Author: Dailyusastory

The United States Postal Service released new postage and shipping rates this month, increasing costs for popular services such as Priority Mail by up to 51%. The USPS announced the increases in April 2025 to help achieve financial stability, meet regulatory requirements, and cover the transportation cost of packages. New USPS rates help achieve financial stability. Rate Changes The average increase for Priority Mail is 6.3%, but shipping software maker Pirate Ship noted that for some Zone 4-6 shipments, the increase was much higher, i.e., 51%. The cost of USPS Flat Rate boxes rose by 3%, 11%, and 7% for…

The search engine industry is changing quickly, upended by AI platforms that have altered queries and informational journeys. Consumers increasingly type extended prompts into AI platforms versus single keywords or phrases in traditional search engines. Prompts are much longer and are often voice-activated with follow-up questions. Moreover, prompts are typically much more descriptive and thus harder to predict. Nonetheless, knowing shoppers’ prompts is essential for understanding their needs. Unfortunately, third-party “question” tools are typically keyword-driven, unsuited for prompts. Prompt analytics tools New prompt-analysis tools are coming. For example, Similarweb’s new “AI Traffic Intelligence” reveals the prompts driving traffic to any…

This year I’ve sprinkled occasional “Ecommerce Conversations” episodes with real-life master classes from Beardbrand, my company. To date I’ve addressed hiring, branding, profit-building, priority-setting, and exiting. For this installment, I’ll share Beardbrand’s experience of losing nearly $1 million across 2023 and 2024. I’ll recap how we managed to survive our worst years in business while remaining 100% bootstrapped. It got bad. Our cash levels dropped to where they were in year one, 2014. We were hemorrhaging money. But we’re still here — still building and still learning. We made it through without outside funding. Here’s what the future holds for Beardbrand. My…

Today’s shoppers buy from a store’s website, marketplaces, and a half dozen social media networks. And every point of sale requires product information. For small businesses, ecommerce platforms are typically the primary source of product data. Larger retailers, manufacturers, and brands have long trusted product information management (PIM) software to be “the single point of truth” for data such as descriptions, specifications, and photography. PIM Use PIM software remains the best solution for businesses with thousands of SKUs in multiple channels and languages or dozens of product feeds. What has changed, according to Martin Balaam, the CEO and founder of…

From the manufacturer HEXA Inverter Inverter Technology offers up to 65% energy savings How it Works? Full DC High-Performance Air Conditioner Benefits 90% Cooling Capacity at 48 degree & stable operation at 60 degree 1 HEXA Inverter 2 Technology 3 Benefits The video showcases the product in use.The video guides you through product setup.The video compares multiple products.The video shows the product being unpacked. ai hexa Merchant Video Supersonic Cooling KTS & PKC technology cools in 10 seconds, delivering instant relief from extreme heat 20m Air Flow Haier’s motor, fan, and air duct deliver 25%…

Next-gen health and wellness is an apt description of MNLY. Luke Hartelust launched the platform in 2021, pronouncing it “manly,” and then pivoted twice while remaining focused on modern care for men. The current version combines AI with home-based testing, diagnoses, and nutrition. Customers pay an upfront fee and a monthly subscription afterward. In our recent conversation, Luke shared the company’s origins, growth, mistakes, and more. The entire audio of that discussion is embedded below. The transcript is condensed and edited for clarity. Eric Bandholz: Tell us about your work. Luke Hartelust: I’m the founder and CEO of MNLY, a…

The Fair Issac Corporation, better known as FICO, is launching new credit scores that incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans, potentially influencing the behavior of consumers, providers, and merchants. The shift could impact ecommerce conversion rates, average order values, and repeat purchases if consumers reconsider how they use BNPL services or become ineligible. Some BNPL providers already report repayment data, but the new FICO score models represent the first standardized effort to incorporate BNPL loans into mainstream credit scoring. For ecommerce merchants, the change could highlight a need to monitor how shoppers pay and may introduce uncertainty at checkout. FICO’s new BNPL credit…

For retailers, holiday sales are too important to leave to guesswork. Last year’s data holds the key to a more profitable season this year. So don’t wait. The dog days of summer are the right time to analyze last year’s Q4 results. Sales trends, campaign performance, and operational missteps all provide valuable insights that inform decisions. Here are seven reminders to help plan effectively. Summer is the right time to analyze last year’s Q4 results. Learn What Sold Last year’s sales data reveals behavioral patterns: how shoppers responded to promotions, product launches, and site changes. Review daily and weekly sales…

This installment of our weekly rundown of new products and services for merchants includes rollouts for video, cross-border payments, agentic commerce, shipping management, point-of-sale systems, live video shopping, ecommerce platforms, reverse logistics, and post-purchase upselling. Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com. New Tools for Merchants Payabl partners with PrestaShop to optimize ecommerce payments. Payabl, a fintech provider, has integrated with PrestaShop, an open-source ecommerce platform, to optimize customer payments for merchants. The plugin enables PrestaShop users to connect to Payabl’s infrastructure, providing sellers access to over 300 local payment methods, multi-currency support, fraud prevention, and real-time reporting. PrestaShop’s 250,000…

Large language models such as ChatGPT generate answers to prompts by querying massive, publicly available training data. The queries address the initial prompt plus additional info likely relevant to users’ needs and then consolidate the findings into a single, comprehensive response. The additional queries extend beyond the literal text of the prompt. Hence Google coined the term “fan-out queries” earlier this year to describe the tactic. Knowing the fan-out queries associated with an initial prompt helps publishers understand the platform’s interpretations and priorities. Two new tools reveal those queries in ChatGPT. These tools work only for ChatGPT’s web searches and…