eBay includes Venmo as a payment option. eBay is expanding its checkout by adding Venmo, the popular payment platform among Gen Z and millennials, with more than 90 million users. Buyers can pay for purchases with their Venmo balance or bank account, debit card, or credit card linked to their Venmo account. Sellers need only to offer Venmo as a payment method. The addition of Venmo continues eBay’s push toward tapping into a younger demographic.

Fast Simon launches Personalization AI Embeddings. Fast Simon, a provider of AI-powered shopping optimization, has launched Personalization AI Embeddings, creating vectors that feed Fast Simon’s AI model. According to the company, Personalization AI Embeddings leverage complex logic and multiple AI inputs, including color, category, image matching, text descriptions, customer activity, and location. Personalization AI Embeddings can improve search results, optimize collection assortment, and suggest product categories for the shopper.

Sendbird provides AI chatbot for Shopify merchants. Sendbird, a communications API platform, has announced an AI chatbot for Shopify. Powered by OpenAI’s latest large language model GPT-4o, Sendbird’s no-code AI chatbot connects to merchant store data via Shopify’s APIs. The connection allows it to answer frequently asked questions, make product recommendations, and provide support contact information, boosting customer satisfaction and transactions. Merchants can customize and test their AI chatbot before deploying it on their Shopify store.

Sendbird

Pinterest partners with Vtex to help brands leverage social commerce. Pinterest has partnered with Vtex, a composable commerce platform. The collaboration is designed to help large brands expand their social commerce footprint and connect with regional customers. Vtex’s platform lets its 2,600 global brands reach and engage on Pinterest, where customers can integrate their product catalogs, create pins, and run performance shopping campaigns.

Costco launches beta version of its retail media network. Costco will launch its own retail media network, currently in beta testing. The network will leverage data from the retailer’s 74.5 million members, including their purchase history. Costco can map individual purchases to shoppers’ households in-store and online. Ads will be served both on- and off-network.

Contentsquare announces an AI-embedded Experience Intelligence platform. Contentsquare, a digital experience platform, has announced its new Experience Intelligence platform, connecting four analytics features: Digital Experience Analytics, Digital Experience Monitoring, Product Analytics, and Voice of Customer. Additionally, Contentsquare has integrated AI-powered insights across its platform to streamline analysis.

Contentsquare

Trustly launches AI-powered recurring payments. Trustly, an open banking account-to-account payment platform, has unveiled an AI-powered recurring payments feature to help merchants handle repeat transactions through a single integration. The technology enables businesses to accept recurring transactions directly from customers’ bank accounts. It expands upon the capabilities of Trustly Azura, the company’s proprietary data engine. Trustly Recurring Payments is a pan-European solution available through a single API from one platform.

Google’s Search Console provides ecommerce data on product listings. Google has introduced a feature in Search Console that allows merchants to track their Image Search product listings. The new data is accessible through the Performance report under the Google Search Image tab, and includes impressions, clicks, and other key metrics related to product showcases. The new Search Console data provides businesses with a more comprehensive view of their product visibility.

FreedomPay launches independent payment processing referral advisory for merchants. FreedomPay, a payment solution provider for commerce, has launched Merchant Centric Acquiring, an independent advisory service available to merchants in the U.S. and Canada to deliver a more equitable payment system for their businesses. Merchant Centric Acquiring allows merchants to partner with FreedomPay to explore a range of pre-qualified processing providers.

Helio upgrades Solana Pay plugin for Shopify, enabling crypto payments. Helio, a crypto payments provider, has upgraded its Solana Pay plugin for Shopify. The plugin provides multi-token payments, allowing buyers to make purchases in Solana or other cryptocurrencies with automatic swaps to stablecoins, meaning merchants always receive USDC (a crypto) or another currency of their choice. Solana Pay enables Shopify merchants to tap active communities by allowing buyers to spend meme coins in their online stores.

Helio