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TODAY’S MAZE
Happy Monday! Google turned Gemini into a shopping agent to remove checkout friction. A new protocol handles discovery and payment in one chat.
This shift moves the point of sale into the hands of autonomous software. How do brands optimize for an algorithm that buys for the customer?
In today’s MarketMaze focus:
Google launches commerce protocol
Europe taxes imported parcels
Amazon raises shipping standards
AI trust is cracking
Walmart ads outrun sales
+Handpicked recent news you need to know
LET’S ENTER THE MAZE!
- Artur Stańczuk, MarketMaze Founder
MAZE STORY
The Maze: Google introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard that allows AI agents to handle the shopping journey from discovery to purchase. This partnership turns Gemini into a proactive assistant that executes transactions directly within the chat interface.
Linking accounts allows Gemini to suggest complementary products based on purchase history and enables Walmart stores to deliver orders in as little as 30 minutes.
Google co-developed this open standard with a coalition including Shopify and Etsy to create a shared language that allows software to communicate across different merchant systems.
Mastercard enables software to transact by using cryptographic tokens that verify agent identity before any movement occurs through its new Agent Pay infrastructure.
Why it matters: This shift moves the point of sale from your website to the AI interface, forcing brands to prioritize agent discovery over traditional clicks. You must ensure your product data remains accessible to stay visible as autonomous software replaces human browsing.
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MAZE STORY
The Maze: Amazon is tightening its grip on wholesale operations by enforcing more rigorous delivery schedules for its upcoming 2026 vendor agreements. This move compels brands to synchronize their logistics more closely with the retail giant's high-speed fulfillment network to maintain shelf space.
The updated policy shifts the mandatory on-time shipment threshold from 90% to 95%, significantly narrowing the margin for operational errors and forcing brands to tighten their production lead times.
Vendors must now navigate stricter compliance definitions that dictate exactly when a package qualifies as successfully shipped within the system, eliminating previous loopholes for late-day processing.
This new standard makes improving logistical accuracy essential to ensure that every package meets the rigorous criteria set for compliant deliveries and maintains its standing within the ecosystem.
Why it matters: The retail giant is effectively outsourcing the stress of the 'last-mile promise' back to the manufacturers. This shift allows brands optimizing supply chains to win while legacy processes fail to keep up with modern consumer expectations for speed.
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MAZE STORY
The Maze: The European Union is eliminating its long-standing €150 de minimis exemption for imported e-commerce goods starting today. This massive policy shift forces every international shipment to pay customs duties regardless of its total parcel value or weight.
This regulatory change eliminates the previous price advantage held by foreign e-commerce companies that shipped small parcels into the continent without paying additional import fees.
European lawmakers designed this new system specifically to ensure that international sellers pay the same tax amounts as the domestic European merchants they compete against daily.
Every single imported package now triggers a mandatory payment because the authorities removed the prior financial limit that once allowed entering smaller duty-free shipments without taxes.
Why it matters: Ending tax-free imports marks a massive shift toward protectionism that prioritizes regional retail health over low-cost global logistics. Brands must re-evaluate their cross-border shipping strategies to maintain margins in the European market.
DATA TREASURE
The Maze: GenAI flipped from promise to problem in the creator economy. Between 2023 and 2025, consumers moved from curiosity to caution as AI content flooded feeds and blurred authenticity. The result is rising skepticism, weaker trust, and a creator market where volume grew faster than credibility.
In Nov 2023, 34% of UK and US consumers saw GenAI as positive for creators, but by July 2025 that fell to 31%, while the negative camp jumped from 18% to 32%, showing sentiment moved fast once AI content scaled.
Uncertainty also grew from 30% to 37% in under two years, a sign people struggle to tell human work from AI output and respond by disengaging rather than leaning in.
Creators using AI for efficiency still outperform, but generic AI-first content saw engagement dilution as audiences learned to filter sameness at scale.
Why it matters: Attention is now gated by trust. For ecommerce brands, AI content without disclosure risks hurting conversion, not helping it. Authenticity has become a measurable performance lever, not a soft brand value.
DATA TREASURE
The Maze: Walmart built a second growth engine hiding inside retail. Advertising revenue is compounding far faster than store and ecommerce sales, quietly reshaping profit math. Retail media is now the margin story.
From 2024 to 2026, Walmart advertising grew roughly 20% to 33% per quarter while US retail sales hovered around low single digits, creating a widening performance gap.
Ad growth scales with shopper intent and marketplace density, not with inventory risk, making it structurally more profitable than selling goods.
The model mirrors Amazon’s path, where ads fund lower prices and faster delivery, reinforcing the core flywheel.
Why it matters: Retailers are becoming media companies. For ecommerce brands, shelf visibility is increasingly paid, not earned. Budget allocation shifts from growth marketing to access fees.
BRIEFING
🏬 Everything else in Ecommerce & Big Tech
🇬🇧 Temu drove a massive sales surge and significant cost reductions for UK gardening brand DIVCHI, illustrating the platform’s potential to rapidly accelerate niche businesses.
🇺🇸 Skims appointed Kim Seymour, formerly of Etsy and American Express, as Chief People Officer to spearhead talent operations as the brand continues its global scaling.
🇺🇸 Michael Burry argued that the transition to capital-intensive AI hardware is cannibalizing the high returns on invested capital that historically underpinned Big Tech’s dominance.
🇨🇦 Ssense co-founders retained control of the Montreal-based luxury platform through a definitive purchase agreement following a court-supervised sale process.
🇺🇸 JD Sports partnered with Stripe and Commercetools to enable one-click purchases directly within AI interfaces like ChatGPT and Gemini for North American shoppers.
🌍 McKinsey deployed 25,000 AI agents to its workforce, aiming for every human consultant to be supported by at least one autonomous assistant within 18 months.
🇬🇧 Superdry deepened its long-term partnership with Bleckmann to leverage data-driven omnichannel fulfillment and strengthen logistics resilience across international markets.
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