E-Commerce News & Analysis — The Information

Recent Articles about E-Commerce

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon’s AI Chat Ads Yield Data but Few Sales

By Catherine Perloff · Apr 1, 2026 6:02am PDT

The early batch of ads running on OpenAI’s ChatGPT has drawn a lot of attention in recent weeks. But marketers have also been trying out another new form of conversational ads offered by an existing advertising heavyweight: Amazon. Even there, marketers are only starting to get a read on how much traction these ads are getting. For Paladone, an... The early batch of ads running on OpenAI’s ChatGPT has drawn a lot of attention in recent weeks....

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI’s Shopping U-Turn Could Complicate Enterprise Playbook

By Ann Gehan · Mar 23, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI’s abrupt shopping pullback earlier this month didn’t just raise questions about its decision-making. It also affected several commerce and payments firms, including PayPal and Etsy, that have put in work to help the ChatGPT maker expand the high-profile shopping venture and are now in limbo as it sorts out what’s next. And in the case of... OpenAI’s abrupt shopping pullback earlier this month didn’t just raise questions about its...

Joan Cros/Getty Images.

Stock Comp and Software’s Illusory Profits

By Martin Peers · Mar 22, 2026 3:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Memo to software executives: Now is the time to radically reduce the amount of stock you give employees. That would win you some favor with investors, who’ve generally gone off your sector thanks to worries about the threat posed by AI. Even if those concerns are overblown, cutting costs in the face of a major disruption is a smart idea.It’s no... Memo to software executives: Now is the time to radically reduce the amount of stock you give...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI’s First Advertisers Can’t Prove ChatGPT Ads Work

By Catherine Perloff · Mar 21, 2026 9:00am PDT · 3 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI’s First Advertisers Can’t Prove ChatGPT Ads Work

By Catherine Perloff · Mar 21, 2026 9:00am PDT · 3 comments

As OpenAI prepares to open up ad sales to more marketers next month, it is trying to address what some advertisers say was lacking in the initial ad sales offering. Among other things, the ChatGPT creator is planning to streamline the process of ad buying, either in partnerships with ad tech firms or with its own ad management system. So far,... As OpenAI prepares to open up ad sales to more marketers next month, it is trying to address what...

Illustraiton: Clark Miller (Photo: Getty Images)

Patrick Collison’s Palace Intrigue Complaint

By Abram Brown · Mar 14, 2026 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Kings League, a fast-growing, internet-savvy soccer startup, takes a lean approach to pro sports• Tech Culture: Can protein-obsessed techies help save Sweetgreen? • Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “Real Vikings,” “Kutchinsky’s Egg” and “Sirat”Patrick Collison, one... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Kings League, a fast-growing,...

Elon Musk at Space X in Brownsville, Texas. Photo by Marvin Joseph/ Getty Images.

SpaceX Discusses Dividing Up Bank Roles in Echo of Alibaba’s Lineup

By Valida Pau · Mar 13, 2026 10:06am PDT · 1 comment

When companies typically go public, they appoint one or two investment banks to oversee everything—from valuing the company to lining up investors. That’s not how Elon Musk plans to handle the upcoming SpaceX giant’s initial public offering. The rocket and AI firm has discussed dividing up roles among a larger group of investment banks,... When companies typically go public, they appoint one or two investment banks to oversee...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images.

Nvidia Sprays the Cash; FCC Chair’s SpaceX Defense

By Martin Peers · Mar 11, 2026 5:00pm PDT

If you’re in need of a billion or two in cash, why not hit up Jensen Huang? The Nvidia CEO has plenty of money to spare, particularly if you’re in business with him in some way. Nvidia’s announcement on Wednesday that it was putting $2 billion into Nebius, a European AI data center developer, was the fourth investment in a business partner... If you’re in need of a billion or two in cash, why not hit up Jensen Huang? The Nvidia CEO has...

Art via Getty Images

What’s CXL? The Alternative Memory Technology Embraced by Google, Nvidia

By Qianer Liu · Mar 11, 2026 7:00am PDT

Art via Getty Images

What’s CXL? The Alternative Memory Technology Embraced by Google, Nvidia

By Qianer Liu · Mar 11, 2026 7:00am PDT

The global memory chip shortage sparked by the AI boom has prompted companies including Google and Nvidia to spend more effort on alternatives that could ease the supply crunch. One of them is a technology that allows servers to share memory across a data center.The technology, Compute Express Link, or CXL, is seven years old but was slow to... The global memory chip shortage sparked by the AI boom has prompted companies including Google...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI’s Shift to Shopping Apps Faces Even More Hurdles

By Ann Gehan and Sri Muppidi · Mar 11, 2026 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

With OpenAI suddenly scaling back on chatbot checkouts, its foray into shopping hinges on convincing retailers to set up shop with dedicated apps within ChatGPT—and getting people to buy stuff there. It faces hurdles on both fronts. ChatGPT apps have been around for just a few months—available for around 100 consumer firms, including... With OpenAI suddenly scaling back on chatbot checkouts, its foray into shopping hinges on...

Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk. Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Oracle’s Upbeat Quarter Calms Investors

By Martin Peers · Mar 10, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Oracle managed to calm some frayed nerves on Wall Street on Tuesday. The cloud and software firm, which has become a focal point for investors’ anxiety about AI-related spending, reported slightly better than projected revenue for its February quarter. More importantly, for the second time in two quarters, it raised its revenue projection for... Oracle managed to calm some frayed nerves on Wall Street on Tuesday. The cloud and software firm,...

Pony Ma, CEO, of Tencent Holdings. Photo by Justin Chin/ Getty Images

Tencent Joins China’s AI Agent Race With ‘Top-Secret’ WeChat Project

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Mar 10, 2026 6:00am PDT

Tencent Holdings is secretly building a new AI agent for its hugely popular WeChat messaging app, in hopes of leapfrogging rivals like Alibaba Group and ByteDance in the race to dominate China’s domestic AI market, according to four people familiar with the project. The project could dramatically widen how AI agents, which take actions on... Tencent Holdings is secretly building a new AI agent for its hugely popular WeChat messaging app,...

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Quince in Talks to Double Valuation to More Than $10 Billion

By Katie Roof and Ann Gehan · Mar 5, 2026 7:02pm PST

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Quince in Talks to Double Valuation to More Than $10 Billion

By Katie Roof and Ann Gehan · Mar 5, 2026 7:02pm PST

Online retailer Quince is in talks with investors to raise a funding round that would value the company at above $10 billion after the investment, according to a person with knowledge of the plans. If the talks are successful, the buzzy online brand would more than double its valuation from its last funding round. The fundraise follows continued... Online retailer Quince is in talks with investors to raise a funding round that would value the...

Photo by Cosmin Serban

Anthropic Steals the Limelight at Morgan Stanley’s Tech Conference

By Valida Pau · Mar 5, 2026 5:15pm PST

I’ve spent the last week talking to people who are in town for Morgan Stanley’s annual technology, media and telecom conference at the Palace Hotel this week. Even before the fireworks last week between the Pentagon and Anthropic, the gathering was sure to be buzzy, given the lineup of richly valued private startups—including OpenAI and... I’ve spent the last week talking to people who are in town for Morgan Stanley’s annual...

Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

OpenAI’s Shopping Glitch

By Martin Peers · Mar 5, 2026 5:00pm PST

This wasn’t a fun day on Wall Street—the S&P 500 fell 0.5%—but one group of stocks bucked the downward trend. That would be those of several travel-booking and food-delivery firms, such as DoorDash, Booking Holdings and Expedia, which climbed between 3% and 13%. One likely reason is OpenAI’s astounding retreat from offering shopping directly... This wasn’t a fun day on Wall Street—the S&P 500 fell 0.5%—but one group of stocks bucked the...