Archive
Tag: Shopping
Visa Wants to Be the Payment Rail for the Agentic Economy
Visa is looking to position itself as the payments backbone for agentic commerce. On Wednesday, the global payments network debuted Intelligent Commerce Connect (ICC), a platform designed to help AI agents discover merchants and complete purchases on behalf of users. Notably, despite it coming from Visa, it works across any card network or credential infrastructure […]
Shopify and Google Develop New Open Protocol That Could Make AI Shopping Ubiquitous
Shopify and Google are betting on agentic commerce, and to make it work, the two have jointly developed a new protocol that lets AI agents discover products, browse options, and complete purchases on a user’s behalf—all from a chat. The new Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open-source standard that permits agents to connect with […]
How Shopify Is Turning AI Into a Strategic Advantage for Merchants
Shopify’s Winter 2026 release is here with over 150 new features for merchants, but the centerpiece is a sweeping suite of AI tools designed to do more than automate tasks. From a rebuilt Sidekick AI to agentic storefronts that help sellers control how their brand appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot, Shopify is betting […]
Cash App and Square Unite to Support Local Merchants with ‘Neighborhoods’
Block is bringing together two of its core products to help local businesses serve their customers. On Wednesday, the fintech company unveiled “Neighborhoods” by Cash App, a new feature designed to help merchants compete more easily with national chains by removing this digital point of friction. It’s more than an app update—this offering creates a […]
Ralph Lauren Brings a Digital Stylist to Life with Ask Ralph AI Shopping Assistant
Fashion and lifestyle brand powerhouse Ralph Lauren has launched an AI agent that provides styling inspiration and outfit recommendations to consumer shoppers. Ask Ralph, as it’s called, is a conversational bot that utilizes natural language processing to comprehend prompts, interpret context, and provide suggestions to users, much like a human stylist would. The agent is […]
Adobe: Generative AI Reshaping Consumer Behavior, Driving Massive Traffic Shifts in Online Shopping, Travel, and Finance
Generative AI is transforming consumers’ shopping, travel, and financial patterns. New data from Adobe reveals the impact chatbots have on online purchase behavior. The company found that between November 1 and December 31, 2024, Gen AI sources sent a 1,300 percent increase in traffic to U.S. retailers. And, when observed over seven months, Adobe discovered […]
Google Challenges Amazon’s Product Search Dominance With New Shopping Graph
Amid all the flurry of news Google announced at its 2021 I/O developer conference, one thing stood out to me: the launch of the Shopping Graph. The announcement may not be as glamorous as, say, Android 12, but its importance isn’t to be ignored. While Google is putting forth the full power of its search […]