Online shopping stories - Page 2

PayPal-owned Honey is dropped by Rakuten's ad network, cutting it off from 2,000 merchants amid claims of affiliate fraud and link theft.

Microsoft again tops global phishing brand list as attackers increasingly mimic big tech services to steal cloud and consumer credentials.

Akeneo launches an AI‑driven Winter Release to power “agentic commerce”, speeding product data from enrichment to activation for AI buyers.

Chargebacks surge after record online holiday sales, with USD $181 billion in returns putting retailers' first-quarter profits at risk.

Google launches a Universal Commerce Protocol and Business Agent tools as it bets on AI agents to drive the next era of online shopping.

Ant backs Google's new Universal Commerce Protocol to standardise how AI agents handle shopping, payments and post-purchase support.

Yext predicts AI will overhaul online discovery by 2026, as trust in AI search grows and brands race to be chosen by algorithms.

AI agents will reshape how shoppers discover brands, forcing retailers to rethink visibility as SaaS vendors and ad budgets come under strain.

Adobe says generative AI referrals to retailers jumped nearly 700% over the 2025 holidays, driving longer visits and stronger conversions.

Salesforce launches Agentforce 360 retail tools to unify AI across marketing, eCommerce and service, promising smoother shopper journeys.

Talkdesk unveils Commerce Orchestration and Consumer Goods Experience Cloud to coordinate AI-driven retail journeys end to end.

Criteo says agentic AI will add a powerful new eCommerce layer, reshaping search, retail assistants and LLM ad models without replacing shops.

Black Friday still delivered the peak online surge, but AI-driven search stretched shopping demand across a longer November window.

Retailers urged to brace for early-year spike in chargebacks as mobile shopping and buy now, pay later fuel record US holiday spend.

Forter launches Prism AI copilot and fresh benchmarks as agentic activity soars 2,107% and automated fraud attempts jump 202%.

Value for money drives online customer sentiment three times more than price, delivery speed or product quality, a study of reviews finds.

Black Friday splurge triggers record December returns surge as ReBound warns rapid send-backs are straining retailers' peak operations.

Perforce CTO Rod Cope predicts context and agentic AI will transform coding, jobs and security as ambient systems quietly permeate daily life.

Bad data is quietly wrecking Asia's eCommerce, fuelling failed deliveries, higher costs and eroding customer trust from click to doorstep.

Social media fuelled a Black Friday boom in the UK, as Rithum data showed global social sales soaring 152% and online spend up 27%.