Here is a list of product releases and updates for late December from companies that offer services to ecommerce merchants. There are updates on platform development, same-day shipping, visual search, competitive pricing, artificial intelligence, and high-end purchases.
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Ecommerce Product Releases
Target’s same-day delivery service Shipt to include all major product categories in 2019. Same-day delivery marketplace Shipt is celebrating the first anniversary of its acquisition by Target. In 2019, Shipt will offer same-day delivery of all major product categories for Target. So far, Shipt’s most popular category for Target has been grocery items.
Shipt
Facebook introduces new getting started guide and app review design. Facebook is improving the experience of building on its platform with a new getting started guide that highlights educational resources and helps developers navigate the process of onboarding. To make the app review process easier for developers, Facebook is also launching a design that breaks down the process into three steps: overview of permissions and features, current status, and approved permissions.
Amazon Air expands with 10 additional cargo planes. Amazon announced an expansion of its partnership with Air Transport Services Group by leasing an additional 10 aircraft. Amazon previously leased 40 Boeing 767 freighter aircraft in 2016 — 20 with ATSG. All are now serving customers in the Amazon Air network. The 10 new Boeing 767-300 planes will be operated on Amazon’s behalf by ATSG and will join Amazon Air over the next two years.
Walmart is testing in-house visual search on Hayneedle. Walmart acquired home furnishing retailer Hayneedle through the Jet acquisition in 2016. Now Hayneedle is serving as a test case for Walmart’s own in-house visual search technology, developed in collaboration between Hayneedle and Walmart Labs. To use the feature, consumers take an image of a piece of furniture they like, and the app then uses that image to find similar products from Hayneedle.com.
Hayneedle
Amazon adds toys to list of private labels. According to TechCrunch, Amazon’s private label business is preparing for the toy market. Initial toy listings include an indoor play set, toys for climbing and playing, and a toy storage system. Amazon will add the products to its AmazonBasics line.
eBay to provide competitive pricing insights to sellers. eBay has announced a new feature for sellers, displaying prices of competing listings to sellers as they list their own items. According to eBay, “As more information is updated by the selling community in the product catalog that helps associate similar products, more competitive information will be available.”
Chata.ai launches conversational business intelligence for Stripe. Artificial intelligence startup Chata.ai has entered the payment processing market by launching an integration with online payment platform Stripe. Using the company’s chatbot integration, Stripe users now can “just ask” for their data analysis. Stripe users can now connect their data and do easy-to-complex natural language data analysis and reporting simply by asking Chata.ai a question via type or voice-to-text.
Chata.ai
FedEx Extra Hours to expand delivery options for retailers. FedEx is expanding ecommerce delivery options for retailers with FedEx Extra Hours, a service that enables participating retailers to fulfill ecommerce orders into the evening and receive late pickups by FedEx Express, with next-day local delivery and two-day shipping to any address in the continental United States. Retailers can extend evening order cutoff times by five to eight hours, with some as late as midnight, depending on their order fulfillment process. FedEx Extra Hours recently launched in markets across the United States with customers that include AutoZone and Best Buy.
Google Shopping Actions added to SureDone multichannel ecommerce platform. SureDone, a multichannel ecommerce listing and order management platform, has integrated Google Shopping Actions into its core system — allowing for full integration with SureDone’s product manager, listing engine, cross-marketplace inventory manager, order consolidator, and advanced automation engine. Google Shopping Actions allows shoppers to find and buy products through Google Search, Express, and Assistant from their desktop computers, mobile devices, and Google Home smart speakers. SureDone customers can also leverage SureDone drop shipping capabilities to route orders from Google Shopping Actions directly to fulfillment partners.
eBay publishes a list of “2018 Top 20 – Most Expensive Purchases.” eBay has published a snapshot of some of 2018’s most expensive and remarkable purchases on its platform. The year’s highest ticket items sold on eBay ranged from $145,000 to $3,000,000. The purchases include fine jewelry, automobiles, collectible sports memorabilia, and even a helicopter. 2018’s highest-priced transaction was actually for a good cause: eBay’s annual power lunch with Warren Buffett benefitting GLIDE, a charity with the mission of breaking the cycles of poverty and marginalization. This year’s exclusive lunch with the billionaire fetched $3.3 million.