If you’ve recently shopped at cosmetics brand Laura Mercier’s website, you may have come across a blue-colored teeth whitening strip shaped icon right below the “Add to bag” box, which offers a free and fast delivery date to shoppers. The blue box is Amazon’s Buy with Prime button plugged into Laura Mercier’s DTC site.

This year, Amazon is making a compelling play to push its Buy with Prime checkout feature first released in April 2022. This spring, sneaker brand Adidas will also carry a Buy with Prime badge on its app and website. At checkout, shoppers will get an option to log into their Amazon account and verify their Prime membership to complete the purchase. For a company that sparingly shares internal data, Amazon said in January 2023 that Buy with Prime led to a 25% increase in shopper conversions on average for merchants.

High-level buzz among Amazon experts is that the tech giant is sweetening the deal to get high-quality brands to sign up for Buy with Prime. This is because Amazon wants to expand its dominance over the supply chain. DTC shipping times tend to be much slower so brands are willing to test out this feature. Buy with Prime allows Amazon to control the online stores of thousands of brands by managing the fulfillment, delivery, and returns of items at a faster clip.

Keep reading here.—VC

After posting Q4 earnings and warning investors that President Trump’s proposed tariffs could raise prices, Target outlined its plan for making a series of investments aimed at driving “billions of dollars of profitable sales growth” by 2030, according to a company release.

“Shoppers continue to seek differentiated options and distinctive shopping experiences without sacrificing value, and Target has the scale, strategy, and capabilities to support all the ways consumers shop and engage with brands,” CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement.

At a high level, the company said it plans to deliver a trendy, affordable assortment; reinforce its digital and physical channels; and invest in its supply chain to improve speed and reliability. But beneath these pillars, it outlined some concrete strategies for growing its business.

Keep reading here.—AV

Google is rolling out new virtual try-on tools for makeup and clothing to let users in the US shop that perfect look they’ve pictured in their heads.

Google’s Vision Match feature will allow US shoppers to match fashion descriptions they’re looking for, like “colorful midi dress with big daisies,” with tangible products.

“Advanced AI is now opening doors for truly personalized, immersive shopping experiences that, in turn, tackle some of the toughest challenges—like the challenge of bridging a fashion or a beauty vision with reality,” Lilian Rincon, VP of consumer shopping product at Google, told Retail Brew.

Google is sharing new AI tools to make fashion visions—everything from trying out the latest makeup to trying on apparel—a reality, she added: “Everyone in the US can now shop for apparel that’s in their mind’s eye.”

Keep reading here.—VC