Good afternoon,

Here’s the headlines for this week: 4 April 2025

ECOMMERCE

FedEx renews Sunday home delivery push to meet demand

• FedEx has expanded Sunday home delivery to cover nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population, up from 50%, to meet customer demand.
• The company has secured additional volume commitments from customers, helping to utilize existing resources without adding new capacity.
• The expansion is expected to be profitable by Q1 of fiscal year 2026, offering a competitive edge over UPS, which does not provide Sunday delivery.

TECH

TikTok Shop steps up Europe expansion with US future unclear

• TikTok Shop is expanding into France, Germany, and Italy, aiming to grow faster in Europe than its previous UK launch.
• The platform is diversifying its product range, including collaborations with Carrefour, AboutYou, and Cosnova, and plans to include high-end items like second-hand luxury goods.
• TikTok's future in the US remains uncertain due to concerns over its Chinese ownership, with ByteDance needing to find an American buyer.

OpenAI’s new image generator is now available to all users

• OpenAI's image generation tool, powered by GPT-4o, is now available to all users, including those on the free tier, with a limit of three images per day.
• The feature gained rapid popularity, even facing GPU strain, and has sparked debates over copyright issues, such as generating Studio Ghibli-style images.
• OpenAI also announced raising $40 billion in funding and achieving 500 million weekly active users.

Meta moves into controversial ad space: principal-based trading

• Meta is exploring principal-based media buying, allowing agencies to buy inventory in bulk and resell it at a markup, targeting large agency holding companies.
• While this strategy helps Meta secure revenue and ensure ad spending stays within its ecosystem, critics argue it leads to transparency issues and inflated costs for advertisers.
• The move is seen as a response to potential economic downturns, with principal-based deals offering higher margins for agencies and more control over the ad space.

RETAILERS

Amazon is making Prime Day a four-day event in 2025

• Amazon is extending Prime Day to four days in 2025, marking the longest Prime Day in history to compete with crowded summer sales events from rivals like Walmart and Target.
• The move follows record-breaking sales during the 2024 Prime Day, with expectations that a longer event will attract more shoppers and offer more time for deals.
• Sellers will offer exclusive promotions, including Lightning Deals and Prime Member Coupons, with the chance for deeper discounts to receive more visibility.

QVC to stream on TikTok 24/7

• QVC Group has signed an agreement to stream live, shoppable content 24/7 on TikTok Shop, featuring original content from QVC and HSN.
• The partnership allows for collaboration with TikTok creators and provides an interactive shopping experience, targeting younger audiences.
• This move is part of QVC's broader turnaround strategy, as it seeks to revitalize its brand amid financial struggles and operational restructuring.

Target suffers eighth week of foot-traffic losses since caving on DEI

• Target has faced eight consecutive weeks of foot traffic losses, attributed to its decision to end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program, which followed backlash from certain political groups.
• The retailer's foot traffic dropped by 5.7% YoY in the week of March 17, with protests and a boycott campaign contributing to the decline.
• In contrast, Costco, which resisted ending DEI initiatives, experienced continued foot-traffic growth, marking its 13th straight week of gains.

How brick-and-mortar titan Walmart learned to love the internet

• Walmart's journey into e-commerce began slowly, with the company initially seeing the internet as a passing trend and separating online operations in 2000.
• Significant progress started in 2009 with the launch of Walmart Marketplace for third-party sellers and increased focus on omnichannel retail.
• Key turning points included the 2016 acquisition of Jet.com, which fueled growth in e-commerce, and the pandemic boom, which saw Walmart expand delivery options and invest in innovative services like autonomous vehicles.

Instacart Introducing Store View and Second Store Check

• Instacart introduced two new features, Store View and Second Store Check, to improve inventory accuracy and customer satisfaction in online grocery shopping.
• Store View uses AI and computer vision to track real-time stock levels, while Second Store Check allows shoppers to check nearby stores for out-of-stock items, reducing delays in finding the desired products.
• These innovations aim to enhance shopping reliability and create a seamless experience for customers, especially in the face of unpredictable inventory challenges.

MARKETING

How AI Is Already Changing Marketing

• Fashion brands are embracing AI for automating tasks and enhancing creativity, with tools like AI-driven content creation, SEO, and product discovery helping improve efficiency and drive sales.
• Companies like Coach use AI for creating "digital twins" of products, while AI-generated models and content are becoming increasingly popular, despite mixed reactions about the impact on creativity.
• AI is being leveraged behind the scenes for data analysis, customer insights, and optimizing workflows, allowing marketers to focus on creativity while automation handles routine tasks.

See you next week,

The ChannelSight Team

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