On an earnings call with investors, he announced eBay revenue and gross merchandise value (GMV) grew in the marketplace’s fiscal third quarter, ended Sept. 30. EBay GMV grew to nearly $18 billion in Q3, he said. And much of its GMV in the past year has come just from collectibles.

“We generated over $10 billion in GMV from collectibles over the last 12 months, and more than one in four eBay buyers purchased at least one collectibles item over the past year,” Iannone said. “These buyers carry some of the highest conversion, repurchase, and retention rates on eBay. And they are also among the heaviest cross-category shoppers on our platform, which supports our other categories.”

In the past 12 months, eBay GMV reached about $72.8 billion, according to financials listed in its most recent earnings release. Based on those figures and Iannone’s statement, Digital Commerce 360 estimates eBay collectibles accounted for about 13% of GMV in the past 12 months.

EBay ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV. Digital Commerce 360’s 2023 Global Online Marketplaces Report includes key insights into the biggest players in the database.

eBay capitalizes on collectibles in Q3

Iannone said eBay’s goal is to remain “the world’s most loved destination for passionate collectibles enthusiasts.” Working toward that goal, he said, eBay launched direct submissions to its vault.

“This enables any U.S. resident to send in trading cards valued at $250 or higher from their personal collections to the vault, even if they were not purchased on eBay,” he said.

Additionally, in July, eBay announced what it calls Vault Enhanced Submission. It enables eBay “to gather large amounts” of valuable trading cards in person at events. In one weekend, eBay added “tens of millions of dollars of assets under management to the eBay vault,” Iannone added. That includes a signed Jackie Robinson card valued at about $1 million.

The marketplace describes eBay vault as “a secure, climate-controlled, physical storage facility for graded trading cards available to eBay customers. In addition to best-in-class storage, the eBay vault offers opportunities for seamless buying and hassle-free selling with the confidence that comes with Authenticity Guarantee.”

The eBay collectibles category includes sports trading cards, toys and figures, sports memorabilia, comic books and more. The category accounts for more than 10% of eBay GMV.

eBay revamps condition grading system for trading cards

Iannone said eBay “revamped” its condition grading system for trading cards. It improves transparency for collectibles in the subcategory, he said. New listings now carry more precise details, he added. That includes whether a card has been professionally graded and the numerical grade, or one of several predefined card conditions.

EBay will also migrate existing listings to the new standard “over the coming months,” Iannone said. “Sellers have been asking us for this feature for some time, and we believe it will drive improved trust for buyers, better and more consistent price realization for sellers, as well as more robust data and insights around individual card values for eBay.”

Making the shopping experience more interactive

Although still in beta, eBay launched eBay Live last year in response to its growing community of collectors and enthusiasts, Iannone said. The interactive live-shopping feature is available within the eBay app, and the marketplace continues to expand its availability to more sellers and categories, he said.

Using eBay Live, buyers can interact with sellers and checkout in real time without leaving the livestream, Iannone added.

“Q3 marked an inflection point as we hosted over 1,000 live events, saw our millionth buyer tune in, and grew GMV from eBay Live by 4x quarter-over-quarter,” Iannone said.

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ACV Auctions is a Buffalo, New York-based B2B marketplace. On it, used-car dealers view, bid on, and purchase used-car inventory.

ACV Auctions B2B marketplace

But ACV Auctions’ B2B marketplace total revenue, including marketplace and service revenue, grew 13%. That’s an increase to $119 million from $105.4 million in the prior year. Net loss was $18.2 million compared with a net loss of $23.6 million in the third quarter of 2022.

“We sold 150,000 vehicles in the quarter, resulting in 13% year-over-year growth, reflecting further adoption of our marketplace solutions targeting dealer engagement,” CEO George Chamoun told analysts on an earnings call. “GMV of $2.1 billion was flat year over year, reflecting continued moderation of wholesale market prices.”

ACV sees stronger growth ahead as the wholesale and retail market for used vehicles begins to normalize after inventory shortages in recent years, Chamoun said.

“While volumes continue to lag pre-pandemic levels, inventories improved, which is key to supporting a sustained recovery in retail sales, trade and dealer wholesale supply,” he told analysts. “Used vehicle retail units modestly increased sequentially and year over year, but also remain well below historical levels as affordability issues continued to pressure consumer demand. In terms of vehicle sourcing, our data indicates that dealers retain a higher-than-normal percentage of trade for retail inventory.”

For the fourth quarter and the full year, ACV Auction B2B marketplace projects:

• Total Q4 revenue of $116 million to $120 million, an increase of 18% to 23% year over year and a GAAP net income loss of $24 million to $26 million.
• Total yearly revenue of $479 million to $483 million, an increase of 14% to 15% year over year and a GAAP net income loss of $75 million to $77 million.

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CEO Jamie Iannone said in addition to delivering “solid results,” eBay has accelerated its innovation pace. Notably, that refers at least in part to eBay’s generative AI technology.

EBay ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV. Digital Commerce 360’s 2023 Global Online Marketplaces Report includes key insights into the biggest players in the database.

EBay had a rough year in 2022, with GMV falling 15.4% compared to 2021, said James Risley, research data manager and senior analyst at Digital Commerce 360. In 2020, when supply chains “got far out of whack,” he said, eBay and other pure marketplaces saw a “huge surge” as shoppers turned to alternate channels and some people bought up popular products to resell on these giant marketplaces.

“This quarter, it remained flat over last year’s Q3 as GMV returns to the level it likely would have been at without a pandemic,” Risley said. “Stronger supply chains coupled with retailers adding on new marketplaces to their ecommerce operations have forced eBay to find ways to increase revenue without GMV increases, and they seem to have done that.”

eBay revenue and gross merchandise value (GMV)

In its fiscal third quarter, eBay revenue grew 5% year over year. That’s up to $2.5 billion from $2.38 billion in Q3 2022.

Meanwhile, eBay GMV grew 2% year over year. It reached $17.99 billion in Q3. That’s slightly less than eBay GMV in Q2, which was $18.21 billion, but it’s greater than GMV in Q3 2022, which was $17.72 billion. In the United States, eBay GMV declined slightly to $8.64 billion. That’s down 1% from about $8.70 billion in Q3 2022. EBay defines GMV as the total value of all paid transactions between users on its platforms during the applicable period, including shipping fees and taxes.

EBay active buyers decreased 3%, to 132 million in Q3 from 135 million in the comparable period of 2022. The marketplace identifies active buyers as those who paid for a transaction on its platforms within the previous 12-month period.

eBay generative AI technology updates

Iannone said the Magical Listing tool, which uses artificial intelligence to help sellers, rolled out to 100% of mobile app users in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany in eBay’s fiscal Q3. In October, eBay extended generative AI descriptions to 50% of desktop users in the same three countries, he said.

The Magical Listing tool makes it simple and fast to list items, he said. It also helps ensure listing are comprehensive to maximize sales, he said. As part of the Magical Listing experience, eBay has rolled out an improved background removal tool powered by AI, he added.

“Now, generative AI allows us to leverage our treasure trove of images and listing data to quickly create compelling listings,” Iannone said. “Early users have told us these capabilities will unlock more of the inventory in their closets and garages, which could ultimately keep more products out of landfills.”

The first phase of the Magical Listing process “leverages generative AI to instantly populate the item description within the listing flow based on a product’s title, category and other aspects,” he said.

EBay’s camera-based Magical Listing tool has been in employee beta for several months, Iannone added. It is also currently in a limited beta with a number of large sellers.

eBay earnings summary

For the fiscal third quarter ended Sept. 30, eBay Inc. reported:

• $2.5 billion in revenue. That’s up 5% from $2.38 billion in the year-ago period.
• eBay GMV increased to $17.99 billion. That’s a 2% year-over-year increase from $17.72 billion. However, eBay GMV in Q3 decreased from Q2’s 418.21 billion.
• eBay active buyers decreased 3% year over year to 132 million.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s eBay update.

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It’s No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, which ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV.

“We already have made these investments, technologies,” Witcher said, speaking from Amazon’s perspective. “How do we create incremental revenue by applying those sunk costs to new opportunities for others to take advantage of those costs where we can benefit in a financial way? This has been part of Amazon’s strategy for quite a while.”

Andy Jassy, Amazon’s CEO, spoke about different SaaS initiatives on a recent earnings call with investors for its fiscal third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2023.

Amazon’s fastest-growing sectors are ads and seller services, said James Risley, research data manager and senior analyst at Digital Commerce 360.

It shows that “while Amazon’s online stores are still growing well, its third-party sellers are the real growth leaders for the company,” Risley said. “Online stores only grew 2.0% in the first half of the year, though, and grew 7.0% in Q3, so the momentum is strong for first-party sales as Amazon potentially shifts its focus ahead of government pressure and a more savvy consumer who prefers direct relationships with sellers.”

Supply Chain by Amazon changes the fulfillment game

Two key Amazon software-as-a-service programs Jassy addressed were Supply Chain by Amazon and a growing generative AI initiative. New Amazon generative AI technology gives merchants the ability to create web pages and product imagery “with nearly endless flexibility,” calling it, along with Supply Chain by Amazon and AWS “the democratization of technology.”

Jassy said the company has seen “very positive early response from sellers to Supply Chain by Amazon.”

Supply Chain by Amazon is a fully automated set of services in which the mass merchant handles:

• Inventory pickup
• Shipping
• Customs clearance
• Ground transportation
• Inventory storage
• Replenishment

Amazon has been making “huge investments” in supply chain for more than a decade, Witcher said. The idea was that Amazon would eventually reach scale and those investments would pay off, he added.

“I think you’re starting to see that now, particularly because they’re starting to outsource delivery as a service,” Witcher said.

Amazon already has the infrastructure in place, so these are sunk costs, he said.

Amazon software as a service (SaaS) can change the game for third-party sellers

“Generative AI developments should be given more weight than Amazon let on,” Witcher said. “Using this innovative technology really gives Amazon the operational efficiencies in inventory planning and route planning that they need to realize the ROI of all these investments they made in supply chain.”

Witcher said AWS was the proof of concept that Amazon can create incremental revenue from its existing services and offerings. He said Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) “clearly” works for a lot of sellers.

“Now, Amazon’s removing the pain points of being a small-business seller,” Witcher said. “Nobody gets into the retail business saying, ‘I can’t wait to build web pages’ or do photoshoots. That’s not why they get into selling products. They want to sell products. Amazon understands this, and so they’re using this in a way to make it easier for third-party sellers to have that Amazon relationship and make more reasons to say why they should have the Amazon relationship. I think that’s really what this comes right down to.”

Generative AI technology and the Amazon ecosystem

Witcher said Amazon understands that mom-and-pop shops and small companies don’t necessarily have the time or skill set to generate web pages and product imagery.

“The ability to use generative AI just helps those sellers,” Witcher said. “There’s a compounding effect to this, which is: The easier it is for me to build websites, the easier it is for me to upload product pages. Then, it’s easier for me to sell on Amazon. Well, if I’m already selling on Amazon, then it’s easier for me to give Amazon my supply chain, pay for them to do my supply chain, pay for them to have Amazon Pay on my website. It just bakes you deeper into the ecosystem of Amazon as you start to find value in the things Amazon offers.”

He added that this is “certainly a differentiator” for Amazon compared with other marketplaces. However, he said, he expects other retailers to follow suit.

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Despite the growth, CEO Josh Silverman said on an earnings call with investors that “significant pressure” on consumer discretionary spending, including high inflation, elevated interest in mortgage rates and declining savings balances, “have meant that there’s little leftover for many consumers after paying for food, gas, rent and child care.”

“These issues are magnified for lower-income buyers, and we feel the impact on the Etsy marketplace,” he said.

Etsy ranks No. 17 in Digital Commerce 360’s new 2023 Global Online Marketplaces Report. The Global Online Marketplaces Database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

Etsy gross merchandise sales (GMS) in Q3

In line with expectations, Silverman said, Etsy gross merchandise sales grew to $3.04 billion. That’s a 1.2% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, Etsy revenue grew 7% year over year to reach $636 million.

This comes as Etsy once again reached a new record in active buyers, at 92 million. In Q2, Etsy active buyers had reached 91 million.

“We’ve been laser focused all year on knocking down barriers that stop buyers from shopping or shopping more often on Etsy,” Silverman said. “We know that buyers turn to Etsy most often for low-risk items, but we believe our opportunity is so much larger than that.”

Etsy’s sellers tend to offer luxuries, said James Risley, research data manager and senior analyst at Digital Commerce 360. And in the macroeconomic environment, he said, buyers may be pulling back from the handmade items Etsy is known for, in favor of off-the-shelf goods. This is reflected in the reduced gross merchandise sales reported by Etsy for the first nine months of the year, he said.

“However, sellers are fighting harder for those dollars, and services revenue is up significantly as sellers spend on ads to gain those dollars,” Risley said. “With this quarter’s increase in GMV, Etsy may have benefited from earlier holiday shopping starts amid Amazon’s early holiday push. It’s pushed more into promotional offers that increase order values, helping it compete on those days when shoppers are primed to spend.”

AI and machine learning power up Etsy

Silverman said Etsy has seen a nine-fold increase in the number of human-curated Etsy listings. Etsy expects the listings to top 1.5 million by the end of the year. Etsy is using machine-learning models designed to determine the visual appeal of items and incorporating that information into search algorithms, he said.

He added that Etsy has “launched a variety of experiments with the help of Gen AI” to evolve its head query searches. Head queries are those that get searched most frequently and get the majority of the engagement.

“As we move into 2024, when a buyer searches for broad queries, we expect to be able to show a far more diverse and compelling set of ideas,” Silverman said.

Etsy looks forward to the holidays

“It’s game time for holiday,” Silverman said.

Etsy’s message for the holiday season, he said, is that the marketplace will “make you a gifting hero.”

This comes with four key initiatives, he said.

1. Etsy has launched a “new and improved” curated gift finder. That’s now available on the Etsy app and featured more prominently on mobile web, Silverman said.
2. New deals tab. This replaces the Etsy app’s “updates” tab. That makes it easier to find personalized deals and gifts at an affordable price, Silverman said.
3. The marketplace continues to selectively test Etsy-funded offers.
4. “Etsy gifts will be delivered on time or your money back,” Silverman said. “Our estimated delivery date performance and Etsy purchase protection program enable us to stand behind purchases and work to disrupt buyer perceptions.”

Etsy earnings

For the fiscal third quarter ended Sept. 30, Etsy Inc. reported:

• Active buyers reached 92 million. That’s a new company record, following the previous quarter’s then-record 91 million.
• Etsy gross merchandise sales, or GMS, grew to $3.04 billion. That’s a 1.2% increase from the third quarter of fiscal 2022.
• Etsy revenue grew to $636.3 million. That’s up 7.0% from $594.5 million in the year-ago period.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Etsy Inc. reported:

• Etsy gross merchandise sales, or GMS, decreased to $9.15 billion. That’s down 1.4% from $9.28 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2022.
• Etsy revenue grew to $1.91 billion. That’s up 8.4% from $1.76 billion in the year-ago period.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding.

Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s Etsy report.

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Today, there are more than 500 such marketplaces opening for or already in business in numerus industries, according to data in the newly published 2023 B2B Marketplace 500 report from Digital Commerce 360. Within the next two years, there will be as many as 750 B2B marketplaces and within five years more than 1,000, according to Digital Commerce 360 projections.

That is because the term is not a one-size-fits-all ecommerce channel. There are several models serving various market segments. These range from commercial platforms such as Amazon Business to marketplace platforms that bring together niche buyers and sellers in specific markets or segments.

As the market continues to expand, several key trends will continue to guide fast evolution and market growth, according to the 2023 B2B Marketplace 500.

Trends among B2B marketplaces

• The list of 500 vertical marketplaces will continue to grow.
• Existing marketplace operators will continue to add features and functions rapidly to convert first-time buyers and sellers into loyal and repeat customers.
• The commercial marketplaces dominated by Amazon Business will drive growth across the broader movement.
• Public and private investors are getting more bottom-line focused on B2B marketplace deals.
• First-time marketplace builders are incurring higher costs to build and launch their platforms. They are taking longer to generate a return on investment.
• Marketplaces will remain the fastest growing B2B sales channel.

2023 B2B Marketplace 500 Report

Analysis of the leading U.S. B2B ecommerce marketplaces. Includes over 20 charts, a downloadable excel spreadsheet listing the top 500 B2B Marketplaces in alpha order, with company name, marketplace industry and URL and the most detailed study of the U.S. manufacturing and distribution marketplace.

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Amazon Business already claims 6 million customers and $35 billion in annualized gross merchandise sales — and it launched just eight years ago. But market analysts figure it is far from reaching a sales plateau.

Colin Sebastian, an R.W. Baird & Co. investment analyst who has accurately forecasted Amazon Business’s sales growth in recent years, has projected $80 billion in gross sales, including many by third-party sellers, before the end of this decade.

2023 B2B Marketplace 500 Report

Analysis of the leading U.S. B2B ecommerce marketplaces. Includes over 20 charts, a downloadable excel spreadsheet listing the top 500 B2B Marketplaces in alpha order, with company name, marketplace industry and URL and the most detailed study of the U.S. manufacturing and distribution marketplace.

View Details

Amazon Business leads a B2B marketplace charge

Many buyers say they purchase from Amazon Business. The marketplace reported in April that it had reached “roughly $35 billion” in annualized gross sales. Nice growth for a marketplace that launched in 2015.

60% of buyers do more than a quarter of their purchasing on Amazon Business, a Digital B2B Buyer Survey found. And 28% say they do more than half. But another 12% say they “don’t buy anything” on Amazon Business — and 29% say they buy on other marketplaces.

Amazon Business is the dominant marketplace, the industry’s most influential marketplace, and by far the biggest, accounting for about one transaction of every four, Digital Commerce 360 projects.

Meanwhile, Amazon is also No. 3 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the top 100 online marketplaces. Amazon ranks No. 1 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales.

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The expansion, in partnership with financial technology company Payoneer, has already launched for sellers in Japan and Ukraine. The marketplace plans to launch this technology by the end of the year in:

• Argentina
• Chile
• India
• Peru
• Thailand

Etsy Payments “benefits both sellers and buyers as we work to make relevant payment options available across our global marketplace,” said Chirag Patel, vice president and general manager of payments and risk at Etsy, in a press release.

Etsy is No. 17 in the Global Online Marketplaces database. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest such marketplace by total gross merchandise value.

Etsy Payments expansion details

Sellers who enroll to use the Etsy Payments technology will have access to the marketplace’s full suite of payment tools. This includes “multiple payment options, including PayPal, all major credit card networks, debit and bank card, Etsy Gift Cards, and Etsy Credits,” the marketplace wrote in the press release.

“Additionally, sellers in these regions will benefit from Etsy’s Purchase Protection Policy, which allows Etsy to better support sellers should an issue with a buyer arise, along with easier management of their Etsy shop’s financial information in one place,” the release said.

Patel wrote in an Etsy blog post that the marketplace hosts hundreds of thousands of transactions daily. It has 6.4 million sellers and more than 91 million buyers. Because of that, he said, Etsy is “laser-focused on scaling our reach and providing world-class payments technology to enable safe, secure and seamless shopping experiences for everyone, everywhere on our marketplace.”

The marketplace introduced Etsy Payments to more than 40 countries since 2012, he wrote.

Patel spotlights Ukraine sellers

“Etsy Payments’ launch comes at a critical time for Ukrainian small businesses’ ability to access global markets, and it is part of our commitment to open doors to financial security and economic empowerment for artisans and creative entrepreneurs,” Patel wrote.

He said Etsy continues to stand by its seller community in Ukraine, facilitating ways for buyers around the world to directly support Ukrainian sellers’ small businesses. Etsy Payments being available to Ukraine-based sellers lets them open Etsy shops and “have access to an enhanced payments platform and reach more potential customers.”

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About one-third of that shopping will take place online, according to NRF.

NRF projects average spending per person to be $108.24, based on a survey of more than 8,000 consumers conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Per-person spending declined slightly in 2022, down to $100.45 from $102.74 in 2021. Now, it’s projected to grow about 8%.

Greater participation

Halloween participation is set to surpass pre-COVID levels this year, NRF says, after a dip in recent years. 73% of surveyed consumers plan to celebrate Halloween, up from the 2020 low of 58%.

“Spending will be modestly up on last year, but a lot of this will be driven by higher prices, especially in categories like candy,” says Neil Saunders, managing director at retail analysis firm Global Data. “In terms of categories, people are being a bit more frugal on decorations and costumes, but are being more generous with food and drinks to celebrate the occasion.”

69% of consumers celebrating Halloween say they plan to dress up, an increase from 67% last year. NRF projects that costumes will be the largest source of spending increases, making up $4.1 billion this year.

A larger number of respondents say they plan to decorate their homes in some way. More than three-quarters (77%) of consumers that are celebrating plan to decorate, leading to $3.9 billion in spending this year. 

Candy spending is projected to reach $3.6 billion.

Consumers look online for Halloween inspiration

The majority of Halloween spending still takes place in stores, NRF says, but consumers turn to online retailers for ideas. Online searches are the leading source of inspiration for costume ideas, according to the survey. However, online shopping is the third most common place consumers look for Halloween purchases, behind discount stores and Halloween specialty shops.

“Online is a much bigger part of Halloween than it used to be. Most candy and foods are still purchased in person, but online is used a lot more for things like costumes and home decoration as it is easier for consumers to research online and look for things like the best price points,” Saunders says. “That said, stores like Walmart and Target, which are convenient destinations, still do well at Halloween. They are easy for the consumer to visit and still benefit from impulse buying.”

Data from marketplaces software vendor Jungle Scout’s Halloween report indicates that more shoppers might be looking online for Halloween, especially in younger generations. One-third of Gen Z consumers say they plan to do the majority of their costume shopping on Amazon, according to Jungle Scout’s poll of 1,000 online shoppers. 29% each of Gen Z and Millennials plan to do the majority of all Halloween shopping online, the highest of any generation tracked by Jungle Scout.

Halloween spending starts early

Consumers also started their Halloween shopping earlier this year, according to Jungle Scout. Amazon searches for Halloween items picked up earlier in 2023 than they did in 2022. Specifically, searches for the major Halloween categories of decor, costumes, and candy were all more than 100% higher in August 2023 than in August 2022, according to Jungle Scout research.

“Younger consumers are eager to begin their Halloween shopping, with more than half of those ages 25-44 planning to shop before or during September,” Phil Rist, Prosper executive vice president of strategy, said in a statement from NRF.

That fits with early analysis of Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale, which unofficially kicked off the holiday shopping season. The October sales pushed holiday spending earlier in the year, says Kasi Socha, analyst at retail data research company Gartner.

Halloween spending doesn’t necessarily indicate much about the larger holiday season because it tends to drive less spending, Saunders says. However, if Halloween spending is especially robust, it could give retailers more confidence for the rest of the season, he says.

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The OpenAI consortium released its generative AI bot ChatGPT for public use during Q4 2022, and it quickly became the hottest topic around. Months later, everyone in the online retail industry is still buzzing about generative AI, but how many businesses are actually using the technology today? And how many would want to talk to us about it?

Turns out, quite a few.

While many merchants we talked to are still just piloting and exploring how best to use the burgeoning technology, many brands have live generative AI programs up today. This Strategy Insights, “6 ways retailers are using AI right now and how generative AI will change ecommerce,” showcases examples of many large retail brands (and a few smaller ones) and how they are using generative AI right now.

Below is just a sampling of examples you’ll find in the rest of this report. Download the entire Strategy Insights here.

1.) Stitch Fix taps generative AI to write  ad headlines and product descriptions

Apparel retailer Stitch Fix uses generative AI to write headlines for Facebook and Instagram ads. In the past, it would take about two weeks to develop a creative campaign and draft copy. But now, human copywriters can evaluate a headline created by the generative AI system in less than one minute — and they approve the machine-created content 77% of the time, Stitch Fix says.

2.) Babylist uses generative AI to write email subject lines

Baby products marketplace and registry says its marketers are expected to use generative AI to help create ideas, content and copy, says Lee Anne Grant, chief growth officer. Babylist finds that ChatGPT-generated subject lines increased open rates for marketing email in half of their tests. It concluded that ChatGPT is a “great resource for when the team needs subject line inspiration or help writing one,” Grant says.

3.) J’evar uses generative AI to create product models

Online-only jewelry merchant J’evar has its product designers use generative AI to speed up how it creates custom jewelry pieces. Instead of going through dozens of product mockups over the course of weeks, genAI can help its designers produce product samples in minutes, says J’evar founder and CEO Amish Shah.

4.) Newegg uses generative AI to summarize customer reviews

Online electronics retailer Newegg built a generative AI tool in house that creates one product summary for a product based on all of the published customer reviews. This review is published at the top of all the reviews. Reviews are an important feature for Newegg, as 20% of Newegg.com shoppers read reviews, and these shoppers spend 40% more money on the site than non-review reading shoppers, says Andrew Choi, director of brand and website experience for Newegg.

5.) UrbanStems creates images with genAI

Online flower merchant UrbanStems is using generative AI in multiple ways, including having it create images of potential products it wants to sell. For example, the brand can tell its generative AI software to create an image of a 10-stem red and white arrangement of peonies in a glass vase and white background — and send that image to its merchandising team to create the product in real life. This helps the brand quickly experiment with new designs, without having to purchase flowers and conduct a photo shoot just for a design mock up, says Katie Hudson, content director for UrbanStems.

6.) EBay enables its marketplace sellers to use genAI to write product descriptions

Marketplace giant eBay built a tool based on Open AI’s ChatGPT that creates a product description based on data sellers provide about a product’s category, condition, color, brand and more. Roughly 20% of sellers shown the generative AI tool use it, and of those, 90% accept at least part of the description, says Xiaodi Zhang, vice president of seller experience at eBay.  

Download the free Digital Commerce 360 October Strategy Insights, “6 ways retailers are using AI right now and how generative AI will change ecommerce” here.

—April Berthene, Editor, Strategy Insights

Additional reporting from Digital Commerce 360 editors Don Davis, Gretchen Salois and Abbas Haleem.

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