$41K from one AI tweak (Shopify)

Sorry, I’m two days late this week. Board meeting and some big 2026 decisions for our e-commerce business kept me busy. Anyway, here’s this week’s AI for eCommerce newsletter: Shopify merchants can now sell directly inside ChatGPT, no website visit required. One store's conversational AI scaled from $6K to $41K monthly in upsells. And 91% of banks just abandoned voice verification after fraud losses hit $410M. Conversational commerce became infrastructure this month.

Buy with AI: 700M users, zero clicks

ChatGPT launched checkout for Etsy, and over 1M Shopify stores are next. Meanwhile, PayPal's Honey is intercepting every AI shopping query to show you better deals, and 91% of SMBs using AI just reported revenue growth. The race for AI commerce just went from theory to your checkout page.

Amazon's camera shops while you point

Amazon launched Lens Live, their camera now shops in real-time as you point it at products. Meanwhile, Quack raised $7M to build AI that solves customer problems before they become tickets, and new Salesforce data shows 91% of SMBs using AI report revenue growth.

AI bots driving 47% faster checkouts

Etsy just gave every seller AI to rewrite titles. Chatbots are now driving 25% higher repeat spending. And 91% of SMBs using AI report revenue growth. Even Mastercard is building payment rails for robot shoppers. Here's what matters this week.

AI retention flow = $15.2K in one quarter

Aveda quietly deployed a booking chatbot that exploded weekly reservations by 767% in seven weeks. Not 7%. Not 70%. Seven. Hundred. Sixty. Seven. Percent. Meanwhile, 34% of shoppers still won't let AI assistants make purchases because most operators build terrible bots that feel like talking to a broken vending machine.The question isn't whether AI works. It's whether you're solving real problems or just adding more digital noise.

Google's secret 'Nano Banana' AI cuts product photo costs 90% while container rates crash 60%

LSKD's AI catches $100K affiliate fraud while MetaFyAI's models cut listing time 85%

Some food for thought: LSKD's AI agents automatically detected $100K in affiliate fraud while MetaFyAI's ecommerce-trained models are cutting product listing time by 85% for scaling brands. Meanwhile, AI-powered virtual try-on is reducing apparel returns and automated fraud prevention is catching threats humans miss. The question is: Are you using AI tactically for individual tasks or strategically across your entire operation?

Amazon's $400M AI bet vs Shopify's surprise move + why 67% still use spreadsheets

While Amazon drops $400M on AI warehouse automation, Shopify operators are discovering their biggest advantage isn't technology—it's speed to market. Most eCommerce operators still manage inventory in spreadsheets while AI tools promise 25-40% cost reductions. The question is: which operational upgrades actually move the needle?

AI kills manual customer service: Gorgias automates 60% of inquiries while Shopify forces AI checkout migration

Gorgias AI Agent 2.0 just launched, automating 60% of customer inquiries while driving 2.5x higher conversions through AI-powered upsells. Meanwhile, Shopify's forcing operators to abandon checkout.liquid for AI-driven extensibility, and TikTok replaced their Creator Fund with AI that pays creators 20x more for algorithmic content optimization.

How $8M beauty brand cut customer service costs 61% with AI

Three eCommerce operators this week shared how they're using AI to handle 80%+ of customer inquiries automatically.

AI Pricing: The $67K Decision Every eCommerce Operator Faces"

500 % Fulfillment Leap & TikTok Boom