Putting groceries in an online basket is one thing. Paying with grocery benefits is another. A new US rule clears a path for eligible families to pay with WIC online. For grocers, the practical test is what it costs a shopper to get the order home once local checkout is available. We also look at why McDonald’s wants to take orders in its own app while Uber does the driving.
News
1️⃣ A US rule lets states approve online checkout for WIC grocery benefits
2️⃣ McDonald’s expands Uber delivery for orders in its own app
3️⃣ Comet returns as a marketplace where sellers handle delivery
Insights
4️⃣ The global spending gap between affluent and core consumers is projected to widen
5️⃣ The tasks people bring to ChatGPT vary across countries
6️⃣ A survey finds more confidence in small brands answering specific customer questions
LET’S ENTER THE MAZE!
1️⃣ News
The Maze: The US Department of Agriculture published a final rule that lets state agencies approve grocers to take WIC payments online. WIC helps eligible pregnant and postpartum women, infants and children under five buy specific foods. Under existing rules, shoppers generally pay in person.
Source: Federal Register. The rule distinguishes putting groceries in an online basket from paying for them online with WIC.
🗓️ Local rollout. The rule takes effect December 7, 2026. Agencies can choose whether to offer online shopping, and families need an approved retailer that serves their area.
💳 The basket splits. Online checkout applies the benefit to foods in the shopper’s WIC balance. A delivery fee, if charged, needs another payment method.
Our take: The rule clears a legal hurdle. Grocers still have to make the order affordable to receive, and they have a choice about who builds the checkout.
🚚 Delivery is a competitive choice. Meijer said it offered free home delivery when it started taking WIC online in Michigan in July 2026. That was the grocer’s offer, not a new federal benefit.
🛠️ Platform checkout takes time. Grocery platform Instacart is aiming to take WIC payments on its platform by the end of 2027. Grocers deciding whether to build their own checkout should treat that date as a target, not coverage they can count on today.
2️⃣ News
The Maze: McDonald’s and Uber are expanding their deal across 14 markets. In participating markets including the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the U.K., customers will order and track delivery inside the McDonald’s app, with Uber’s couriers delivering most of those orders.
Source: Uber Direct merchant guide. Uber’s merchant guide shows how customers receive tracking updates after a courier picks up an order.
Video: Uber Eats. An earlier explainer on how a business can use Uber couriers for orders taken through its own app or website.
🛵 Two apps. Uber Direct delivers orders McDonald’s takes in its own app, with order software provider Deliverect involved. Customers can still order through Uber Eats.
🚕 Rides first. Uber will be the only partner for rewards tied to deliveries and rides in participating markets. In select markets this November, members can spend points in the McDonald’s app on seasonal Uber ride discounts. Earning points on eligible Uber Eats orders is still planned.
Our take: McDonald’s is giving customers a reason to open its app between meals. Uber can pick up delivery work even when the order starts elsewhere.
📱 The courier handoff has history. McDonald’s tested in-app delivery with Uber in the U.K. in 2021. The new rewards give diners a fresh reason to come back to the app.
📊 The members already spend. McDonald’s reported $41 billion in purchases by loyalty members across 70 markets in the year to September. The test is whether ride discounts bring extra visits from that existing base.
3️⃣ News
The Maze: OnBuy, a British online marketplace operator, relaunched the Comet electronics brand on November 9. The new UK site brings retailers and shoppers together under the familiar black-and-orange name. Comet holds no stock of its own.
Source: OnCommerce. OnBuy brought back Comet’s black-and-orange branding for the marketplace relaunch.
🛒 Comet runs the checkout. OnBuy operates the site and collects payment for the retailer. If you buy a washing machine there, the retailer sets the price, sells it to you and arranges delivery.
📦 A big range on day one. OnBuy says the site opened with more than one million products from 2,500 sellers, from phones to kitchen appliances. That’s what’s on offer, not how much anyone has sold.
Our take: For a washing machine, the seller you choose handles delivery and eligible refunds. That makes the delivery date and how you’d arrange a return part of the offer you’re comparing alongside the price.
🕰️ The name has been online before. Previous owner Misco put a Comet web shop live in 2020. This time, the model is a marketplace: OnBuy gives independent retailers another shop window without stocking the goods itself.
🔧 Service can tip the sale. UK electricals retailer Currys said 32% of its deliveries of large items in the UK and Ireland included installation in the year to May 2026. For any marketplace selling appliances, that’s a reminder to compete on what happens after checkout as well as on price.
4️⃣ Insight
The Maze: In 2022, affluent and core consumers spent almost the same amount worldwide. NIQ and World Data Lab project a much wider gap by 2036.
📊 The lead widens. The 2022 chart shows about $27 trillion for affluent consumers versus $26 trillion for core consumers. By 2036 the forecast reaches $64 trillion versus $46 trillion. These are global annual totals in nominal dollars, across consumer spending.
💳 Who counts as core? World Data Lab uses roughly $13–$90 of daily spending for core consumers per person and above $90 for affluent consumers. Those bands adjust for purchasing power across countries.
Our take: The two forecasts point to different retail bets. One depends on earning more per customer. The other depends on reaching more customers profitably.
🛍️ Price for a benefit. The model projects about $29 trillion in additional affluent spending versus $15 trillion in core spending from 2026 to 2036. For a premium offer, test what customers will pay for faster service or a better product, then subtract the cost of delivering it.
📦 Design for reach. Over the same period the model projects 843 million additional core consumers versus 367 million affluent consumers. For an affordable offer, test pack size, distribution and margin per unit before betting on volume.
5️⃣ Insight
The Maze: The same AI assistant gets different jobs across markets. A September 2026 comparison using OpenAI Signals shows where writing, search and other tasks take up more of the conversation.
✍️ Writing stands out. It accounted for 35.4% of messages in the Philippines and 35.1% in Nigeria, compared with 21.4% globally. These percentages measure messages by topic, rather than the proportion of residents using the tool.
🔍 Read the sample correctly. The comparison uses sampled messages from individual ChatGPT plans. It excludes Enterprise, Edu and Codex. Retail buying intent and conversion are outside the dataset.
Our take: Translate the task menu as well as the language. Use the local mix to choose which task to test first, then measure whether customers complete it.
🧭 Start with the local question. Information seeking accounted for 25.3% of messages in Spain and 24.7% in Poland, versus 20.2% globally. A retailer testing a product assistant there could start with a dependable answer about stock or compatibility and check whether users find what they need.
📷 Give visual tasks a separate test. Images and media accounted for 12.9% of messages in India versus 8.8% globally. Try a task such as finding a compatible item from a photo. Score task completion separately from how often customers open the tool.
6️⃣ Insight
The Maze: In an October survey of 812 respondents, NP Digital asked where a smaller brand could give a more useful answer than a larger competitor. Confidence changed sharply with the question.
🎯 Specific situations lead. For questions about a particular customer situation, 63% were highly confident and 14% reported low confidence. High means extremely or very confident. The measure is opinion about answer quality.
📉 Broad categories reverse the gap. These drew 27% high confidence versus 35% low confidence. The publisher leaves geography and sampling undisclosed. The survey measures neither inclusion in AI answers nor sales.
Our take: A small team can turn questions it already hears into a focused content test. Start with a buying decision the customer actually needs to make.
🛠️ Write the setup guide. Detailed implementation drew 58% high confidence versus 16% low confidence. Pick an installation or compatibility question from support tickets and answer it with the steps and limits a buyer needs before ordering.
⚖️ Make the trade-off explicit. Comparisons with meaningful trade-offs drew 47% high confidence versus 20% low confidence. Publish a comparison that says which product fits which situation. Then track inclusion in AI answers and qualified enquiries separately.
🧰 Resources
Useful stuff, handpicked by the team every day
🤖 AI prompts: 12 AI Prompts for Landing Pages or 👉 All here
📅 Events: e-Commerce Day by Kaufland 2026 or 👉 All here
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🗞️ Quick hits
Everything else you should know
Shopping and resale
In markets where its Copilot AI assistant is available, Microsoft Edge on Windows and Mac now offers to compare similar products across open tabs. Its separate checkout coupon search is limited to U.S. English.
📦 Vinted Go starts in Finland with 300 parcel points around Helsinki. Unisend handles delivery between points, and buyers can choose the option only when both they and the seller have a participating location.
TikTok Shop offered Plus to more than one million selected US shoppers. It costs $9.99 a month after 30 days free, and qualifying early refunds come as credit to spend in TikTok Shop.
Payments and retail
Global Payments added a Visa data-sharing option for eligible domestic online payments in the U.S. and Canada. Cardholders’ banks can see extra context before deciding whether to approve. The announcement gave no measured results for the new option.
The Children’s Place filed for U.S. bankruptcy and proposed December 9 as the deadline for bids on nearly all its assets. Its stores and online shops are still trading while it looks for a buyer.
Policy and AI
The UK is weighing whether to include resale marketplaces in its under-16 social media ban, amid concern that private messages used to ask about an item or arrange collection can also expose children to contact from strangers.
OpenAI is reportedly testing daily counts of how often businesses appear in ChatGPT answers and how many clicks go to their sites. The unreleased tool would leave out the questions users asked, so merchants couldn’t see what triggered a mention.
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