2PM - Will Others Follow? 👀

INTRO (🔓): Klarna is making waves again—but this time for something much bigger than installment payments. The Swedish fintech giant has boldly declared that artificial intelligence (AI) is not just an enhancement but the future. This assertion is not merely a marketing ploy; Klarna is actively reshaping its workforce and operations in line with its AI-driven ambitions. With a target to reduce its full-time workforce by more than 50%—from 5,000 to 2,000 employees—CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has made it clear that this shift is central to the company’s strategy for the future. But what does this mean for larger enterprise software companies, particularly in the eCommerce space?

Continue Reading: Lessons

Can AI really replace Salesforce and Workday?

Excerpt / The Information: "Spokespeople for Salesforce and Workday didn’t want to discuss the Klarna CEO’s comments, but executives at other clunky or traditional enterprise apps say they were built to handle the various tax, labor and accounting laws that companies—especially global ones—must follow. Bespoke apps generated by AI can’t easily incorporate those nuances, these people say."

OpenAI's new AI models that can 'think' are here

Excerpt / QZ: The ChatGPT maker is releasing the first of its models that can "reason" through more complex tasks and problems in science, coding, and math.

Re-read: Here is what I wrote on Artificial General Intelligence and its timeline in June. 

How AI could change online product search and discovery

Excerpt / BoF: "Kirsten Green, a founder and partner at Forerunner Ventures, a consumer-focused venture capital firm, argued in a talk in July that consumers today feel overburdened by the amount of information available to them and are prioritising technology that can sift through it for them, driving a shift in services from what she calls “access” to “edit.”"

SUPPORTED POLL: At 2%, Klarna's advantages in the United States are slim. As Klarna aims further to integrate its BNPL services into the U.S. market and increase market share, it may face competition from Affirm, Afterpay, Sezzle, and Zip. Each has its own, co-branded physical card, but will they adopt Klarna's AI practices to better compete from a profitability standpoint? 

OnlyFans earned $6.6 billion, up 19% YOY

eCommerce / Fortune: The platform notes that cybersecurity concerns are “a top priority.” And being in the spotlight can be fun, but also sweltering. As public and media interest peaks in OnlyFans, the company resolves to “continue to develop its public and government relations strategy to address misconceptions” as stoked by coverage.

Temu now ranks as world's No. 2 eCom site

eCommerce / MPP: Two years after its launch, Temu overtook eBay to become the world's 2nd most visited e-commerce website.

TikTok's Chinese sibling emerges as fast-rising eCom player

eCommerce / SCMP: Douyin has been riding on its strength in videos to boost its e-commerce business. Live commerce, a mode of online shopping that lets users place orders while watching live streams, drew 3.8 billion daily views from August 2023 to July 2024, according to Doyin’s Wei.

Google: Digital IDs shift digital wallets beyond payments, passes

Excerpt: "Now, as they become more prevalent across end-users’ daily lives, gaining traction as a convenient and secure way to store and use things like event tickets, transit cards and loyalty programs, a new dimension of their utility is beginning to emerge: digital IDs."

Re-read: In August, I wrote "An Emerging Marketing Channel" about this very topic. 

There's no such thing as 'performance branding' marketing

Advertising / Excerpt: Brand marketing drives sales but performance doesn't build brand. Most marketers should separate the two, or they'll risk under-investing in long-term growth.

Folklore Shop relaunches, expanding support for global, independent brands

Marketplace / Excerpt: Founded in 2018, The Folklore has been at the forefront of merging a curation of independent brands with storytelling (hence the name) and fostering a global community.

Dollar General and Dollar Tree need a 'new playbook' to compete with Walmart and Target

Costs / Excerpt: “They need to make the necessary operational shifts, expand affordable and quality offerings, and enhance the customer experience both in-store and online,” Wells said. When they do, they need to “make consumers aware of their changes,” she said.

Latest Update (September), presented by Bold Metrics. All brands are updated with the secondary interest poll. The eleventh update of 2024 sees some major movers:

800+ Brands Measured

Online returns fraud finds a home on Telegram, costing billions

Logistics / Excerpt: "In one popular scheme, customers give the fraudsters their names, email addresses and order confirmation numbers for purchases made online. The fraudsters then go to a targeted retailer’s website and request a return label. They digitally manipulate the label to change the shipping address and apply the modified label to an empty envelope."

How overseas factories took over American eCommerce

Logistics / Excerpt: "Unsurprisingly, the players most frustrated by the shifting marketplace are U.S.–based importers—the companies that built a business on manufacturing in Asia and facilitating the sale stateside."

eCommerce fraud grows in scale and sophistication

Logistics / Excerpt: Other growing fraud trends detected by Signifyd include “fraud-as-a-service” operations through which fraud rings commit return and refund fraud on behalf of consumers for a cut of the profits.