Today’s specials include:

Amazon treads lightly amid antitrust scrutiny, clicks beat out bricks, and big things are happening at Klaviyo.

Delve into these and other stories in the ECF  News Cart for April 10th, 2019. You can also listen to this week’s news roundup on the podcast via iTunesStitcher or the ECF Blog.

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In the News:

Amazon Quietly Scales Back Promos for Private Brands

  • Amazon removed or relocated its most highly visible banners promoting private-label brands
  • Ads were formerly placed atop search results or next to the buy box of a competitor’s product page
  • Seen as a response to calls for antitrust scrutiny of tech giants

Before Shopify Breakup, Mailchimp Quietly ‘Acqui-Hired’ LemonStand

  • Mailchimp confirms it “acqui-hired” the LemonStand team in late February
  • Team is reportedly helping Mailchimp build out its “e-commerce light functionality”
  • Mailchimp says the move is unrelated to its rift with Shopify
  • LemonStand to shut down June 5

Klaviyo Raises $150M in Funding

  • Klaviyo hopes to expand its “owned-marketing” segment
  • Owned marketing is when businesses’ marketing tools don’t rely on other ad networks and marketplaces
  • Customers can expect more features and new products, though details remain vague

Online Sales Beat Brick-and-Mortar for First Time

  • Online (“nonstore”) sales made up 11.8% of total sales in February, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest estimates
  • Brick-and-mortar sales in the general-merchandise category were 11.807% of total sales
  • General-merchandise stores include department stores, warehouse clubs and supercenters
  • Nonstore purchases have risen steadily since the 1990s, while general-merchandise sales have fallen since peaking around 2009

Adobe Launches Commerce Cloud, Built on Magento Acquisition

  • Commerce Cloud is a fully managed, cloud-based version of the Magento platform
  • Adds e-commerce-friendly features, such as dashboards and Amazon integration
  • All usual Magento extensions will work on Adobe Commerce Cloud

Walmart Lets Customers Use Google Assistant to Voice-Order Groceries

  • Walmart Voice Order works with various Android and iOS devices, Google Home and more
  • Walmart is playing catchup to Amazon’s Alexa
  • Voice Order is in limited beta; Walmart will expand the rollout over the next few weeks

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Andrew Youderian
Post by Andrew Youderian
Andrew is the founder of eCommerceFuel and has been building eCommerce businesses ever since gleefully leaving the corporate world in 2008.  Join him and 1,000+ vetted 7- and 8-figure store owners inside the eCommerceFuel Community.

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