E-COMMERCE

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Walmart wants to get faster at shipping, sorting, and delivery.

The retail giant has been building its e-commerce business for years, powered largely by its ability to deliver groceries almost anywhere in the US within hours. Walmart’s global e-commerce business grew 26% in Q1. In the US, online sales were also up 26% thanks in part to Walmart shipping out orders at high volume and growing its marketplace.

Walmart is using what it calls “intelligence layers,” which sit at the heart of its AI models, to better predict what customers are going to order and when, and put the right product in the right part of its supply chain so it gets to people faster.

Experts say advances in large language models (LLMs) have made this possible, particularly Walmart’s improved ability to run predictive analysis that helps with things like supply chain planning.

During Walmart Associates Week, Suresh Kumar, Walmart’s global CTO and CDO, said the company is pouring investments into AI models that handle everything from inventory forecasting and order replenishment to scheduling, transportation, and route optimization.

Keep reading here.—VC

      

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR & TRENDS

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For beauty-meets-wellness brand Megababe, meeting customer needs means tapping into a white space in the market for unconventional products, especially those that hold stigma or embarrassment for the customer.

Its mission since launching in 2017 has been to create products that “Big Beauty ignores,” according to founder Katie Sturino. The brand’s lineup includes products often not found in the beauty aisle, such as antifungal cream for ringworm or athlete’s foot, an antifriction stick for chafing, and a hemorrhoid cream.

Keep reading here on Revenue Brew.—LI

      

COMMUNITY

Blair Ethington

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Blair Ethington is VP of buyer, seller and C2C at eBay.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I spend my days making eBay feel more magical for both buyers and sellers. My team of product managers works at the intersection of customer needs, technology, and business strategy. We focus on understanding what customers are trying to do, finding ways to improve the experience, and partnering with engineering to turn ideas into products. A great example is Magical Listing, our AI-powered selling experience that helps sellers create listings faster and with less effort. At the end of the day, I get to create opportunities for people on both sides of our marketplace—and I love that.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Whenever I tell people I work in “product,” they usually assume I’m talking about something you’d find on a store shelf. In reality, my job is about building the technology that powers the customer experience. My team and I are responsible for everything from how people discover items to how they buy, sell, and engage on the platform. I spent part of my career helping introduce product management to a traditional retailer, where I often explained that the “product” wasn’t the merchandise—it was the entire customer experience behind it.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? I’ve always been drawn to problems that don’t have obvious answers and require some exploration. When you’re building products, you need to be living and breathing them in order to understand the customer journey. My favorite project right now has been working on agentic experiences for the eBay platform. What makes it so exciting is that we’re not just improving search—we’re reimagining it.

Keep reading here.—EC

      

swapping skus

Today’s top retail reads.

Health is wealth: Procter & Gamble plans to acquire supplement brand Thorne for $3.8 billion as the company looks to expand its health and wellness assortment. (CNBC)

Home improvement: After a post-Covid dip in business, Wayfair said its business is rebounding, notching growth in the US for the first time since 2021. (the Wall Street Journal)

Driving a wedge: The state of New Jersey is suing Amazon, alleging the e-commerce giant is using its market dominance to subject third-party delivery drivers in its Delivery Service Partner program to low pay and harsh working conditions. (Reuters)

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Learn what Shopify’s July shopping data reveals the back-to-school products filling carts this season.