Salesforce agrees to buy customer messaging firm Braze

Buy the response engine. Braze turns live customer behavior into messages across apps, websites, email and WhatsApp. Its artificial intelligence tools help choose offers, channels and timing.

Connect it later. Salesforce plans to link Braze with its customer data and marketing software after closing. The companies promise flexibility across tools and partners; integration benefits remain unproven.

Approval comes first. The deal values the business at about $5.66 billion. Salesforce expects closing in its fiscal 2028, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. No customer migration timetable is established.

Fewer gaps, possibly. Connecting customer records to timely messages could reduce coordination between separate systems. That benefit depends on the promised integration actually arriving.

One owner, more dependence. For marketing buyers anywhere, closer coordination must be weighed against relying on one software group. The announcement establishes neither lower prices nor a forced switch.

Existing members pay different upgrade prices. Walmart+ annual members pay $22 more a year; basic Sam’s Club members pay $60 more. Plus members can activate Walmart+ without an extra membership charge. Applicable taxes are additional.

Shoppers must link their accounts. The annual bundle renews automatically. It connects membership benefits, while the retailers keep separate shopping accounts.

Delivery still has minimums. Scheduled Walmart orders require $35 and Sam’s orders $50, subject to availability. Most people already paying for both memberships can link them and receive a prorated Walmart+ refund.

A bundle can give up income first. Eligible dual subscribers stop paying a separate Walmart+ renewal. Retailers elsewhere face the same trade-off: additional shopping must justify the subscription revenue surrendered.

A better offer is not a measured result. The launch provides no evidence yet of higher spending, improved retention or shoppers abandoning rival memberships.

Enrollment replaces the opt-in choice. Sale earnings after deductions enter eBay balance, an account for marketplace purchases, selling expenses and bank withdrawals. New Mexico sellers are excluded; enrollment requires identity verification.

Sellers must reset their preference. Existing daily, weekly, every-two-week or monthly transfers become on-demand. Sellers can restore an automatic schedule after enrollment or request a withdrawal of available funds.

Keeping money there earns sellers no interest. That restriction already existed. The account is not a bank deposit, and sellers cannot add money from an external bank.

Inaction can change cash timing. Overlooking the reset can leave available earnings on eBay until the seller requests a withdrawal or restores a schedule.

The financial upside is unmeasured. eBay already retains investment interest on pooled funds. No expected US balance-income increase is disclosed; prompt seller action could limit any benefit.

Look inside each account. Kroger pairs 1.0% comparable growth with 19.0% digital growth; Costco pairs 6.8% with 21.0%. Those gaps suggest reviewing online inventory, content and service separately within each retailer relationship.

Keep the exceptions. Best Buy’s rates are close at 4.5% and 5.1%; Gap shows both down 1.0%. Faster digital growth is common in this selection, but not universal. Fiscal quarters and geographic footprints also differ across rows.

Check the money behind the percentages. Faster growth from a small base need not add more revenue, and some online purchases may replace other purchases. The captured evidence establishes neither incremental demand nor profit.

The lead has reversed before. After digital’s pandemic spike above 100% in Q2 2020, its median growth fell to or below zero in four of nine quarters in the highlighted slowdown. The history argues against assuming a permanent advantage.

The recovered gap is 9.6 percentage points. Q1 2026 digital covers 22 companies and comparables cover 47. Dividing 12.5% by 2.9% does not establish a typical retailer’s online-growth multiple or the value of new demand.

Keep the unfinished quarter unfinished. Q2 2026 was still reporting in the captured snapshot. Changing samples and company definitions also limit comparisons over time; do not turn provisional endpoints into a final trend.

Social media shows the largest gap: 64% of businesses expect more customer use, versus 24% of shoppers planning more use themselves, a 40-percentage-point difference in response rates.

Artificial-intelligence chat and virtual assistants show a similar mismatch: 59% of businesses expect more use, versus 23% of shoppers. A conversational shopping tool could help people find products, but these figures do not prove it improves sales.

Established channels remain relevant: 34% of shoppers expect more marketplace use; apps and retailer websites each reach 32%. The surveys measure intentions in separate respondent groups, not future spending shares.

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DecryptAds mapped 2,116 recipe sites with misleading author profiles and links to online ad sellers. Stale account records mean a listed seller may never have received money.

AliExpress is adding YouTube product commissions for eligible creators in the US, UK, Brazil and Germany. Viewers buy on AliExpress; the deal expands discovery rather than moving checkout into YouTube.

The UK proposes wider iPhone contactless access for competing payment apps. Developers already have one route; the plan adds technical choice and targets access terms, with no fee cut yet.

Klarna joins Fiserv’s enterprise payment platform in the US, Canada, UK and selected Europe. Its separate 100,000-location Clover rollout is no measure of new enterprise adoption.

UK retail group Debenhams embeds Storfund financing: eligible sellers can receive up to 80% of net shipped sales early. Fees still apply, and the group’s 30,000-plus brands are potential users, not confirmed take-up.

UK sellers on resale marketplace Vinted challenge account bans: one business says a five-hour closure cancelled 42 orders. Vinted says people review all appeals; these cases do not measure how often decisions go wrong.

Ahold Delhaize’s US grocery sites and apps returned after at least eight days offline. Stores stayed open, but shoppers had lost online ordering and some digital discount access.