Welcome to this week's AI edition of The Commerce Brief 🤖
✦ THIS WEEK’S AI INDUSTRY UPDATES
01. Amazon is buying ads in ChatGPT to promote Prime Day, using the AI chatbot as a new advertising channel for its biggest shopping event of the year. A search for "best deal on Apple 11-inch iPad" surfaced a sponsored Prime Day ad directing shoppers to Amazon's e-commerce site, marking a significant moment in the convergence of AI chat and retail advertising. (source)
02. Balenciaga has partnered with Substack for AI-driven search engine optimisation, becoming the first fashion brand to join the platform's native sponsorship programme. As search behaviours shift towards conversational tools and large language models, brands can no longer rely solely on images within closed apps and must generate high-quality, structured text on independent platforms to remain visible in AI-powered search results. (source)
03. Morrisons the supermarket says its increased use of data and AI has helped deliver £940m in savings over the past three years. The supermarket announced earlier this year that it would ramp up its use of data, automation and AI as part of a wider cost-cutting drive. (source)
04. Nudge, an AI shopping startup, has launched its Agentic Commerce Platform and raised $1.1m in pre-seed funding from investors including s16vc, Antler, and operators from Shopify, Nutanix and Postman. The platform gives commerce brands a single system to measure AI visibility, enrich product catalogues for agent recommendations and convert AI discovery into revenue. (source)
05. Ace Hardware's AI-powered store associate tool, Hey ARMA, is now live across more than 2,600 locations, having responded to 55,000 questions since its late winter launch. The tool provides associates with access to product knowledge, project guidance and recommendations on handheld devices, with the retailer investing over 860 hours in training. (source)
06. AI-powered "ghost stores" are posing a growing threat to legitimate retailers, using AI and deceptive tactics to create fake e-commerce sites in hours that mimic local businesses. These sites exploit social media, deep discounts and AI-generated content to fool shoppers, making it nearly impossible for consumers to distinguish genuine retailers. (source)
07. New Look has partnered with AI visualisation platform Fermat, equipping its buying and design teams with tools to create virtual product renders, test multiple design iterations and explore prints, colourways and styling options before physical samples are produced. The partnership aims to accelerate product development and reduce reliance on wasteful traditional sampling. (source)
08. The Middle East is poised to become one of the world's fastest adopters of AI influencers, as brands prioritise control, multilingual communication and always-on digital engagement over traditional celebrity endorsements. The UAE has invested more than $140bn in AI and innovation, positioning itself as a global leader. (source)
09. A McKinsey report on Europe's five biggest online markets shows that 38% of European consumers already use generative AI to research products and make purchasing decisions. AI is becoming an active participant in purchasing, with customers delegating tasks such as finding the best deal, auto-reordering items and compiling shopping carts by criteria including price, brand, delivery speed and sustainability. Online revenues across Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and France could reach €600bn by 2029. (source)
10. ChatGPT still leads global chatbot app downloads, but Gemini and Claude are closing the gap. Anthropic's Claude has seen strong gains in 2026, rising 22 places on the downloads chart with 107m downloads in the first half of the year. (source)
That's a wrap for this week! If you found this useful or if you have any feedback, hit reply and let me know, or share it with someone in the industry who'd enjoy the read.
Thanks - Sue
