European retailers' own brands now command 38.5% of grocery market value, outpacing manufacturer brands by 2.5x.

Web3 funding crashed 74% while AI investment hit $124.3B in 2024. Developers abandoned blockchain for AI tools as 90% of Web3 projects failed. Here's why it matters.

Ads Manager conversion reporting is too generic. A detailed log of attributed conversions could prevent confusion and solve discrepancies.

An overview of Google’s new open standard for agentic commerce and AI tools to help retailers connect with shoppers and drive sales.

Google announced checkout capabilities in AI Mode and a new Business Agent feature that puts branded AI chat on Search results. Available to U.S. retailers.

Google is partnering with retailers to improve the shopping experience for customers end-to-end.

Google launches Universal Commerce Protocol with major retailers on January 11, 2026, introducing checkout APIs and payment standards for autonomous AI agents.

Mastercard introduces Agent Pay today for autonomous commerce, partnering with Google on Universal Commerce Protocol as 800M OpenAI users signal demand.

The Universal Commerce Protocol threatens e-commerce platforms' differentiation while creating opportunities for merchants to escape platform lock-in.

Industry leaders argue Ad Context Protocol enables portfolio management for advertising investments rather than snapshot bidding decisions programmatic advertising uses today.

Target and Walmart enable direct purchasing through Google Gemini and AI Mode in Search, powered by Universal Commerce Protocol announced January 11, 2026.

Visa's Rubail Birwadker reveals how the company is building tokenized payment systems for agentic commerce, addressing fraud concerns as AI agents begin making purchases.

WordPress community expresses disappointment in the "childish" use of the official WordPress X account.

Ecommerce optimization is entering an agent-first era where schema, feeds, and authority decide inclusion in agent-mediated discovery and checkout.

These conversations reveal how top practitioners are adapting strategy as platforms prioritize automation over transparency.

Google's AI Mode checkout aims to reduce friction, but retailers question what it means for brand control, cross-sells, and customer data.

Apple and Google announce a multi-year AI partnership. Gemini models and cloud tech will underpin Apple Foundation Models and a more personalized Siri.

YouTube Premium hits 125 million subscribers who pay to avoid ads—precisely the affluent demographic advertisers want to reach but can no longer target.

Learn how Meta ad sequencing works, required settings, when it makes sense, and why the feature is currently buggy in some accounts.

See which Google Ads trends might have the biggest impacts on your strategy this year, and get the top predictions for advertising in 2026.

Honey browser extension terminated from Rakuten Advertising affiliate network on January 12, 2026, losing access to major retail partners including Walmart.