#DCR Newsletter 96

This newsletter summarizes key news, events, and statistics for March 28 - April 17 related to the world of digital commerce.

Funding. Turkish startup ikas attracts $20M for its e-commerce platform designed for small businesses. The company currently operates in Turkey and Germany, and says its platform simplifies store management for companies that want to have a digital presence.

A brief look of the platform admin gives an impression that this is a "Shopify Lite" storefront: less features but faster to setup and easier to run.

One of the challenges for ikas will definately be the marketplace. Shopify has thousands of different apps including subscriptions, upsell, pricing and more. And it won't be easy for ikas to attract a lot of developers at once due to the size of the customer base.

Fun fact: their looks very similar to the Bolt logo.

Artificial Intelligence. Perfect Corp. releases AI hair-identifying tool for personalization. With Perfect Corp.’s unique AI Hair Type Analysis technology, hair care brands and retailers will be able to provide customers with an enhanced and customized shopping experience. By examining various sections of the hair, the AI Hair Type Analysis solution accurately identifies 9 distinct hair type ranges across 10 categories from straight to wavy to extremely coily, and everything in between.

Best Buy to use generative AI for virtual assistant, customer support experiences. Joining the generative AI wave, Best Buy has partnered with Google Cloud to introduce a generative artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant late this summer, the retailer announced Tuesday. With the assistant tool, customers can troubleshoot product issues; reschedule or combine order deliveries; and manage their software, Geek Squad subscriptions and Best Buy memberships.

Fulfillment. Walmart letting businesses tap into its route optimization tech. Walmart is selling its proprietary artificial intelligence route optimization technology to businesses seeking to reduce their transportation and shipping costs. The AI-driven software is designed to optimize driving routes, pack trailers efficiently and minimize miles traveled, which will translate to lower emissions and cost savings.

Earnings. Amazon beat expectations with earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023. Its net sales in the quarter grew 14% year over year to $170.0 billion.

Costco said net sales grew 5.7% to $57.33 billion in its second fiscal quarter of 2024 ended Feb. 18. Ecommerce comparable sales grew 18.4% in the same period.

Home Depot reported that online sales increased about 2% year over year in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 28. Meanwhile, total Q4 sales decreased 2.9% year over year to $34.8 billion.

Walmart said U.S. online sales grew 17% for its fiscal 2024 fourth quarter ended Jan. 31. Its global ecommerce sales grew 23% over the same period, while international ecommerce increased 44%.

Full-year sales grew 12% to $574.8 billion in 2023, up from $514.0 billion in 2022.

Stats of the week:

• 66% of CFOs say using AI for data analytics and business intelligence is underway at their respective organizations, followed by financial operations and processes (54%).
• The latest federal data shows sales rose 0.7% in March from the previous month, and 4% from the same period the year before.

Chart of the week: