New Ecommerce Tools: April 15, 2024

Every week we publish a rundown of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce and omnichannel merchants. This installment includes updates on curated content, shoppable video, AI-powered search, composable commerce, payments, subscription plans, and paywalls.

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

New Tools for Merchants: April 15

Squarespace adds subscription features to earn recurring revenue. To help entrepreneurs monetize content, Squarespace has launched subscription features. Users can turn articles into a passive income stream by adding a paywall to their blog, setting the price, and choosing a one-time fee or recurring subscription. Video creators can monetize content by charging for access to their library or placing a paywall directly on a video player. Entrepreneurs can sell individual pieces of content or bundle various content types.

Squarespace

YouTube launches new shopping tools for creators. YouTube has introduced features that allow creators to curate shoppable collections, produce shoppable videos, monetize videos, and more. Shopping Collections is a new way for creators to curate products. All shopping creators can now tag products across videos in bulk. YouTube is also launching an Affiliate Hub directly in the app so creators can find the latest list of Shopping partners, commission rates, promo codes, and even request samples.

Cognizant partners with Shopify and Google Cloud on enterprise retail. Cognizant has partnered with Shopify and Google Cloud for global retailers and brands. The partnership combines Shopify’s commerce platform, Google Cloud’s core infrastructure, and Cognizant’s retail industry advisory and technology implementation specialists. By utilizing Shopify’s commerce operating system, built on Google Cloud, along with the suite of Google Cloud offerings, brands will have the technology needed for Cognizant to execute digital transformation through various retail scenarios.

Bloomreach enhances its partnership with Google Cloud on AI-powered search and marketing. Bloomreach, a platform for ecommerce personalization, has expanded its partnership with Google Cloud to enhance Bloomreach Discovery. Customers will benefit from the combination of Google Cloud’s advanced generative AI innovation and Bloomreach’s proprietary AI — Loomi — as well as its commerce data set and revenue-generating platform capabilities. Google Cloud will amplify the strength of Bloomreach engines, including enhanced recall, ranking, automated merchandising, personalization, and cross-channel conversational commerce.

Bloomreach

eBay introduces generative AI-powered “shop the look” feature. eBay has launched a shop-the-look functionality, which provides an immersive carousel of looks tailored to customers’ shopping history, complete with interactive hotspots that reveal similar items and outfit inspirations. Shop the look evolves with customers’ tastes by taking cues from their shopping habits. The feature is now available in iOS for U.S. and U.K. customers, with Android coming later this year.

Amazon updates its Add Products tool to search for products and add offers in bulk. Amazon has updated its Add Products listing tool to help users search in bulk for items already listed for sale in Amazon’s store and add up to 500 offers. Search for up to 20 products and add information, such as price and quantity, to submit your offers in one go in Seller Central. Search for up to 500 products and generate a pre-filled Excel template. Use a spreadsheet to list offers quickly using bulk uploads.

Shein will host a webinar for U.S. merchants interested in selling on its marketplace. Asia-based Shein is hosting a live webinar for U.S. sellers interested in selling on its marketplace, which opened to third-party sellers last year. The webinar will take place on April 25, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. PST, with an overview of how to sell on the Shein marketplace, including fees, product categories, and seller requirements. According to StoreAutomator, Shein is looking for U.S.-based merchants with at least $2 million in annual revenue that ship directly to customers from the U.S.

Shein Marketplace Webinar

LTImindtree introduces a composable storefront on Salesforce. LTImindtree, a global technology and consulting company, has released Composable Storefront Quick Launch to provide retailers with ecommerce components that suit their demands. The feature is built on Salesforce Commerce Cloud. LTImindtree’s composable storefront allows retailers to create customized shopping experiences to increase business growth with over 20 user-interface enhancements and features, including Salesforce Einstein, personalization, campaign management, and Wishlist.

U.K.-based Mimo raises £15.5 million to simplify B2B payments. Mimo, a U.K.-based payments platform, has secured a £15.5 million investment led by Northzone to launch a platform that simplifies B2B payments. Mimo offers one tool to manage money, analytics, and insights to get a better overview of your business. Mimo will deploy the funding to build its B2B payments functionality for SMBs and expand its headcount.

Mexico-based BNPL provider Kueski unveils in-store mobile payments. Kueski, a buy-now pay-later and online consumer lender in Latin America, has launched an in-store version of Kueski Pay. Customers can now complete transactions in physical stores through the Kueski mobile app, regardless of internet connection. Kueski announced earlier this year that it is now available on Amazon Mexico and is a payment option for some of the world’s largest brands, including Estée Lauder, MAC, Clinique, and Adidas.

Ecommerce developer Spresso secures Series A funding managed by BlackRock. Spresso, a provider of AI-powered applications for ecommerce businesses, has announced an initial Series A investment from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. According to Spresso, the investment will help accelerate the company’s global expansion, providing businesses with a suite of data-driven tools, including pricing intelligence from AI-driven algorithms to analyze customer and market behavior, an ecommerce platform to build and manage online stores and spend management analytics.