Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) went live on September 26, 2026, in an India test that lets Gemini and AI Mode users buy Flipkart products inside the chat window, the protocol's first real-…
Google Cloud announced the general availability of Storage Intelligence advisor, a no-setup tool that analyzes a Cloud Storage estate for anomalies and optimization opportunities, alongside expanded s…
Shipt, the same-day delivery platform owned by Target, launched 'Ask Shipt,' an AI shopping assistant available now in the Shipt app and on Shipt.com, joining Instacart, Uber Eats, and DoorDash in add…
Chrome 149 opened the WebMCP origin trial, a browser-native API co-authored by Google and Microsoft that lets AI agents call a website's JavaScript functions directly, with Expedia, Shopify, Etsy, and…
Petlibro, a cloud-connected pet feeder maker founded in 2019, faced an August 2026 server outage that stopped scheduled feedings for owners away from home, despite the company's claim that device-stor…
Petlibro, a pet tech company, reported in a June 2025 press release that it has sold over 3 million units, holds over 35% market share in smart feeders, and has placements in more than 1,000 Target st…
LLM Pulse analyzed 391,073 citations from AI answers to generic shopping questions in the U.S. between April 12 and July 11, 2026, and found that major retailer and marketplace domains account for jus…
Kroger and Target made AI hires, Walmart added a tool for advertisers, and Academy Sports + Outdoors launched Academy Retail Media, a new advertising business with Instacart that gives marketers acces…
Target has appointed Chandhu Nair as its first chief AI officer, effective immediately, as the retailer aims to integrate AI into both customer and employee experiences. Nair, who previously served as…
Startup Hark launched Handoff, a browser-use agent that navigates websites without official APIs including Target, Walmart, and OpenTable, using post-trained models with plans for pre-training later i…
Hark, a startup that raised $700 million in Series A funding in May, launched Hark Handoff, a browser-use agent that can complete tasks such as ordering food, booking travel, and shopping on websites …
During a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats agreed that surveillance pricing—companies using personal data to adjust prices—is harmful, but no consensus emer…
A new analysis reveals that 70% of top retailers are unprepared for agentic commerce, where AI handles the entire customer journey from discovery to checkout. The finding comes as OpenAI and Google ra…
Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) enables AI agents to discover, compare, and purchase products on behalf of users, shifting ecommerce from click-throughs to AI-driven transactions. The open-…
Google and Microsoft co-developed WebMCP, a proposed W3C browser standard now in a public origin trial in Chrome 149, to make websites natively compatible with AI agents. The standard lets developers …
Google's Chrome 149 introduces a 'Select from screen' tool for Gemini, allowing users to drag a box around content on a tab and feed it directly to the AI side panel without copying or describing. The…
Target developed a generative AI-based system that uses embeddings and large language models to semantically match new marketing campaigns with similar historical ones, improving forecasting accuracy …
DoorDash launched an AI search feature called 'Ask DoorDash' that lets users create grocery orders by describing meals or uploading photos of recipes. A home cook who tested the feature found it usefu…
Chet Hanks stars in a new morning-after pill campaign for Julie, alongside Hallie Batchelder, portraying a 'stereotypical himbo' to promote the FDA-approved emergency contraceptive. The campaign, shot…
Marketing and media leaders gathered at Cannes Lions to discuss trends in AI, experiential marketing, and brand partnerships. Disney's Rita Ferro and Target's Michelle Mesenburg highlighted the value …