This week’s curated list of new services for merchants includes updates on agentic commerce, product review pages, email marketing, multichannel selling, local commerce, omnichannel marketing, returns management, WordPress development, and cross-border commerce.
Meta’s Muse AI Agent Integrates with PayPal and Shopify, Ushering in Agentic Commerce Era
Meta has announced a significant partnership with PayPal and Shopify, integrating its personal AI agent, Muse, into their platforms. Muse, which has rapidly ascended to the top of Apple’s App Store rankings, is designed to streamline the online shopping experience by acting on user instructions, allowing consumers to navigate the purchasing process with greater autonomy. This collaboration marks a pivotal moment in the rise of agentic commerce, where AI agents take on a more active role in facilitating transactions on behalf of users.
PayPal is working closely with Meta to ensure seamless and secure purchases made through Muse. This integration aims to provide users with a frictionless checkout experience, leveraging PayPal’s established payment infrastructure. Concurrently, Shopify’s collaboration will enable agentic checkout through Shop Pay, the company’s proprietary payment service. This move is expected to significantly enhance the efficiency of online transactions, potentially reducing cart abandonment rates and improving conversion metrics for merchants utilizing these platforms. The implications for consumer behavior are substantial, as AI agents could become the primary interface for many online purchases, shifting the paradigm of e-commerce interaction.
This development is occurring against a backdrop of increasing AI adoption in retail. A recent report by Grand View Research projected the global AI in retail market size to reach $12.2 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.2%. The integration of Muse with major e-commerce players like PayPal and Shopify is a direct response to this trend, aiming to capture a significant share of this rapidly expanding market.
Amazon Expands Multichannel Selling Tools and Prime Delivery Options for Merchants
Amazon is significantly bolstering its support for merchants looking to diversify their sales channels. The e-commerce giant has launched new multichannel selling tools within its Seller Central platform, empowering sellers to manage listings, orders, and profitability across a wider array of external channels. This initiative allows merchants to connect their accounts from platforms such as eBay, Shopify, TikTok, and Walmart directly to Seller Central, with plans to integrate additional channels in the future. Crucially, off-Amazon data remains secure and private, accessible only to the seller, providing a unified view of their business operations without compromising data integrity. Sellers can initiate this integration by navigating to the multichannel settings page within their Seller Central account.
In a related development, Amazon is extending its fulfillment capabilities to merchants’ own websites, allowing them to offer Prime delivery to their customers. This move directly addresses the growing consumer expectation for fast and reliable shipping. New and existing Multichannel Fulfillment (MCF) merchants can now add free Prime delivery to their websites at no additional cost. Furthermore, Amazon has introduced the MCF Preferred Pricing Program, which offers merchants the potential to save between 15% and 25% on fulfillment fees across their own websites, marketplaces, and social channels. This dual approach—enhancing multichannel management and extending Prime delivery benefits—underscores Amazon’s strategy to become an even more integral part of the broader e-commerce ecosystem, catering to businesses of all sizes and across various sales touchpoints.
The broader impact of these Amazon initiatives is a potential democratisation of fast shipping for smaller businesses and an increased competitive pressure on other logistics providers. With Amazon’s vast fulfillment network now more accessible for direct-to-consumer sales, merchants can leverage the brand recognition and customer trust associated with Prime delivery, even for sales not originating on Amazon.com.
Square Integrates with Apple Business to Enhance Local Merchant Visibility
Square, a leading point-of-sale platform, has launched an integration with Apple Business, designed to boost the discoverability and engagement of local merchants on Apple Maps and across the Apple ecosystem. Through their Square Dashboard, Square sellers can now easily connect their business locations to Apple Business. This integration allows for the centralized management of location data across Apple Maps, Siri, Apple Wallet, and other Apple applications and services.
A key feature of this integration is the ability for merchants to add actionable links to their listings. These links can include options such as "Menu," "Order," "Pickup," "Delivery," "Book," or "Schedule Appointment," providing customers with direct pathways to engage with the business. This move is particularly significant for brick-and-mortar businesses, as it leverages the ubiquitous presence of Apple devices to drive local foot traffic and online orders. By making it easier for customers to find and interact with local businesses, Square and Apple are fostering a more connected and convenient local commerce experience. The strategic importance of local search and discovery cannot be overstated, with studies consistently showing that consumers increasingly rely on mobile devices and mapping services to find nearby businesses.
Trustpilot Enhances Product Review Pages and Brand Intelligence Tools for AI Search
Trustpilot, a prominent customer review platform, has unveiled new features aimed at improving businesses’ visibility in AI-driven search results. The launch includes dedicated Product Review Pages, which provide individual products with their own distinct presence on Trustpilot. This initiative is designed to capture the growing trend of consumers seeking detailed product-specific feedback, especially as AI search engines become more sophisticated in surfacing granular information.
In addition to Product Review Pages, Trustpilot has expanded its offerings with enhanced Location Reviews, AI Search Market Insights, and a beta version of Trustpilot AI. These tools are engineered to help businesses improve their visibility across products, locations, and brands, while simultaneously providing actionable insights derived from customer feedback. The ability for products to have their own dedicated review pages is particularly relevant in an era where AI models are trained on vast amounts of data, including reviews. By centralizing and optimizing product reviews, businesses can significantly influence how their offerings are presented in AI-generated recommendations and search summaries. This strategic enhancement positions Trustpilot as a key partner for businesses navigating the complexities of AI-powered discovery.
YouTube Expands Commerce Platform in India with New Partnerships and AI Tools
YouTube is significantly expanding its commerce capabilities in India, a market with a rapidly growing digital consumer base. The platform is forging new retail partnerships and introducing innovative AI tools to enhance the shopping experience for both creators and viewers. The expansion builds upon YouTube’s existing partnership with Amazon, and now includes new affiliate partners such as AJIO, Meesho, Snapdeal, and Tata CLiQ. This broadened network of partners provides Indian creators with a wider selection of products to promote and sell directly through their content.
To further support viewers, YouTube Shopping is rolling out new AI-powered tools. "Ask YouTube for Shopping" is designed to provide personalized product recommendations and answer shopping-related queries. Additionally, "Ask Studio" aims to assist creators in generating compelling pitch materials for brands, leveraging AI to streamline content creation. The platform is also introducing automatic product tag updates to better localize offers and ensure relevance for the Indian market. This comprehensive approach signifies YouTube’s commitment to integrating e-commerce seamlessly into its video content, capitalizing on the platform’s massive reach and engagement in one of the world’s largest online markets. The integration of AI tools suggests a move towards more personalized and efficient shopping journeys, a trend likely to be replicated across other global markets.
RocketBench Launches AI-First WordPress Development Plan
RocketBench, a software development platform, has introduced an AI-first WordPress development subscription service. This innovative offering aims to streamline and accelerate the process of website development and maintenance for the substantial portion of the web that utilizes WordPress. The platform works by accessing a website’s URL, identifying necessary improvements, and presenting these tasks, along with supporting evidence, to potential customers.
A core tenet of RocketBench’s service is that every proposed change is developed with AI assistance, meticulously reviewed by a senior engineer, and then staged privately on the customer’s own website for approval before being implemented. This hybrid approach, combining the speed and efficiency of AI with the expertise and quality assurance of human engineers, promises a more robust and reliable development process. The increasing adoption of AI in software development, particularly for common platforms like WordPress, is a growing trend. This offering from RocketBench taps into that trend by providing a scalable and cost-effective solution for businesses looking to enhance their online presence. The subscription model suggests a focus on ongoing development and maintenance, catering to the dynamic needs of modern websites.
Attentive Enhances AI Reporting for Brands and Marketers with New Capabilities
Attentive, an omnichannel marketing platform, has significantly upgraded its agentic AI tools with the introduction of three key capabilities designed to provide brands and marketers with deeper customer insights and more effective engagement strategies. The new features include Product Affinity, Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value (RFM) analysis, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) tracking.
Product Affinity enables marketers to construct dynamic audiences based on specific customer interests in particular products and categories. This allows for highly targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with individual preferences. The enhanced RFM analysis provides detailed insights into when and how often customers make purchases, as well as the total amount they spend, offering a clear picture of purchasing behavior. Complementing these features, the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) metric helps merchants understand not only what customers have already spent but also their potential future spending. This comprehensive suite of AI-driven reporting tools empowers brands to move beyond broad segmentation and engage with customers on a more personalized and data-informed level, ultimately aiming to increase customer loyalty and drive revenue growth. The focus on agentic AI suggests a move towards automated, intelligent marketing decision-making.
Landmark Global Launches Shopify App to Simplify Cross-Border Commerce
Landmark Global, a specialized provider of cross-border e-commerce logistics services, has launched a new app on the Shopify App Store. This strategic move aims to significantly simplify the complexities of international shipping for merchants looking to expand their reach into global markets. The app is designed to cater to a wide range of businesses, from direct-to-consumer brands to sellers operating on various marketplaces.
Through the Landmark Global app, Shopify merchants can configure their international shipping preferences, obtain real-time calculations of the full landed cost for international orders, and offer multiple shipping options to their customers. The app also streamlines the process of generating shipping labels and managing fulfillment directly within the Shopify platform. This integration eliminates the need for merchants to navigate separate systems for international logistics, consolidating operations and reducing potential errors. As global e-commerce continues to grow, with cross-border sales representing an increasingly significant portion of online revenue, tools that simplify international expansion are becoming indispensable. Landmark Global’s app addresses this critical need by providing a user-friendly and efficient solution for Shopify merchants venturing into new territories.
DoorDash Introduces Brand Center for Advanced Insights and Marketplace Management
DoorDash, the prominent on-demand delivery and marketplace platform, has launched "Brand Center," a new suite of tools designed to offer merchants enhanced insights and greater control over their presence on the platform. This initiative provides businesses with a comprehensive view of the factors driving growth across both digital and physical sales channels. The new capabilities are built upon DoorDash’s existing advertising tools and are aimed at helping brands optimize how their products are presented and discovered on the DoorDash marketplace.
Brand Center empowers merchants to identify assortment and content gaps, including missing product listings or incomplete product descriptions. For eligible brands, DoorDash is offering direct control over crucial product information such as images, descriptions, and category classifications. This level of granular control allows brands to ensure their product information is accurate, appealing, and optimized for discoverability. By providing these advanced insights and management tools, DoorDash is reinforcing its commitment to supporting merchant success and fostering a more robust and transparent marketplace experience. The focus on brand control and data-driven insights reflects a broader industry trend towards empowering merchants with the tools they need to thrive in competitive online environments.
Baselayer Secures $35 Million for Agentic Identity Technology
Baselayer, a company specializing in identity and risk infrastructure, has successfully raised $35 million in a Series A funding round led by M13. This significant investment underscores the growing importance of robust identity verification and risk management solutions, particularly in the context of emerging technologies like autonomous AI agents. Baselayer’s core business has historically served financial institutions and payment companies, providing them with the necessary infrastructure to manage identity and mitigate risk.
The company is now extending this foundational infrastructure to support autonomous AI agents. This move is critical as AI agents become more sophisticated and capable of performing complex transactions and interactions online. Ensuring secure and reliable identity for these agents is paramount to preventing fraud and maintaining trust in AI-driven commerce. Baselayer reports that it collaborates with a range of industry players, including agent builders, card networks, and leading financial institutions and payment companies. Among its partners are Fidelity Information Services, Prove Identity, Socure, Exa, Parallel Web Systems, Natural, Nevermined, and Lane Financial, indicating broad industry recognition and adoption of its technology. This funding will likely accelerate Baselayer’s development and deployment of identity solutions tailored for the rapidly evolving landscape of AI agents.
Yuma AI Launches AI Voice Agent for Live Customer Support Calls
Yuma AI, a customer support platform specifically designed for e-commerce businesses, has introduced "Voice AI," an advanced AI voice agent capable of handling live customer support phone calls. This expansion of Yuma AI’s services means its intelligent agent can now manage interactions across multiple channels, including phone, in addition to its existing capabilities.
During live phone calls, the Voice AI agent is programmed to identify the caller, retrieve their order history, and execute a range of common support actions. These actions include making address corrections, canceling orders, removing items, processing refunds, and updating subscriptions. A key feature of the Voice AI agent is its ability to verbally confirm each change with the customer, ensuring transparency and accuracy. For merchants, Yuma records and transcribes every call, feeding this information directly into the merchant’s helpdesk system. This integration provides valuable insights into customer interactions and support trends. The introduction of a voice AI capable of performing complex actions during live calls represents a significant advancement in customer service automation, promising to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction for e-commerce businesses by handling a substantial volume of routine inquiries and tasks.
Postscript Launches Email Capabilities on its AI-Native Retention Platform
Postscript, a well-established customer retention platform for e-commerce brands, has expanded its offering by integrating email marketing capabilities into its existing SMS product. This strategic move aims to provide businesses with a more unified and powerful retention marketing solution. The new email add-on consolidates multiple customer data points, including email addresses, phone numbers, and Shopify records, into a single customer profile.
The platform now features four configurable attribution models to help businesses understand the effectiveness of their various marketing channels. It also includes migration tooling designed to seamlessly bring over existing email flows, segments, and templates from previous platforms. Postscript has also announced its "Agentic Context Platform," which leverages AI to analyze a shopper’s context at the precise moment a message is sent, ensuring that communications are timely, relevant, and personalized. By combining SMS and email marketing under one AI-driven umbrella, Postscript aims to empower brands to build deeper customer relationships and drive higher lifetime value through more cohesive and intelligent engagement strategies. This integration of communication channels is a growing trend, as brands seek to manage customer interactions more holistically.
Logistics Platform Locus Launches Delivery Promise Management
Locus, a logistics technology provider, has launched "Delivery Promise Management," a new capability designed to bridge the gap between the customer checkout experience and a merchant’s real-time logistics data. This feature aims to provide greater transparency and accuracy in delivery estimates, which are critical for customer satisfaction, especially during peak shopping seasons.
The Delivery Promise Management system meticulously checks every component of the backend delivery process. This includes the cutoff time at the origin warehouse, the handling at the delivery station, and the final route planning for the delivery vehicle to the customer’s door. By integrating these real-time logistics data points with the checkout process, Locus enables shoppers to see the factors that influence delivery timelines. This transparency helps set accurate expectations and builds trust between the consumer and the merchant. For merchants, this capability can help reduce customer service inquiries related to delivery status and improve overall operational efficiency by ensuring that delivery promises are realistic and achievable. As consumer expectations for fast and predictable delivery continue to rise, tools that offer enhanced visibility and accuracy in logistics management are becoming increasingly vital.
Spins Launches Agentic Discovery for CPG Brands to Thrive in AI-Powered Commerce
Spins, a leading provider of data, insights, and commerce tools for consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) brands, has introduced "Agentic Discovery." This new tool is designed to help CPG brands understand and optimize their product presence within the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-powered commerce. Agentic Discovery reveals how products are being featured in AI-generated recommendations, a crucial area for visibility and sales growth.
Powered by Spins’ extensive Product Knowledge Graph, the tool connects product attributes, retail performance data, and shopper intent. This comprehensive data integration allows brands to improve how AI systems understand and recommend their products. Agentic Discovery leverages a combination of AI auditing, revenue-based optimization, and knowledge graph integration to provide actionable insights. In an era where AI is increasingly influencing consumer purchasing decisions, understanding and influencing these AI-driven recommendations is paramount for CPG brands seeking to maintain and grow their market share. This launch positions Spins as a key partner for CPG companies navigating the complexities of AI-influenced retail environments.
ReturnPro Acquires iF Returns, Expanding Returns Management Capabilities and Global Reach
ReturnPro, a platform focused on returns management and recommerce, has announced the acquisition of iF Returns, an enterprise technology platform that serves over 200 brands across Europe. This strategic acquisition is expected to significantly enhance ReturnPro’s technological capabilities and expand its global footprint in the returns management sector.
ReturnPro plans to integrate iF Returns’ advanced front-end technology into its existing offerings, making these capabilities accessible to its current customer base, including sellers on marketplaces like Walmart. The recommerce market, which focuses on reselling and refurbishing returned items, is experiencing substantial growth as businesses and consumers increasingly prioritize sustainability and cost-effectiveness. By acquiring iF Returns, ReturnPro is positioning itself to offer a more comprehensive and sophisticated suite of solutions for managing product returns and facilitating recommerce activities. This expansion into the European market and the integration of new technologies are key steps in ReturnPro’s strategy to become a leader in the global returns management space.
AsiaPay Launches Voice Pay, Integrating AI with Digital Payments
AsiaPay, a digital payment and technology provider operating across Asia, has launched "Voice Pay," an innovative AI-powered payment experience. This new service allows consumers to use voice commands on their mobile devices to initiate payments using their preferred methods, ranging from digital wallets to credit cards.
The Voice Pay system connects the customer’s spoken instruction to their selected payment method. AsiaPay’s intelligent payment engine then manages the entire transaction process, including authentication, routing, fraud protection, and final processing. This integration of voice technology with payment systems represents a significant step towards more intuitive and accessible digital transactions. As consumers become more accustomed to interacting with technology through voice commands, the adoption of Voice Pay could streamline the payment process, making it faster and more convenient. This development highlights AsiaPay’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance the digital payment experience for both consumers and merchants in the Asian market.
