Ecommerce Product Releases: March 15, 2023

Here is a list of product releases and updates for mid-March from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on drop shipping, returns management, one-click insurance, upsell and cross-sell solutions, customer video chats, payment tools, and artificial intelligence tools.

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

Ecommerce Product Releases

ShipStation releases Dropship Manager. ShipStation, the ecommerce shipping platform, has released Dropship Manager to streamline and automate drop-ship order fulfillment. Key features include order routing, real-time order status updates between dropship managers and their vendors, and branded tracking and custom email domain capabilities to maintain high levels of customer communication with a seamless experience. Additionally, dropship managers can invite their vendors to the platform.

ShipStation

Loop launches returns benchmarking app. Loop, a return management platform, has released a free returns benchmarking app in the Shopify App Store. The app empowers merchants to unlock key return data and automatically compare it against similar brands in an easy-to-use dashboard, all to help improve post-purchase experiences. Once installed, the app automatically pulls merchants’ return data to compare to industry benchmarks, including refund rate, top refunded products, and time to repeat purchase.

Wix and Stripe bring Tap to Pay on iPhone to U.S. merchants. Wix, a platform to create, manage, and grow a website, has partnered with Stripe to bring Tap to Pay on iPhone to U.S.-based Wix merchants. Using the Wix Owner App and a compatible iPhone, merchants can accept and process contactless payments through Wix with only an iPhone from contactless credit or debit cards, Apple Pay, and other digital wallets.

AfterShip launches upsell and cross-sell tools to Shopify merchants. AfterShip, a customer experience platform for ecommerce, has announced the launch of upsell and cross-sell tools for Shopify storefronts. Powered by artificial intelligence, AfterShip Personalization provides offers on the product, cart, post-purchase, and checkout pages and is exclusively available for Shopify Plus merchants. The new product supports all Shopify themes, including customized versions.

Sure launches Retrace to embed one-click insurance offers. Sure, an insurance technology provider, has launched Retrace, enabling online merchants to offer customers one-click insurance and protection. Retrace by Sure includes a suite of APIs so that online merchants can embed insurance and protection for various use cases such as ecommerce returns, travel insurance, and product warranty protection at any point in the purchase flow.

Retrace

HubSpot introduces AI-powered productivity tools. HubSpot has launched two new AI tools — content assistant and ChatSpot.ai — to help its customers streamline connections with their contacts. Powered by OpenAI, content assistant and ChatSpot.ai helps marketing and sales teams create and share quality content in minutes by suggesting blog titles related to a product or service, then generating a complete blog post outline and body copy for that title as well as web pages, sales and marketing emails, and knowledge base articles.

F5 partners with Visa to reduce login friction. F5 has partnered with Visa to help merchants securely reduce customer login friction. F5 Distributed Cloud Authentication Intelligence uses artificial intelligence and behavior analytics to recognize returning customers, eliminating their need to log in with a user name and password. Merchants can also access fraud defenses and bot detection to protect the entire commerce journey instead of at checkout only.

Link-in-bio platform Koji launches new ebook app. Koji, a link-in-bio platform and an app store for social media, has launched an updated ebook and audiobook capability to make it easier to sell and share any ebook, PDF, or audiobook from directly inside a link-in-bio. Customers can view or download their purchase instantly, and the app’s built-in reader and player allows ebooks and audiobooks to be read or listened to interchangeably.

Kount announces new identity and payments platform. Kount, the Equifax-owned fraud prevention platform, has launched Kount 360, a new identity and payments tool integrating the entire suite of Kount products within a single platform, removing the need to manage multiple interfaces. Kount 360 offers end-to-end protection of the digital consumer journey by providing better access to first-party device information, email insights, payment history, and more.

Kount 360

Voc.ai launches Amazon toolkit powered by ChatGPT. Voc.ai, an AI SaaS company, has announced the launch of its first Amazon toolkit, powered by ChatGPT. The new product is designed to help sellers optimize their marketing campaigns by using natural language processing and machine learning to identify the right keywords, optimize product descriptions, and craft compelling marketing messages that resonate with their audience. Voc.ai’s Amazon toolkit is now available for sellers on Chrome web stores by searching “ChatGPT for Amazon.”

Flippa launches AI tool connecting business owners to prospective acquirers. Flippa, a global marketplace to buy and sell online businesses, is launching an AI-powered recommendation engine for matching buyers and sellers. The new Flippa recommender engine helps business owners find prospective acquirers and matches buyers with suitable listings based on the buyer’s actions and behavior within the Flippa marketplace. Buyers can click “Invite to Deal” to be notified of a relevant deal, matched algorithmically by the Flippa platform.

Vee24 introduces iOS app for one-to-one video chats. Vee24, a facilitator of person-to-person digital experiences, has launched a mobile app. Vee24’s digital platform is powered by high-definition video chat, text chat, AI-enabled chatbots, co-browsing, screen sharing, online appointment setting, and more. The new VeeStudio for Mobile app, available for iOS devices, is a lightweight yet powerful version of their desktop video chat application.

BigCommerce launches BOPIS feature. BigCommerce has launched a BOPIS feature — buy online pick-up in-store — giving merchants more options to provide click-and-collect shopping. BigCommerce’s BOPIS offering includes new and updated APIs to create custom experiences. BOPIS is now available as a multi-location inventory functionality to enterprise merchants.