Ecommerce Product Releases: Oct. 23, 2023

Here is a list of new product releases and updates from companies offering services to ecommerce and omnichannel merchants. There are updates on drone deliveries, generative AI, tracking, verified reviews, social media ads, shoppable videos, and livestream shopping.

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

Product Releases: October 23

Live commerce platform TalkShopLive releases HD studio app. TalkShopLive, a live commerce platform, has launched Studio, a broadcast-quality mobile app allowing creators, entrepreneurs, retailers, and brands to host live shopping shows from their mobile devices in high-definition. The app manages up to four participants simultaneously during a live show. Sellers can highlight products within the live shows, mirroring the desktop platform technology.

TalkShopLive

Amazon introduces Consult-a-Friend. Amazon has launched Consult-a-Friend, a mobile social shopping experience that lets you request, view, and manage your friends’ feedback on products within the Amazon shopping app. Select a product you’d like to engage a friend on, tap the “Share” button, and select your preferred messaging app and designated recipients. Once friends reply, you can view their collective sentiment and scroll to see all commentary.

Square releases new generative AI features. Square has announced 10 new generative AI features that sellers can use to automate operations. Among the new features, merchants can now add hyperreal AI-generated backgrounds and choose from 50 style prompts with the latest version of the Photo Studio app. Also, Square Marketing offers integrated AI to generate personalized email copy, and Square Online’s AI-assisted copy generator helps sellers with short- or long-form website content.

Shopify releases Mobile Checkout SDKs for iOS and Android. Shopify’s Mobile Checkout SDKs enable app developers to deliver customizable checkout experiences. According to Shopify, the SDKs provide a fully-featured checkout that preserves a merchant’s customizations and business logic, including the rules and user-interface extensions encoded in the presentation layer. Shopify has launched the developer preview of the checkout SDK for iOS, with an Android SDK coming soon.

Shopify Mobile Checkout

Snap introduces ad tools to help advertisers connect with creators. Snap has introduced Creator Collab Campaigns, a suite of products for advertisers to partner with the creator community on Snapchat. The Creator Discovery API enables partners to plug into the creator roster for details such as name, username, bio, follower count, and age. Advertisers can place branded content within creator-driven Stories, and public creators can now tag their branded content with the Paid Partnership tag.

Marketplaces partner on Coalition for Trusted Reviews. Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor, and Trustpilot have teamed up to launch the Coalition for Trusted Reviews, a collaboration to protect access to trustworthy consumer reviews. The group has agreed to engage in several key areas to protect consumers and partners from fraudulent content. Members will define practices for hosting online reviews and sharing methods of fake review detection.

BNPL-provider Klarna expands marketing solutions through partnership with Rokt. Rokt, a provider of post-purchase ecommerce tools, has partnered with Klarna, a buy-now, pay-later service. According to Rokt, the Klarna partnership allows brands to target consumer segments by demographic and location, ensuring ads are relevant and compelling to the shopper. This new offering also enables Klarna shoppers to access offers from brands such as Hulu, HelloFresh, and Adore Me.

Amazon is launching drone deliveries in Italy, the U.K., and new U.S. locations. Amazon’s Prime Air drone delivery system will expand to Italy, the U.K., and the U.S. by late 2024. Amazon says it will name the specific cities in the coming months. Drones will be integrated into Amazon’s delivery network and deployed from some same-day delivery sites. In Italy and the U.K., Amazon will integrate into some of its fulfillment centers.

Amazon Prime Air – MK30 drone

Etsy Payments expands to seven new countries. Etsy Payments has announced a multimarket expansion to sellers in seven new countries: Ukraine, Thailand, India, Japan, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. Sellers enrolled in Etsy Payments can access benefits such as purchase protection, dedicated support, and centralized financial info. Etsy Payments is being rolled out now for sellers in Ukraine and Thailand, with India, Japan, Argentina, Chile, and Peru coming by the end of 2023.

PayPal’s app adds tracking feature. PayPal has launched a free package tracking feature on its app. PayPal’s app sends live push notifications when a delivery status changes and if there’s been an update to the order. There’s also a visual tracking capability to follow packages on a live map. The feature also works on purchases where PayPal wasn’t used for checkout.

YouTube to help creators with shoppable videos. YouTube has introduced features allowing users to add timestamps to videos for tagged products and to tag affiliate products in bulk across a video library. With the timestamps feature, creators can make the shopping button appear at the relevant points in their video. The feature is available only on long-form content, and the video must be at least one minute with a maximum of 30 seconds between timestamps.

Nosto and Shopware announce partnership. Nosto, a commerce experience platform, and Shopware, an omnichannel commerce platform, have announced a partnership for ecommerce brands. According to Nosto, the partnership will give ecommerce brands built on Shopware access to AI-powered personalization and merchandising tools to build relevant online shopping experiences. Core features include dashboard and analytics, segmentation and insights, catalog explorer, and A/B testing and optimization.