Retailers and brands need to have a comments strategy for social media. TikTok Shops says that comments drive the majority of first purchases. https://t.co/MJHXaqpJ6C
The Q1 2026 Salesforce Shopping Index is live. Global GMV grew +4.3%, while orders were up just +1%.
Average selling price (ASP) rose +3.8%, while units per transaction held steady. Growth was mostly driven by price increases.
The top performing verticals had strong order and price growth except for luxury apparel and accessories:
🔹 Health & Beauty: +9% GMV | +8% orders | +4% ASP
🔹 Other Home: +9% GMV | +9% orders | +3% ASP
🔹 Furniture: +9% GMV | +6% orders | +3% ASP
🔹 Make up: +7% GMV | +10% orders | +9% ASP
🔹 Luxury Apparel & Accessories: +7% GMV | -3% orders | +6% ASP
Notably, Make up and Luxury Apparel & Accessories are comping against 3% declines in Q1 2025.
1/ Personalization might be the real AI battleground
It’s becoming one of the strongest moats for generative AI assistants. Personalization reduces friction. You don’t need perfectly crafted prompts to get what you want. It also creates continuity across interactions and devices. Most importantly, it provides the best recommendations to the user.
4 / Meta’s Muse Spark model (launched April 2026) now powers Meta AI. Notably, in its Shopping Mode, Muse Spark will pull content from the creators and communities that the user engages in.
Retailers need to adopt AI agents to future proof their business. This guide delivers a step-by-step process on where retailers need to deploy AI agents.
Read it to learn how to:
🤖 Deliver faster, more personalized customer engagement at scale
🛍️ Optimize merchandising and inventory decisions with real-time insights
💬 Increase service efficiency with agents that resolve issues quickly and accurately
https://t.co/ojI4nVTiBE
This is a fascinating move by FENTY. As of 2024, WhatsApp had 100 million monthly users and ranked 6th in app screen time for Gen Z in the US.
Will Americans embrace this new functionality?
Scoop: @amazon is preparing to scale ads inside its Rufus-- its shopping assistant, per a leaked pitch deck. The documents detail how brands will be charged (CPC) and how performance will be measured as the product moves beyond beta.
https://t.co/RFFHtX1Ae0
Walmart’s Sparky is coming to ChatGPT next week! Daniel Danker, Walmart’s EVP of AI Acceleration, Product & Design, told Wired how Walmart and OpenAI are evolving checkout inside ChatGPT.