Our rundown this week of new products and services for ecommerce merchants includes updates on agentic commerce, product reviews, A\/B testing, post-purchase experiences, cryptocurrency payments, fulfillment, analytics, personalization, and packaging.<\/p>\n
Got an ecommerce product release? Email updates@practicalecommerce.com.<\/em><\/p>\n Google launches an open standard for agentic commerce.<\/strong><\/a> Google<\/a> is launching the Universal Commerce Protocol<\/a>, an open standard for agentic commerce<\/a>, establishing a common language for agents and systems to operate together across consumer surfaces, businesses, and payment providers. UCP is compatible with existing industry protocols, such as Agent2Agent<\/a>, Agent Payments Protocol<\/a>, and Model Context Protocol<\/a>. Google co-developed UCP with industry leaders, including Shopify, Etsy, and Walmart. More than 20 others across the payment ecosystem have endorsed UCP, including Adyen, Flipkart, Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe.<\/p>\n Universal Commerce Protocol<\/p>\n<\/div>\n PayPal powers Microsoft\u2019s launch of Copilot Checkout.<\/strong><\/a> PayPal<\/a> is partnering with Microsoft<\/a> in support of Checkout, enabling shoppers to discover, decide, and pay without leaving the Copilot<\/a> experience. PayPal will surface merchant inventory, branded checkout, guest checkout, and credit card payments, starting with Copilot.com. Copilot uses AI to bring context and intent into the shopping journey<\/a>. Users can now browse curated, shoppable results and complete their purchase with PayPal.<\/p>\n Amazon to limit reviews across product variations.<\/strong><\/a> Amazon<\/a> is changing how reviews are shared across products. Amazon has heretofore shared reviews<\/a> across all variations of a product, even when they differ significantly. Now, to improve accuracy and help shoppers make more informed purchasing decisions, Amazon will share only reviews between variations with minor differences that don\u2019t affect functionality.<\/p>\n Kibo Commerce announces Connect Hub and MCP.<\/strong><\/a> Kibo Commerce<\/a>, a platform for composable commerce<\/a>, has launched two product offerings. The new Connect Hub helps scale pre-built integrations to platforms across various product categories, including ecommerce and marketplaces. Merchants gain access to a network of 3,300 trading partners and hundreds of payment and shipping adapters. The new Kibo MCP integrates enterprise commerce logic and generative AI tools.<\/p>\n Fluent Commerce launches order sourcing logic with A\/B testing.<\/strong><\/a> Fluent Commerce<\/a>, an order management system, has announced the launch of AI-powered order sourcing logic with A\/B testing. Users can compare the outcomes of two sets of order sourcing logic run in parallel to see the impact on net margin, fulfillment and delivery<\/a> costs, split shipment rate, order-to-door time, and average delivery distance, and to calculate carbon impact<\/a>. The capability enables retailers to continuously learn from their fulfillment network, according to Fluent Commerce.<\/p>\n Fluent Commerce<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Route acquires Frate Returns for ecommerce post-purchase experiences.<\/strong><\/a> Route<\/a>, a post-purchase platform for ecommerce brands, has acquired Frate Returns<\/a>, a returns-and-exchanges platform. By integrating Frate\u2019s returns-and-exchanges<\/a> software, Route now offers merchants a single integrated platform to manage the customer journey after checkout. According to Route, Frate\u2019s capabilities (exchange-first optimization, AI image verification, and flexible shipping, refund, and payment options) allow brands to reduce refund rates and operational costs while retaining revenue and increasing loyalty.<\/p>\n Crypto.com partners with Stripe.<\/strong><\/a> Crypto.com<\/a>, a global cryptocurrency platform, is partnering with Stripe<\/a> to expand payment options. The collaboration will allow Crypto.com users to pay for everyday goods and services using their crypto balances<\/a> at Stripe-powered merchants across the U.S. The integration will appear as a new payment option on the checkout pages of participating merchants that use Stripe\u2019s Optimized Checkout Suite.<\/p>\n UCanPack launches tall ecommerce boxes.<\/a><\/strong> UCanPack<\/a>, a provider of packaging and shipping supplies, has introduced a line of engineered tall boxes for ecommerce merchants. According to UCanPack, the line features impact resistance and crush protection and is right-sized for elongated<\/a> and narrow goods, such as lamps, tripods, sports gear, decor, and rolled materials. UCanPack aims to help brands reduce transit damage and streamline pack bench workflows.<\/p>\n Shoplazza launches fulfillment option.<\/strong><\/a> Shoplazza<\/a>, a global commerce platform serving direct-to-consumer brands, has launched Fulfillment by Shoplazza to help merchants navigate global logistics. Shoplazza says its new fulfillment service integrates global warehousing, last-mile delivery, financial automation, and real-time risk controls to provide merchants with a predictable and scalable logistics engine. Key capabilities include zero-prepayment logistics, revenue-aligned billing, embedded financial tools, global and localized fulfillment options<\/a>, and a compliant logistics network, per Shoplazza.<\/p>\n Shoplazza<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Stackline unveils analytics for AI-powered commerce platforms.<\/strong><\/a> Stackline<\/a>, a provider of retail analytics and connected commerce, has launched AI Visibility, offering insights into how shoppers discover and interact with products via conversational and agentic shopping<\/a> platforms. According to Stackline, participating merchants can (i) measure the volume of real shopping questions across leading AI platforms, (ii) bring results from ChatGPT, Amazon Rufus, and more into a unified analytical environment, (iii) view detailed product competitive insights, and (iv) analyze which products frequently appear in recommendations together.<\/p>\n Blue Yonder launches AI-related updates to its planning platform.<\/strong><\/a> Blue Yonder<\/a>, a supply chain platform, has released AI updates aimed at increasing agility and optimizing customer experiences. The updates, per Blue Yonder, strengthen its supply chain network<\/a> of 172,000 global trading partners, improving efficiency and responsiveness.<\/p>\n Lightspeed Commerce launches AI assistants.<\/strong><\/a> Lightspeed Commerce<\/a>, an omnichannel platform powering businesses in over 100 countries, has launched Lightspeed AI for agent-driven workflows, including conversational assistants<\/a> for retail and restaurants. The assistants help merchants ask questions, get answers quickly, and make smarter decisions without navigating dashboards or reports.<\/p>\n Bloomreach\u2019s AI-powered search now available on AWS Marketplace.<\/strong><\/a> Bloomreach<\/a>, an ecommerce personalization provider, announced its AI-powered search tool is now available on Amazon Web Services Marketplace<\/a>. Loomi AI, Bloomreach\u2019s intelligence platform<\/a>, brings personalization across email, SMS, web, app, search, and more. Via the AWS Marketplace, businesses can now discover and deploy Loomi AI-powered tools to capture first-party customer and product data and add context and decision-making in customer journeys, per Bloomreach.<\/p>\nNew Tools for Merchants<\/h3>\n
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