features for our millions of merchants," they said. In 2021, it brought on the team from AR startup Primer to work on AI and spatial computing at Shopify.

Persons: Shopify, Peel, Lerer Hippeau, Nicolas Grasset Organizations: Business, Eniac Ventures, Vinyl Capital, Peel Locations: Peel, Swedish, Triple

☆ Shopify says AI has helped keep its head count flat
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shopify executives said during the company's first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday that its head count has stayed flat for the past three quarters and that using AI has been a major contributing factor. Shopify has been touting its "new shape" since it sold its logistics business and laid off 20% of its workforce in May 2023. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. It's also found efficiencies by using AI throughout the company. Internal AI tools have also allowed Shopify to offer multilingual support 24/7, whereas it was previously offered only during set working hours.

Persons: Shopify, We've, Harley Finkelstein, It's, Jeff Hoffmeister, Hoffmeister, crafters, —, Charlie Miner Organizations: SEC, Business, Shopify's Locations: mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ A judge has ordered the owners of get-rich-on-Amazon startup Wealth Assistants to have their assets frozen
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Clients paid upfront fees ranging from $35,000 to more than $100,000 to have their stores run by Wealth Assistants. AdvertisementThe complaint also alleges that Carroll — who was Wealth Assistants' founder and CEO — and the Days violated securities laws because the business opportunity they sold through Wealth Assistants could be considered unregistered securities. Related stories"Plaintiffs' evidence shows that each of the Individual Defendants made intentional misrepresentations in connection with Wealth Assistants' services," the order reads. It follows another lawsuit that was brought against Wealth Assistants in California Superior Court in San Bernardino County in January. Wealth Assistants claimed that the digital bank froze its accounts without warning or explanation in October and is still withholding its funds.

Persons: —, — Ryan Carroll, Max K, Michael Day —, Max O, Carroll —, Judge Wesley Hsu, Carroll, Nico Banks Organizations: Service, Court, Central, Central District of, Wealth, Business, Washington, Banks Law Office, Bank Locations: Central District, Central District of California, DC, California, San Bernardino County, Tennessee, mstone@insider.com

☆ Shopify embraced a 'new shape' after a post-pandemic slump and has charted an 18-month comeback
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Read previewIn October 2022, Shopify's once high-flying stock hit its lowest price since before the Covid pandemic. AdvertisementNow, after two rounds of layoffs and a divestment of its fulfillment and logistics business, the picture looks a bit different for Shopify. Shedding a "money-losing logistics business"Dropping logistics and fulfillment is a major part of Shopify's stock comeback story. In May 2023, Shopify announced it would be selling the logistics business entirely to Flexport. In May 2023, Shopify cut another 20% of its workforce as it sold its logistics business to Flexport.

Persons: —, Shopify's, Shopify, Oppenheimer, Ken Wong, Wong, D.A, Davidson, Gil Luria, Tobi Lütke, Lütke, Luria, Morgan Stanley, Jeff Hoffmeister, Bhavin Shah, GMV, We've, Shah Organizations: Service, Business, Systems, Investors, SEC, Deutsche Bank Locations: Salesforce, mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ Shopify plans a reorg of its Support division as the ratio of managers to 'crafters' falls below target
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewShopify is planning a reorganization of its Support division, and employees worry cuts are on the way. He said that Support teams working with Shopify's largest enterprise merchants would not be affected. OpenAI recently hired Glen Worthington, Shopify's former vice president of global support, to lead its own customer service operations. Jen Bebb, previously Shopify's director of global merchant and product support, left the company in March when Worthington left. Clovis Cuqui, who previously led support as Shopify's VP of merchant acceleration, announced his departure in October.

Persons: —, David Kohl, We've, Kohl, we're, crafters, Shopify, OpenAI, Glen Worthington, Shopify's, Jen Bebb, Worthington, Clovis Cuqui Organizations: Service, Business, WordPress Locations: Philippines, Canada, mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ TikTok Shop is second only to Amazon in a key measure of customer loyalty
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Madeline Stone | Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Earnest, which tracks credit-and-debit-card transactions, found that around 27% of TikTok shoppers came back to make another purchase after five months of their first buy. On this measure, TikTok Shop outperformed other e-commerce platforms, including Temu, Shein, and Etsy, as well as fellow social-commerce channels Whatnot, Flip, and Instagram Checkout. Amazon was the only e-commerce platform that beat TikTok Shop in Earnest's dataset, which looked at customer-retention data between January 2022 and February 2024. "The second I bought my first TikTok Shop product, which was probably a year and a half ago, from that moment on, I started to get more TikTok Shop content." TikTok Shop seems to have become a place for impulse purchases, as well.

Persons: Michael Maloof, Temu, TikTok, Maloof, —, they've, Nicole Rechtszaid Organizations: Walmart, Business, Facebook, Ghost Agency

☆ TikTok Shop is better at keeping customers than Temu and Shein
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Madeline Stone | Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok seems to be doing a good job of getting customers to make multiple purchases on its new shopping platform, Shop, according to data from Earnest Analytics. Earnest, which tracks credit-and-debit-card transactions, found that around 27% of TikTok shoppers came back to make another purchase after five months of their first buy. On this measure, TikTok Shop outperformed other e-commerce platforms, including Temu, Shein, and Etsy, as well as fellow social-commerce channels Whatnot, Flip, and Instagram Checkout. Amazon was the only e-commerce platform that beat TikTok Shop in Earnest's dataset, which looked at customer-retention data between January 2022 and February 2024. "The second I bought my first TikTok Shop product, which was probably a year and a half ago, from that moment on, I started to get more TikTok Shop content."

Persons: Michael Maloof, Temu, TikTok, Maloof, —, they've, Nicole Rechtszaid Organizations: Walmart, Business, Facebook, Ghost Agency

☆ OpenAI poaches Shopify's former head of support as the e-commerce giant's support org faces a shake-up
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

He's the latest among a string of leaders in Shopify's support organization to leave. Shopify's work with AI has incorporated large language models, including those developed by OpenAI. Shopify's Support organization has undergone some leadership changes in recent months. Jen Bebb, previously Shopify's director of global merchant and product support, left the company in March when Worthington left. Miqdad Jaffer, who led companywide AI initiatives as a director of product at Shopify, joined OpenAI's product staff in March.

Persons: OpenAI, Glen Worthington, Worthington, Shopify, Toby Shannan, generalists, Jen Bebb, Clovis Cuqui, Worthington isn't, Miqdad Jaffer Organizations: Business, OpenAI, Operations, Engineering, LinkedIn, WordPress Locations: Shopify, OpenAI, mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ Shopify has poached at least two dozen employees from Salesforce as it pushes into enterprise e-commerce
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Holly Dresden joined Shopify as head of enterprise merchant success in December after six years with Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Evan AgostiniAs it moves further into enterprise, Shopify hasn't always been subtle about zeroing in on Salesforce as a competitor. It recently launched a webpage comparing its platform with Salesforce Commerce Cloud, encouraging merchants to "join the mass migration" of brands moving from Salesforce to Shopify. But winning over enterprise retailers requires a different approach, and it's one where Salesforce has more years of experience than Shopify. Talking the enterprise talkPoaching employees from Salesforce isn't the only way Shopify has made an effort to win over enterprise customers.

Persons: —, Shopify, Kal Stephen, Holly Dresden, Everlane, Marc Benioff, Evan Agostini, hasn't, Michael Affronti, we've, Affronti, Shopify's, Salesforce, We've, It's, Rick Watson, Watson, Demandware, Oppenheimer, Ken Wong, Wong, Harley Finkelstein Organizations: Service, Salesforce Commerce, Business, Salesforce, Adobe, SAP, Mattel, Commerce, RMW Commerce Consulting, Accenture, IDC, Manhattan Associates Locations: Salesforce, Demandware

☆ As the CEO of eBay, I keep employees productive by asking this simple question about our work
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Jamie Iannone, the CEO of eBay, says the company is using AI to boost efficiency and creativity. After getting this direct feedback, our product teams developed tools powered by AI, including a description generator and an image-based listing flow. eBay is using AI to drive the company forwardeBay has been using AI for years. We also know that happy employees are more productive employees. We take this responsibility very seriously because millions of sellers count on eBay to make them more productive.

Persons: Jamie Iannone, —, we've, they'll, We're, We've Organizations: eBay, Service

☆ Temu has officially opened to US-based sellers in a strategy shift that could help it compete more closely with Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewTemu has opened its marketplace to sellers with US-based warehouses, marking a shift to its strategy that has focused on shipping orders from China. Business Insider previously reported that US Amazon sellers were largely eager to try selling on Temu once it was made available to them. Offering faster shipping options could help Temu to better compete with US e-commerce incumbents like Amazon. The company's use of de minimis shipments has gotten increased attention from US lawmakers as of late. Shein, another China-linked e-commerce marketplace, also began onboarding US merchants last year.

Persons: —, Temu, Brightever, Bernstein, De minimis, Earl Blumenauer, Neal Dunn, Dan Bishop, Shein Organizations: Service, Pinduoduo Holdings, Business, US, US Customs Locations: China, Palm Springs, Las Vegas

☆ Klaviyo CEO Andrew Bialecki explains why the company is only '1% done'
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Klaviyo, the marketing tech company that went public on the New York Stock Exchange last September, has an internal motto that's meant to motivate its employees and make them less afraid of failure: "We're 1% done." CEO Andrew Bialecki compared the idea to the progress bar that might appear on your screen when you're downloading a software update. Bialecki says Klaviyo can directly demonstrate the impact of its tech using a metric the company calls "Klaviyo Attributed Value." The company said it generated more than $50 billion in Klaviyo Attributed Value in 2023. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings — their second as a public company — on February 27.

Persons: Andrew Bialecki, you've, Bialecki, Klaviyo, There's Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, Business, — Locations: Shopify

☆ In Shopify's app store, 'people are fighting it out on the margins' as the market becomes oversaturated and merchants cut costs
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Its S-1 filing mentions the word "Shopify" 198 times, and it said that about 77.6% of its annual recurring revenue came from Shopify merchants. About a third of the deals FE International facilitates are for businesses within the Shopify ecosystem, Smale said. Smale said that lately, he has worked with a "wider variety of acquirers" quietly looking to scoop up Shopify apps. He said that Shopify apps make good acquisition targets because they tend to be profitable and not venture-backed. "I always say Shopify SaaS applications are so great to build because they're kind of like building a SaaS on training wheels," Gazdecki said.

Persons: Shopify, Rachael Jones, Brent Murri, They've, Murri, Andrew Bialecki, Klaviyo, Dennis Hegstad, there's, Hegstad, Andy Cloyd, it's, We're, Thomas Smale, Smale, Andrew Gazdecki, Acquire.com, Gazdecki, Tobi Lütke, Lucas Jackson, wouldn't Organizations: Shopify's, Business, Boston Globe, FE International, Reuters Locations: Shopify, Klaviyo

☆ Judge denies lawyers' request to freeze the assets of Wealth Assistants and its executives amid ongoing fraud case
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewThe judge overseeing a case brought by more than 60 former clients of Wealth Assistants has denied their lawyers' request for a preliminary injunction against the company. Lawyers representing Wealth Assistants' former clients sought to freeze assets belonging to CEO Ryan Carroll, his mentor and business partner Max K. Day, Day's nephew Max O. AdvertisementMany Wealth Assistants clients said they were drawn by the opportunity to generate passive income through an Amazon store. Business Insider previously reported that Wealth Assistants filed a lawsuit on January 5 against Thread Bank, a digital bank based in Tennessee. Several former Wealth Assistants clients filed a motion to intervene in that suit earlier this month.

Persons: —, Ryan Carroll, Max K, Day's, Max O, John Pacheco, Nico Banks, Carroll Organizations: Service, Lawyers, Business, Amazon, Amazon . Business, Court, Banks Law, Thread Bank Locations: California, San Bernardino County, Washington, DC, Tennessee, mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ US lawmakers are turning up the heat on Temu, Shein, and their use of a shipping loophole that helps keep their prices low
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

US lawmakers are ramping up their pressure on e-commerce platforms like Temu, Shein, and AliExpress. Representatives for Temu, Shein, and AliExpress did not return Business Insider's request for comment. It added that almost 50% of all de minimis shipments to the US come from China. Shipping consultancy ShipMatrix estimates that Temu and Shein each ship more than a million packages to the US daily. Brown and Scott are not the only US lawmakers to advocate for change as Temu and Shein have gained a foothold.

Persons: Joe Biden, Sherrod Brown, Rick Scott, Brown, Scott, AliExpress, spokespeople, Shein, minimis Organizations: Business, U.S . Customs, Border Protection, Customs, Temu, Chinese Communist Party, China . Shipping, Uyghur, Labor Locations: China, minimis, United States, mstone@businessinsider.com

"I'm thinking about marketing myself as a TikTok Shop creator," Jayy told BI in July. Outside its in-house team, TikTok also deputizes official third-party TikTok Shop agency partners to work with creators and merchants on e-commerce strategies. And the company offers advice to all affiliate creators on its website via its TikTok Shop Academy. Someone who is not popular or famous going on TikTok Shop and offering products, or someone who is very popular and famous now getting products?" "I think the shortest path to more volume through TikTok Shop is really that second group."

Persons: D'Amelio, TikTok, Remy Beaumont, it's, Joy Mangano, Beaumont, playbook, Rick Watson, Sharon Jayy, Jayy, Watson Organizations: Business, Shop, Z Media, intel, Training, RMW Commerce Consulting, TikTok Shop, Shop Academy Locations: London, China, Douyin, TikTok's Culver

☆ Shopify's new price hikes could put pressure on its app developer ecosystem
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The price hike comes a year after Shopify raised prices for its base subscription plan. Many have shrugged off the most recent price increase. Shopify frequently touts its third-party app ecosystem as an advantage for merchants looking to grow their business efficiently. Many of the most popular Shopify apps have also raised prices recently. It's possible that some lower-volume Plus merchants will downgrade to more basic subscription options due to cost.

Persons: —, Shopify, Andy Cloyd, Stephen Watson, Cloyd, ” Erman Küplü, Küplü, ” Watson, Jeff Hoffmeister, Hoffmeister Organizations: Service, Merchants, Business, Elysian Solutions, BI Locations: GMV, North America, mstone@insider.com

☆ Exclusive: Shopify rolls out another huge price hike for merchants
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The change comes one year after Shopify raised prices for its base subscription plan. Wall Street analysts have since been looking for the company to raise prices for Plus, which is geared toward larger merchants. The price change is a 25% increase. A Plus subscription gives merchants access to more features and services, like Shopify's B2B tools and its customer-acquisition product Shopify Audiences. At the time of publishing, Shopify's stock is up 3% to around $88 compared to an opening price of $85.

Persons: —, Shopify Organizations: Service, Business, Wall Street, Merchants, Shopify, BI Locations: mstone@businessinsider.com

☆ Shopify Fulfillment Network is back — sort of. Here's why it's different this time around.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The new app has a familiar name: Shopify Fulfillment Network. With the new Shopify Fulfillment Network , merchants can sign up to use Flexport's services through Shopify's app. The newly named Shopify Fulfillment Network is not merchants' only option for fulfillment. Wong said the company had also indicated Flexport would not be the exclusive provider for Shopify Fulfillment Network. "They've definitely given themselves more choices than there were before when it was just Shopify Fulfillment Network or bust," he said.

Persons: Shopify, Tobi Lütke, Oppenheimer, Ken Wong, Wong, It's, Flexport, They've Organizations: Shopify Logistics, Business, Shopify, Flexport, Amazon Locations: Flexport, mlstone@protonmail.com

☆ Flexport has laid off 15% of workers
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Flexport laid off 15% of employees on Wednesday. Flexport last laid off employees in October. AdvertisementFlexport laid off 15% of its workforce, or about 400 workers, on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The cuts mainly impacted employees in North America's corporate overhead and research and development. The freight forwarder last laid off workers in a round of cuts that impacted 20% of the company in October.

Persons: Flexport, —, Ryan Petersen Organizations: Service Locations: North

☆ More than 60 former Wealth Assistants clients sued the get-rich-on-Amazon startup, claiming they were defrauded out of millions
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Lawyers representing Wealth Assistants' former clients are seeking to freeze assets belonging to Carroll, Max K. Day, Max O. When Wealth Assistants informed its clients in October that it planned to shut down, it provided a list of alternative providers clients could work with to manage their stores if they promised not to sue Wealth Assistants. According to the lawsuit, some former Wealth Assistants clients later started receiving emails from Wholesale Universe saying that Wealth Assistants had purchased an inventory package for them to use with Wholesale Universe. Advertisement"Wealth Assistants and Wholesale Universe made that transfer for the purpose of preventing Wealth Assistants' current and future creditors, including Plaintiffs, from accessing Wealth Assistants' assets," the complaint reads. Wealth Assistants claimed that the digital bank froze its accounts without warning or explanation in October and is still withholding its funds.

Persons: —, Ryan Carroll, Max K, Max O, Carroll, Yax, Daddy Jules, Max Day, Troy Marchand, Bonnie Nichols, Marchand, Nichols Organizations: Service, Business, Amazon, Amazon . Business, Court, Lamborghini, Trading, Oak Properties, MKD Investment, Private Management Company, Max, HouTex Farm Equity Partners, Business Financial Solutions, Evo Maxx, Management, Wholesale, Tennessee, Bank, Wealth, Bank of America Locations: California, San Bernardino County, Oak, mstone@insider.com

☆ Ex-Shopify merchants built a no-code platform to simplify e-commerce. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck Krepling used to raise $3.3 million.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Brothers Liam, 23, and Travis Gerada, 20, were Shopify merchants before they decided to get into the more technical side of e-commerce. They found that running a modern e-commerce business requires many different software integrations that often don't share data with each other, making it difficult to manage and make decisions. Some use Shopify or other platforms like WooCommerce, while others have used Krepling to grow from the ground up. "We found that merchants were typically expanding their e-commerce stack to optimize the cost to reach different consumers across many different channels. Take a look at the 13-slide pitch deck that Krepling used to raise its seed round:

Persons: Liam, Travis Gerada, they're, Krepling, Jason Calacanis, Liam Gerada, Gerada Organizations: Business, Bull City Venture Partners, Ventures, Tribes Ventures, Colabora Ventures, Broadshade Investments Locations: GMV

☆ TikTok Shop buyers will have to pay higher order minimums to get free shipping as the company cuts back
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Madeline Stone | Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewTikTok is making it harder to get free shipping on its e-commerce platform, Shop. The threshold for free shipping will remain at $5 for first-time buyers. TikTok's updated guidance notes that free shipping does not apply when it determines the shipping costs exceed "fair market price." TikTok acknowledged in its documentation that its free shipping subsidies may not last forever. Michael Herling, a merchant who sells hats on TikTok Shop, described the planned fee increases as a "real downer."

Persons: —, Sellers, TikTok, It's, Michael Herling, downer, Herling Organizations: Service, Business

☆ Temu was one of the fastest-growing websites in 2023, new data shows
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Temu was among the fastest-growing large websites in the US last year, according to a new analysis by Similarweb. When considering only websites with more than 10 million monthly visits, Temu came in second only to OpenAI, which saw its traffic grow by 2,690% in 2023 as AI exploded into the mainstream. The ad intelligence company told Modern Retail that Temu spent an estimated $517 million on US ads between September and December 2023. AliExpress, the Alibaba-owned online marketplace, was in third place behind Temu with year-over-year traffic growth of 290%. AliExpress was launched in 2010 but still saw significantly less traffic than Temu in 2023, with an average of about 24.2 million monthly visits.

Persons: Temu, David Carr, AliExpress, Carr Organizations: Pinduoduo Holdings, Business, Modern, Duo Security Locations: Boston, China

☆ Shein and Temu use a loophole to ship millions of packages to the US tax-free. Here's why the tax rule faces increased scrutiny.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The other bill, from Sen. Bill Cassidy and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, would ban de minimis shipments from China. The provision is more likely to change — a prospect that both Shein and Temu have said they support. Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins/InsiderShipping consultancy ShipMatrix estimates that Shein and Temu each ship more than a million packages to the US daily. It added that almost 50% of all de minimis shipments to the US come from China. Related stories"Changes to the exemption could create a paradigm shift for retailers like Temu and Shein," Bank of America analysts wrote in the note.

Persons: minimis, Earl Blumenauer, Russia —, Bill Cassidy, Sen, Tammy Baldwin, Cassidy, Baldwin, Jay Sole, It's, Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins, Shein's, Temu, Shein, Donald Tang, SHEIN, de minimis, they've, Steve Story, Sole, Satish Jindel, ShipMatrix, Jindel Organizations: Business, Customs, Rep, Bank of America, US Chamber of Commerce, Express, UBS, Pinduoduo Holdings, Goods, Shipping, Chinese Communist Party, China . Shipping, Wired, Shein, American Apparel and Footwear Association, Apex Logistics International, Walmart Locations: Xinjiang, China, Russia, Sen, Singapore, Boston, minimis, United States, mstone@insider.com

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