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ChatGPT now lets shoppers try on clothes using their own photo and save products for later. The shopping shortlist can stay inside the assistant before a merchant gets the visit.
News
1️⃣ ChatGPT keeps the clothing shortlist
2️⃣ eBay takes more from conversion
3️⃣ Three platforms capture EU outbound spending
Insights
4️⃣ Parcel lockers need local choices
5️⃣ AI adoption splits by format
6️⃣ Amazon same-day delivery and repeat orders
LET’S ENTER THE MAZE!
1️⃣ News
The Maze: OpenAI added Virtual Try On and Favorites to ChatGPT. Shoppers can preview outfits on their own photo and keep products for later, before visiting a merchant.
Virtual Try On combines a shopper photo with clothing or an accessory to show how it could look.
Favorites saves products in Library for a return visit, alongside try-on images.
The preview cannot guarantee fit, so measurements and return terms still matter before buying.
Why it matters: More of the clothing shortlist can live in ChatGPT. Merchants still need to turn an appealing preview into a purchase with clear sizing and product details.
2️⃣ News
The Maze: eBay is raising seller currency-conversion charges by 0.25 percentage points across eight markets, with the first increases starting October 14, 2026.
US and Canadian sellers move from 3% to 3.25% on October 14; Australia follows on November 1.
UK sellers move from 2.5% to 2.75% on December 1, with Germany, France, Italy and Spain following on December 2.
The charge sits in eBay's exchange rate when it converts funds for fees or payouts, separate from international selling fees.
Why it matters: For sellers whose funds need conversion, the same overseas sale leaves less value. Check the registered-country start date and actual payout currency.
3️⃣ News
The Maze: Temu, Shein and AliExpress took €49.7bn of the €55.1bn EU consumers spent online outside the bloc in 2025: 90.2% of outbound physical-goods spending.
Change: The EU's outbound share rose from 2.3% in 2020 to 13.1% in 2025, while 86.9% stayed in EU stores.
Mechanism: Local Amazon and eBay domains count as domestic, so storefront structure shapes the comparison with global platforms.
Consequence: The 90.2% figure measures overseas spending, leaving each platform's share and the competitive effect on individual retailers unknown.
Why it matters: The overseas market is concentrated. Retailers need category-level comparisons and a clear service advantage before turning that EU-wide figure into a sales plan.
4️⃣ Insight
The Maze: Poland's 68% locker preference contrasts with Britain's 12%, exposing a 56-point gap that makes a single European delivery default a risky assumption.
Poland leads Czech Republic at 56% and Sweden at 45% in DHL's locker ranking.
Britain's 12% matches Belgium, the Netherlands and UAE, making it a shared pattern rather than a unique rejection of lockers.
Survey preferences measure shopper choices, so retailers still need actual order volumes and delivery costs before funding expansion.
Why it matters: Offer the delivery options local shoppers value, then test checkout conversion and all-in costs before treating Poland's adoption level as Britain's target.
5️⃣ Insight
The Maze: AI touches 79.5% of content workflows across formats in one 100-company survey, but the average hides a 31.7-point gap between images and video.
Images lead at 91.4%, versus 84.1% for text and 82.8% for audio.
Video reaches 59.7% because moving product, voice and brand details create more failure points and costlier review.
Provenance can reveal supported AI output, but it cannot judge accuracy, originality or commercial value.
Why it matters: Manage AI by format, not with one adoption KPI. Automate repeatable steps, then concentrate human review where errors compound fastest.
6️⃣ Insight
The Maze: In selected U.S. metros, Amazon shoppers ordered more often after same-day capacity expanded; frequency held flat in metros without a same-day center.
New-center markets rose from 1.6 to 1.9 weekly orders per active shopper, an 18% increase on underlying data.
Same-day grocery markets rose from 1.8 to 2.0, while the no-center comparison stayed at 1.8.
More frequent orders may make Amazon a replenishment habit, but basket size and delivery economics remain unmeasured here.
Why it matters: Speed could deepen Amazon's grip on routine shopping. Retailers need to test whether extra orders add profitable spend or merely split existing baskets.
🧰 Resources
Useful stuff, handpicked by the team every day
🤖 AI prompts: 12 AI Prompts for Merchandising & Collection Planning or 👉 All here
📖 Glossary: Payments, Decoded: 18 Terms You Actually Need to Know or 👉 All here
📅 Events: All4Customer Paris 2027 or 👉 All here
🔓 Get the full resource library with MarketMaze+
🗞️ Quick hits
Everything else you should know
🔎 Discovery and advertising
Ahrefs found AI Overviews on 82.91% of branded US desktop search results on September 29 in its crawl study, showing brands how often an AI answer now sits alongside their own search presence.
Google Ads will create promotion assets from eligible website offers in Search and Performance Max, moving part of offer setup from merchants to Google’s scanner.
7-Eleven Australia launched Anytime Media across store, loyalty and digital touchpoints, opening another convenience-shopping channel for brand advertising.
🛒 Sellers and standards
Flipkart says its active seller base nearly doubled in 15 months and its marketplace has around 1.4 million sellers, attributing growth to zero commissions, simpler onboarding and AI tools.
Amazon and Flipkart began reviewing security-camera listings in India after unlicensed products were found online, putting marketplace certification checks under scrutiny.
eBay Australia’s November 3 terms update will let eligible free-selling users spend their sale proceeds on marketplace purchases and expenses, giving retained balances another use.
💳 Cross-border payouts
Payoneer renewed its Etsy partnership through 2029 across 16 markets, preserving seller payout access while leaving the new agreement’s economics undisclosed.
THAT’S IT FOR TODAY!
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