Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business continued to outpace its traditional retail operations in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, with online sales increasing 24% year over year as the retailer leaned further into store-based fulfilment, marketplace expansion and faster delivery.

The performance reinforces Walmart’s transformation from a predominantly store-led retailer into a broader omnichannel commerce platform. While comparable U.S. sales increased at a much more modest pace during the quarter, digital channels remained one of the strongest areas of the business.

According to Walmart’s Q2 FY27 results, global e-commerce sales increased 23%, while Walmart U.S. e-commerce grew 24%. Online sales now account for approximately 23% of Walmart U.S. sales, illustrating how central digital commerce has become to the company’s overall retail model.

Fast delivery becomes central to Walmart’s e-commerce strategy

One of the key drivers of Walmart’s e-commerce growth is its growing use of physical stores as fulfillment hubs. Walmart said store-fulfilled delivery increased 40% during the quarter. Rather than depending exclusively on large regional fulfillment centers, the company is increasingly using inventory already located in its thousands of stores to fulfill online orders closer to the end customer.

The approach gives Walmart an important structural advantage in last-mile delivery. Stores historically designed primarily for in-person shopping can increasingly perform multiple roles simultaneously: retail location, pickup point, fulfillment node, and local delivery hub.

This distributed model can shorten the distance between inventory and consumers, allowing Walmart to expand same-day and rapid delivery services while making greater use of an existing physical network. Walmart described strong demand for convenient and fast delivery as one of the principal drivers of its global digital growth during the quarter.

Walmart's physical stores become e-commerce infrastructure

The growing importance of store fulfillment reflects a broader shift across retail logistics. Traditionally, large e-commerce operations concentrated inventory inside dedicated warehouses positioned strategically around a country or region. Walmart is increasingly combining this model with a vast network of stores already located close to population centers.

This creates a distributed fulfillment network. For customers, the visible result is faster delivery. Behind the scenes, however, the model requires much deeper integration between inventory management, order orchestration, store operations and last-mile logistics. Walmart needs to determine in real time whether an online order should be fulfilled from a store, distribution center or another part of its network while simultaneously preserving enough inventory for customers shopping physically.

Successfully coordinating these channels is becoming one of the defining logistical challenges of large-scale omnichannel retail.

Marketplace sales climb more than 50%

Walmart is also seeing strong momentum from its third-party marketplace. The company reported that Walmart U.S. marketplace net sales increased by more than 50% during Q2 FY27. Nearly half of Walmart's marketplace business globally now flows through the company's fulfillment services.

That combination is strategically important. A marketplace lets Walmart expand its product assortment without owning all the inventory being sold. Fulfillment services, meanwhile, enable the company to generate additional revenue by storing, processing and delivering products on behalf of third-party merchants.

The model increasingly resembles the ecosystem strategy that has helped Amazon expand beyond direct retail. Rather than generating revenue only from the final product sale, a marketplace operator can earn revenue across several layers of the transaction, including seller commissions, fulfillment, advertising and membership services.

E-commerce is becoming more important to Walmart's business model

Walmart's digital growth is increasingly connected to several of the company's other strategic priorities. Its Q2 results showed global advertising revenue increasing 38%, while Walmart Connect in the United States grew 43% excluding Vizio. The company has been expanding advertising alongside marketplace, membership and fulfillment services as it seeks to generate more revenue from each customer and merchant interaction.

These businesses are particularly important because many of them can carry higher margins than traditional retail. The result is a commerce ecosystem in which a marketplace transaction can potentially generate revenue from the seller, fulfillment, advertising, and the customer relationship, in addition to the underlying retail transaction.

Walmart highlighted marketplace, fulfillment services, membership, advertising, and other commerce solutions as businesses strengthening the company's economics.

Digital growth stands out amid slower comparable sales

The e-commerce performance was particularly notable because Walmart's broader U.S. retail growth was considerably slower. U.S. comparable sales excluding fuel increased 2.6% during the quarter. Reuters reported that this represented Walmart's slowest comparable-sales growth in approximately six years and fell below market expectations.

Walmart nevertheless raised its full-year sales and profit outlook. The contrasting results underline a key shift within the company: digital commerce is expanding much faster than the traditional store business.

Walmart U.S. e-commerce grew 24%, compared with 2.6% comparable sales growth, while Sam's Club U.S. e-commerce sales increased 26%. Walmart International e-commerce increased another 19%.

The divergence suggests that consumers are not necessarily abandoning Walmart's physical infrastructure. Instead, they are increasingly accessing the same inventory through digital channels.

Walmart continues closing the e-commerce gap with Amazon

Amazon remains the dominant e-commerce operator in the United States, but Walmart possesses an asset that is difficult for digital-native competitors to replicate: an enormous network of stores already positioned close to consumers. Walmart has increasingly treated those locations as logistics infrastructure.

That strategy changes the competitive equation around delivery. Instead of trying to reproduce Amazon's fulfillment network exactly, Walmart can combine dedicated e-commerce facilities with thousands of existing retail locations that can support pickup and local delivery.

The company is therefore competing not only through product pricing and assortment but increasingly through fulfillment speed and convenience. Its continued investment in automation, digital platforms and fulfillment technology is designed to make that network more productive while reducing the cost of serving increasingly demanding online customers.

The economics of rapid delivery remain the key challenge

Fast delivery can improve customer loyalty and conversion, but it also creates significant cost pressures. Picking individual orders from stores, coordinating delivery drivers, and transporting smaller baskets directly to homes can become expensive if order density is insufficient.

Scale is therefore crucial. The more orders Walmart can consolidate within the same geographic area, the easier it becomes to improve route density and spread delivery costs across more transactions. Marketplace growth can help by bringing more products and order volume into Walmart's logistics ecosystem.

Fulfillment services provide another layer of scale by encouraging marketplace sellers to place inventory within Walmart's distribution network. The objective is ultimately not simply to grow online sales, but to make those transactions increasingly profitable.

Walmart noted that its international operating-income growth benefited from improving e-commerce economics, particularly in China, India and Canada, suggesting that digital profitability remains a major focus across the group.

Omnichannel retail increasingly becomes a logistics competition

Walmart's results also illustrate a broader shift within global e-commerce. Competition between major retailers is increasingly determined by logistics capabilities rather than simply website traffic, product selection or pricing.

Consumers now expect accurate inventory visibility, multiple fulfillment options, convenient returns and increasingly rapid delivery. Meeting those expectations requires retailers to connect stores, warehouses, marketplaces and delivery networks into a single fulfillment system.

For retailers with large physical networks, this creates an opportunity. Stores can become strategic assets rather than liabilities in the age of e-commerce, provided their inventory and operations are integrated effectively with digital ordering systems. Walmart's 24% U.S. e-commerce growth suggests that this strategy is gaining momentum.

Walmart is building a broader commerce ecosystem

The longer-term significance of Walmart's digital growth extends beyond online retail sales. The company increasingly resembles a commerce infrastructure provider connecting consumers, merchants, advertisers and logistics services.

Its marketplace provides access to additional assortment. Walmart Fulfillment Services allows merchants to outsource logistics. Walmart Connect monetizes shopper traffic through advertising. Membership programs increase customer loyalty, while its store network provides local fulfillment capacity.

Together, these businesses create an increasingly interconnected commercial ecosystem. Amazon pioneered a similar model in which retail, marketplace services, fulfillment, advertising, and subscriptions reinforce each other. Walmart's advantage is that it can combine those digital capabilities with one of the world's largest physical retail networks.

What Walmart's 24% e-commerce growth means for retailers

Walmart's latest results reinforce one of the most important trends shaping modern retail: the distinction between physical commerce and e-commerce continues to disappear. The company's stores are increasingly becoming components of its digital fulfillment infrastructure, while its online marketplace feeds additional volume into logistics, advertising and fulfillment businesses.

For other retailers, the lesson may be less about matching Walmart's scale than about integrating channels more effectively. Inventory visibility, flexible fulfillment and delivery speed are becoming increasingly important competitive factors.

Walmart's Q2 FY27 results suggest that retailers that can turn physical locations into distributed e-commerce infrastructure may have a significant advantage as consumers increasingly prioritize convenience and faster delivery. For Walmart, the 24% increase in U.S. e-commerce sales is therefore more than another strong digital quarter.

It is further evidence that logistics and fulfillment are becoming central to the company's strategy for competing in the next phase of global e-commerce.

The post Walmart U.S. E-Commerce Sales Jump 24% as Fast Delivery Drives Growth appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

By DELIVER - DELIVER America, the leading invitation-only event for retail and supply chain leaders, has officially kicked off the countdown to its 2026 event by unveiling its first wave of high profile industry speakers.

The announcement sets the stage for the highly anticipated gathering on October 7+8 at Caesars Forum, Las Vegas, giving confirmed and prospective attendees an early look at the world-class content program before the event's signature 1-to-1 matchmaking platform officially opens later this summer.

This year's agenda features senior decision makers from some of the world's most influential retail and commerce brands alongside leading voices from across logistics, supply chain and technology.

Key speakers announced include Todd Soller, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Patagonia; Kirsten Hochberg, Board Director, Yogi Tea; Laurent Cohen, SVP Operations at Rockstar Original; and Gopalendu Pal, Director of Operations, Target. Bringing retailer-led insight to the forefront, these leaders will address the most pressing challenges and opportunities shaping the future of commerce - from artificial intelligence, automation and decision velocity to tariffs, trade shifts and practical sustainability strategies.

Stéphane Tomczak, Founder and Chairman of DELIVER, commented: “DELIVER America exists to connect the industry’s most influential decision makers in a highly focused and efficient way. Our upcoming 1-to-1 matchmaking phase will allow attendees to curate their own tailored schedules, ensuring meaningful, pre-qualified connections that drive real commercial outcomes. Combined with the incredible speaker lineup, this is where partnerships are built and business gets done.”

While the full matchmaking platform will launch closer to the event, qualified retailers and brands are encouraged to secure their invitations early - places are strictly limited to 100, and once they're gone, they're gone. Early applicants will receive priority access to the meeting selection process the moment it goes live. DELIVER's curated, pre-arranged 1-to-1 format remains the event's core differentiator, ensuring every interaction onsite is targeted, valuable, and commercially focused. 

Taking place in an exclusive, fully hosted environment, DELIVER America will bring together senior level retail and supply chain decision makers, including C- and Director level leaders, alongside innovative solution suppliers. Attendance is strictly limited to ensure quality connections, high level networking and a premium experience for all participants.

As anticipation builds throughout the summer, further speaker announcements and interactive session highlights will be revealed.

About DELIVER
DELIVER is the leading global event platform connecting supply chain, logistics and commerce decision-makers through curated B2B matchmaking experiences. Renowned for its disruptive event model built on ROI-driven matchmaking and strategic content, DELIVER operates across Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East. A mission-led, 100% carbon and profit neutral company, DELIVER places sustainability at the core of its business model.

For more information on attending, exhibiting, or sponsoring, please visit https://www.deliver.events/AMERICA

The post DELIVER America Unveils Stellar 2026 Speaker Lineup as Countdown to Las Vegas Begins appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

By fulfilmentcrowd - International commerce creates an interesting conundrum for fulfilment providers. Customers want global reach, but logistics expertise remains inherently local. For a start, warehouses need to be positioned in the right markets, and carrier and delivery requirements differ by region. And, as brands grow, adding new warehouses and logistics providers can quickly lead to a fragmented supply chain.

One answer is to own more infrastructure. Another is to scale reach through partnerships. The latter sits at the heart of the business model of fulfilmentcrowd – a global fulfilment provider that injects its technology across a range of partner-owned sites worldwide. Importantly, this isn't a traditional outsourced model where independent partners are simply handed responsibility for fulfilment. 

Each Fulfilment Network Partner (FNP) operates within fulfilmentcrowd's established processes, technology and service standards, with performance and SLAs centrally managed and monitored by fulfilmentcrowd’s dedicated Network Team.

It means the physical operation can benefit from local expertise, while customers retain the consistency and control of a single fulfilment model.

Using this controlled network of FNPs, fulfilmentcrowd allows its customers to rapidly expand into new regions and put products wherever demand takes them. One of these FNPs is GDB Logistics, the Netherlands-based logistics specialists that provide forwarding, transport, warehousing, fulfilment and supply chain solutions.

Building a network, not warehouses

The traditional route of expanding a fulfilment network is relatively linear: identify a market, find a site, invest in infrastructure, recruit a team, establish an operation. It works, but it can be expensive and slow. So, instead of building warehouses from scratch, fulfilmentcrowd deploys its in-house platform and operating model within existing infrastructure.

Crucially, joining the network means adopting fulfilmentcrowd's operating processes, rather than continuing to operate as a disconnected third-party provider. FNP teams work within the same framework, with agreed service levels and processes providing a consistent operational standard across the network.

The physical warehouse space may be operated by a local partner, but from the customer’s perspective, it forms part of the same connected fulfilment network. Global orders, inventory and performance remain visible through a single platform, allowing brands to expand internationally without assembling and managing a different technology stack for every market.

This also means expansion doesn't require brands to surrender visibility or control as their fulfilment footprint grows. The network may extend across different operators and countries, but the technology and oversight remain consistent. For growing retailers, it removes a lot of the operational headaches associated with global expansion.

The local knowledge behind international growth

Technology can connect different fulfilment centres, but it’s the local expertise that delivers on the logistical side. This is where fulfilmentcrowd’s FNPs become particularly valuable. A strong network partner already understands its local market: compliance, location, operational knowledge, relationships.

GDB Logistics is a great example of this. The family-owned European logistics provider has more than 85 years of industry experience and operates across many areas of the typical supply chain.

Through the partnership, GDB facilitates fulfilmentcrowd operations in Born (Netherlands) and Leipzig (Germany), helping brands put products closer to their customers throughout the EU. Where fulfilmentcrowd provides the technology and the customer base, GDB concentrates on the physical logistics operation.

Rather than attempting to duplicate one another’s expertise, the partnership is built around knowing what each organisation does best. For fulfilmentcrowd’s customers, the GDB partnership means quick access to strategically important European hubs, reducing delivery times and supporting more competitive cross-border trading.

For GDB, the collaboration provides opportunities with fulfilmentcrowd’s international customer base, allowing the business to extend its reach beyond its traditional operational footprint. “What stands out with GDB Logistics is how closely aligned we are as teams,” says Paul Taylor, fulfilmentcrowd’s Managing Director.

“There’s a shared mindset around performance and continuous improvement, which makes for a natural, effective partnership. It’s a genuinely collaborative working relationship, and that shines through in the service provided to customers on both sides.”

Consistency through a shared operating model

One of the biggest challenges in any multi-partner fulfilment network is ensuring consistency across different locations worldwide.

The fulfilmentcrowd and GDB relationship addresses this through a shared operating framework, underpinned by fulfilmentcrowd’s platform. Across all of its international locations, the fulfilmentcrowd platform provides real-time visibility of inventory, orders and performance – regardless of where fulfilment takes place.

Rather than operating as separate entities, both organisations work within a connected system that standardises processes while still allowing GDB to apply its local expertise in day-to-day warehouse and transport operations.

The technology provides visibility, but control extends beyond the platform itself. Processes, service levels and operational performance are continually managed to ensure the customer receives a consistent fulfilmentcrowd experience – regardless of which network location is handling an order.

This balance is important. Brands benefit from the efficiency and scale of a wider network, while still receiving the reliability and operational quality expected from an experienced local logistics provider.

It also reinforces a key principle of the fulfilmentcrowd model: partnerships aren't about outsourcing isolated functions, but about integrating trusted operators into a unified fulfilment ecosystem.

“fulfilmentcrowd handles the system, brings in customers and does the customer service side. With this setup, it allows us to focus fully on the logistics part,” adds Danny de Koning, Head of Warehousing at GDB Logistics.

Enabling faster, more flexible European growth

For eCommerce brands, the practical impact of this type of partnership is speed and flexibility.

Instead of investing heavily in new infrastructure or managing multiple third-party providers across different countries, brands can scale into European markets through a connected network that already has established operational capability. 

Put simply, brands grow across regions using the same tech they started with.

As demand shifts or grows in new regions, stock can be reallocated within the network without requiring a complete overhaul of fulfilment operations. This creates a more responsive approach to international expansion, where logistics can adapt alongside commercial growth.

In effect, the partnership allows brands to treat Europe less as a collection of separate fulfilment challenges, and more as a single, connected trading environment supported by local execution.

A practical route into European growth

As cross-border eCommerce continues to grow, the ability to enter new markets quickly and efficiently is becoming a key competitive advantage. fulfilmentcrowd and GDB’s partnership demonstrates how this can be achieved in practice. 

By combining established European logistics infrastructure with a connected fulfilment platform, brands can scale into new territories without the traditional barriers of fragmented operations and duplicated systems. For many retailers, this approach offers a more sustainable path to international growth: one that prioritises flexibility, local expertise and operational visibility over heavy upfront investment.

It’s this combination that makes the model particularly relevant for brands looking to expand across Europe in a controlled and scalable way. For a closer look at how the partnership works in practice, read the full story behind the fulfilmentcrowd and GDB Logistics collaboration.

The post Global scale, local expertise: The partnership-led business model that’s changing cross-border fulfilment appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

Data has always been one of the most valuable assets available to an e-commerce business. Yet having more data does not necessarily mean understanding customers better — and it certainly does not guarantee higher revenue.

For Daniele Rutigliano, e-commerce expert, the real opportunity lies in turning the information companies already possess into concrete decisions. From identifying friction in the customer journey to improving retention and personalising marketing, data becomes valuable only when businesses know what question they are trying to answer.

As artificial intelligence makes increasingly sophisticated analysis accessible to companies of every size, Rutigliano believes the competitive divide will not simply be between businesses with more or less data. It will be between those capable of transforming it into action and those that continue merely collecting it.

Having data is not the same as being data-driven

CBM: Companies have access to unprecedented amounts of customer information today. Are e-commerce businesses actually making good use of it?

Daniele Rutigliano: There are essentially two very different situations.

On one side, you have companies — particularly small and midsize businesses — that still don't have a genuinely data-driven culture. Some may not even have a CRM system in place.

On the other side, there are businesses collecting enormous amounts of information but struggling because that data is distributed across different platforms, databases and servers.

So simply having data isn't enough. Companies need accurate information, properly integrated systems and, most importantly, the expertise required to interpret what the data is telling them.

Artificial intelligence is making that process considerably easier because it can accelerate analysis, identify correlations and even allow people to interrogate complex datasets using natural language. But AI cannot compensate for incomplete or poor-quality information.

"The goal shouldn't be to collect as much information as possible. It should be to transform the right data into better decisions."

Which e-commerce metrics actually matter?

CBM: With so many metrics available, which KPIs should online retailers really be paying attention to?

Daniele Rutigliano: Understanding customers has always been fundamental to marketing. The better you understand their needs and behaviour, the better positioned you are to encourage repeat purchases, generate referrals and create relevant campaigns.

There are many metrics an e-commerce company can monitor, but some of the most important are Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Average Order Value (AOV), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Time Between Purchases (TBP).

Each tells you something different.

CAC tells you how much you're investing to acquire a customer. CLV helps you understand how valuable that customer could be throughout the relationship. AOV shows the average value of their transactions, while TBP tells you how frequently they're coming back.

Put those pieces together and you begin developing a much clearer picture of the customer.

We're still going to need segmentation and broader customer groups, but the direction is increasingly towards personalisation. E-commerce marketing is gradually moving closer to a one-to-one model.

Moving from dashboards to decisions

CBM: How does a company actually transform those metrics into higher revenue?

Daniele Rutigliano: Collecting information is only the beginning. There needs to be a process behind it.

You identify a problem or an opportunity, formulate a hypothesis, take a specific action and then measure what happens.

Imagine, for example, that your data shows an unusually high checkout abandonment rate in one particular country.

The number itself isn't the answer. It's the starting point.

You then need to understand why it's happening. Are shipping costs too high? Are delivery times too long? Are customers missing their preferred local payment method? Is there another source of friction?

Once you've developed a hypothesis, you implement a change and compare performance before and after that intervention.

That's when data becomes valuable. You're no longer simply observing a dashboard; you're using information to make a measurable business decision.

"The real value doesn't come from having more dashboards. It comes from using their information to make measurable improvements."

Creating a unified view of the customer

CBM: One of the challenges you mentioned is having information scattered across multiple systems. How can retailers build a clearer customer view?

Daniele Rutigliano: It depends on the maturity of the business and what it's trying to achieve.

Web analytics platforms can tell you how visitors arrive at your website and how they navigate it. Behavioural analytics tools such as Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar or Mouseflow can go further by using session recordings, heat maps and interaction data to identify friction in the customer journey.

More advanced businesses can introduce Customer Data Platforms, or CDPs, which combine information from different sources to create unified customer profiles.

Once you have that integrated view, the information can then be activated across different channels to create much more personalised customer communications.

Where does AI fit into the equation?

CBM: Artificial intelligence is changing virtually every aspect of e-commerce. What difference does it make when working with data?

Daniele Rutigliano: AI can dramatically accelerate the analytical process.

It can identify correlations across complex datasets and make information accessible to people who might previously have required specialist analytical knowledge. Natural-language interaction is particularly interesting because it reduces some of the barriers between decision-makers and the information contained within their systems.

But there's an important limitation.

AI cannot fix fundamentally bad data.

If your information is inaccurate, incomplete or poorly integrated, introducing AI isn't suddenly going to create a reliable business intelligence system. The foundations still matter.

Companies need to collect accurate information and connect their systems properly before they can expect AI to generate meaningful insights.

Data-driven e-commerce isn't only for large companies

CBM: Smaller e-commerce businesses may hear terms like CDPs, AI and advanced analytics and assume that becoming data-driven requires a major investment. Does it?

Daniele Rutigliano: Not necessarily.

Many SMEs already have a surprising amount of useful data. It might exist inside their e-commerce platform, analytics tools, advertising accounts, CRM or customer service software.

You don't need to begin with an enormous technological infrastructure.

Start with a business objective.

Identify the information that can help you understand that particular objective and then use the tools you already have available.

Platforms such as Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity, combined with advertising platform data and the reports generated by the e-commerce platform itself, can already reveal customer behaviours, weaknesses in the purchasing journey and potential opportunities for growth.

The important thing is not how sophisticated the technology is. It's whether you're using the information to answer a meaningful business question.

From insight to competitive advantage

For Rutigliano, becoming data-driven is ultimately less about accumulating technology and more about changing how companies make decisions.

A metric should lead to a question. The question should generate a hypothesis. The hypothesis should result in an action. And that action should produce something that can be measured.

That cycle turns information into commercial intelligence — and commercial intelligence into revenue.

It is also the approach Rutigliano will explore through practical examples during his workshop, “Data as a Revenue Driver: From Insight to Competitive Advantage,” at the EU Cross-Border E-commerce Forum 2026 in Liège on September 9 at 11:15 a.m.

For e-commerce businesses, his message is straightforward: competitive advantage will not come from simply possessing more information than everybody else. It will come from knowing which data matters, understanding what it means and, above all, acting on it.

The post Spotlight on Daniele Rutigliano: Turning E-commerce Data into Revenue and Competitive Advantage appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

Alipay has launched what it calls China’s first full-stack agentic commerce platform, introducing new infrastructure designed to help merchants shift from conventional digital commerce to operations increasingly managed and accessed by artificial intelligence agents.

The platform was presented at Alipay’s AI Ecosystem Partner Conference and brings together tools that make businesses' products, services, workflows, and payment capabilities accessible to AI agents. According to Alipay, businesses with different levels of AI maturity can adopt different components of the system, rather than building their own agentic-commerce infrastructure from scratch.

The announcement represents another step in the rapid development of agentic commerce in China, where Alipay has already been developing AI-native payment technologies, trust protocols and consumer-facing AI agents.

What is Alipay’s agentic commerce platform?

Traditional e-commerce has largely been designed around humans interacting directly with websites, apps and marketplaces.

Agentic commerce introduces another layer: AI agents that can search, compare, select and potentially purchase products or services on behalf of consumers.

Unlike conventional chatbots, agentic AI systems can interact with external software and perform actions toward a defined objective with limited human supervision.

For merchants, this creates an important technical challenge. A product being visible on a website or searchable through Google does not automatically mean that an AI agent can understand the service, determine whether it is appropriate for the user, and complete the required transaction.

Alipay’s new platform is intended to bridge that gap. The company says merchants without their own AI capabilities can use a one-stop solution to convert product and service processes into tools that AI agents can understand and invoke. Alipay describes these as agent-ready Skills and MCP-based tools.

This could allow merchants to make existing commercial services available through emerging AI interfaces without rebuilding their entire technology stack.

From digital storefronts to AI-accessible businesses

One of the most important implications of agentic commerce is that the traditional online storefront may no longer be the only interface between a consumer and a merchant. Instead of opening several websites and comparing products manually, a consumer could potentially tell an AI assistant:

“Find me the best hotel near my meeting, book it within my budget and pay using my preferred payment method.”

The AI agent would then need to interact with multiple businesses, evaluate availability and pricing, verify relevant information and complete the transaction. For this model to work at scale, merchants need infrastructure that can communicate with those agents.

Alipay is positioning its new platform as part of that infrastructure. Its approach combines merchant services, AI tools, payment capabilities, identity systems, risk controls, and transaction infrastructure to support the entire agent-driven commercial process.

Ah Bao becomes a gateway to Alipay’s AI commerce ecosystem

A major part of Alipay's strategy is Ah Bao, the company’s consumer-facing AI service agent. Launched in June 2026, Ah Bao provides access to more than 10,000 AI-enabled everyday services, Alipay says. Consumers can use natural-language conversations to do everything from paying utility bills and locating electric-vehicle charging stations to booking services.

Alipay is now developing Ah Bao as a gateway connecting consumers with businesses participating in its agentic ecosystem.

This marks an important difference between generative AI assistants that simply recommend a service and systems that can actually complete the requested task.

The commercial opportunity increasingly lies in moving AI from recommendation to transaction.

For merchants, participating in these ecosystems may eventually become as important as optimizing products for search engines or marketplaces today.

Businesses may need to ensure not only that consumers can discover their products, but also that AI agents can understand, compare, and transact with them.

Payments are becoming AI-native

Payments are another essential piece of the agentic commerce model.

Earlier in 2026, Alipay introduced new AI payment infrastructure including AI Wallet and Token Pay, designed to enable transactions involving AI agents and AI-powered applications.

The company has also developed an Agentic Commerce Trust Protocol, intended to establish a standardized framework for interaction between AI systems and service platforms.

The challenge is significant.

Allowing an AI agent to make purchases raises questions about authorization, identity, transaction limits, fraud prevention, and whether the AI's actions accurately reflect the user's intention.

Alipay has therefore built security and trust mechanisms alongside its payment infrastructure, rather than treating AI payments as just another checkout method.

This development is not limited to Alipay's domestic ecosystem.

Alipay+ has also introduced an Agentic Mobile Protocol designed to let AI agents initiate payments through compatible digital wallets while users maintain control over spending intentions, budgets, and security.

The infrastructure supports scenarios where AI agents can transact without requiring consumers to manually open a payment application for every purchase.

Why agentic commerce matters for e-commerce merchants

The arrival of full-stack agentic commerce platforms could eventually change how online businesses approach customer acquisition.

Today, e-commerce companies invest heavily in areas such as:

SEO
marketplace optimization
paid advertising
social commerce
mobile applications
conversion optimization

Agentic commerce could add another requirement: AI discoverability and transactability.

An AI shopping agent needs structured information about products, pricing, availability, delivery, returns and payment options before it can confidently select a merchant.

That means product feeds and APIs could become increasingly important parts of customer acquisition infrastructure.

Commerce may consequently evolve from businesses optimizing primarily for human interfaces toward businesses optimizing simultaneously for humans and machines.

Competition for the AI commerce layer is intensifying

Alipay is not developing agentic commerce in isolation.

Technology companies, payment networks, marketplaces and AI providers are increasingly exploring ways for autonomous AI agents to interact with commercial services.

The strategic question is becoming which platforms will control the infrastructure connecting:

Consumers → AI agents → merchants → payments → fulfillment

The companies controlling those connections could gain significant influence over how products are discovered and transactions are routed.

Alipay already occupies an important position in digital payments and consumer services in China, giving it an existing ecosystem from which to develop an agentic commerce layer.

Its latest platform therefore represents more than the introduction of another AI assistant.

It aims to provide the underlying commercial infrastructure through which AI agents can interact with thousands of businesses.

Agentic commerce still faces major challenges

Despite rapid development, fully autonomous commerce remains an emerging model.

Security is one of the largest concerns.

Recent academic research examining agentic-commerce systems has highlighted potential vulnerabilities at the protocol level, particularly when agents interact with credentials, payment systems and external services.

Merchants and payment providers must also address questions surrounding authorization, liability, refunds and disputes.

If an AI agent buys the wrong product, exceeds a budget or incorrectly interprets a consumer's request, responsibility for that transaction could become difficult to determine.

Reliable identity verification and clear user controls will therefore be critical before highly autonomous purchasing becomes mainstream.

The next phase of e-commerce could be machine-to-business

Alipay’s launch shows how quickly agentic commerce is moving from experimentation to commercial infrastructure. The internet was originally designed for humans to visit websites.

Mobile commerce shifted that interaction toward apps. Marketplaces then centralized product discovery and purchasing within large commercial ecosystems. AI agents could represent the next change in that interface.

Consumers may increasingly describe what they want to achieve, while software agents determine which merchants, products, and services can fulfill that request.For e-commerce businesses, that could ultimately create a new competitive requirement. Visibility may no longer be enough.

Merchants may also need to become visible, understandable and transactable to AI agents. Alipay’s full-stack agentic commerce platform is an early indication of what that future could look like.

The post Alipay Launches China’s First Full-Stack Agentic Commerce Platform appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

Alibaba Group has agreed to sell its gaming business Lingxi Games to Asian private equity firm Trustar Capital, marking another significant step in the Chinese technology giant’s strategy to concentrate resources on e-commerce, artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

The transaction involves Alibaba transferring its entire stake in Lingxi Games to Trustar Capital. Reuters reported that the deal is worth more than $2 billion, citing a source familiar with the transaction, although an internal memo confirming the sale did not disclose the final valuation or a closing date.

The divestment reflects Alibaba’s increasingly focused strategy as it redirects capital from businesses it considers non-core to areas it sees as central to its future growth.

Alibaba exits Lingxi Games

Lingxi Games is a Guangzhou-based game developer best known for titles including Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition, developed in collaboration with Japanese game company Koei Tecmo.

According to reports, Lingxi CEO Zhou Bingshu told employees that Alibaba would transfer full ownership of the company to Trustar Capital. Management and operations are expected to remain largely stable following the acquisition.

Trustar Capital, formerly known as CITIC Capital, emerged as the buyer after reports in early August suggested several potential bidders had been evaluating the gaming company.

The disposal comes after Alibaba spent several years building a presence in China's highly competitive gaming sector. However, gaming has become increasingly peripheral to the group's wider strategic direction.

Instead, Alibaba is consolidating around two areas that management has repeatedly identified as fundamental to the company’s future: commerce and artificial intelligence.

E-commerce and AI become Alibaba's strategic priorities

Alibaba's decision to sell Lingxi is not an isolated restructuring move.

The company formally identified e-commerce and AI technology as its most strategically important directions in 2024, when it reorganized its domestic and international commerce operations under a newly integrated e-commerce business group.

Since then, Alibaba has been reducing its exposure to businesses outside those priorities.

The company previously disposed of non-core retail assets including its holdings in Sun Art and Intime. Alibaba said monetizing these investments would allow it to concentrate resources on developing its core businesses.

Selling Lingxi Games fits directly into that strategy.

Rather than maintaining a broad portfolio spanning retail, entertainment, gaming and other sectors, Alibaba is increasingly positioning itself as a technology and commerce company built around a combination of e-commerce platforms, cloud infrastructure and AI.

Alibaba is spending heavily on AI

The shift is particularly significant because Alibaba is committing enormous amounts of capital to artificial intelligence infrastructure.

In February 2025, the company announced plans to invest at least RMB380 billion, approximately $53 billion at the time, in AI and cloud infrastructure over a three-year period. Alibaba said the investment would exceed its total spending on AI and cloud infrastructure during the previous decade.

That investment covers computing infrastructure, AI models, cloud services, and technologies capable of supporting increasingly advanced AI applications.

Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu has positioned AI as one of the company's largest technological opportunities. The group has since expanded its Qwen family of AI models, increased its cloud computing capacity, and developed AI services for both consumers and businesses.

By the end of Alibaba's 2026 fiscal year, AI-related products represented around 30% of Alibaba Cloud's external revenue, while external cloud revenue grew 40% during the final quarter of the year, according to the company.

The numbers demonstrate why Alibaba increasingly views AI and cloud infrastructure not simply as technology investments but as major future revenue engines.

AI is also becoming part of Alibaba's e-commerce strategy

For e-commerce businesses, however, Alibaba's strategy matters because it is not developing AI and commerce as separate divisions. Instead, Alibaba is increasingly integrating artificial intelligence throughout its commerce ecosystem.

AI can potentially influence almost every layer of an online marketplace, from product discovery and search to advertising, merchant services, customer support, logistics optimization and personalized recommendations.

Alibaba has already deployed AI solutions across Taobao and Tmall and has increasingly connected its Qwen ecosystem to its commerce platforms. In 2026, for example, the company integrated the Qwen app with Taobao's product catalog and introduced Qwen-powered shopping capabilities inside Taobao. This creates an important strategic advantage.

Alibaba operates major consumer and B2B commerce platforms while simultaneously controlling cloud infrastructure and developing its own foundation AI models. Those capabilities could allow Alibaba to build AI shopping tools without relying heavily on third-party technology providers.

The race toward agentic commerce

The evolution could become even more significant as e-commerce moves toward agentic AI. Traditional online shopping still requires consumers to search for products, compare options, evaluate sellers and manually complete purchases.

AI agents could increasingly perform parts of that process independently. A consumer might eventually ask an AI assistant to find a specific product within a budget, compare delivery times, evaluate seller reliability, and recommend or potentially execute the best purchase.

For marketplace operators, this changes the importance of both product data and the technology controlling the interface between consumers and merchants. Alibaba has already described agentic AI and Model-as-a-Service as important components of its long-term AI strategy.

Integrating those technologies with Taobao, Tmall, Alibaba.com, AliExpress and other commerce platforms could give the company a large real-world environment in which to deploy AI-driven shopping services.

International e-commerce remains important

Alibaba's commerce strategy also extends far beyond China. Its international operations include platforms such as AliExpress, Lazada, Trendyol and Alibaba.com, giving the company exposure to both consumer and business-to-business cross-border commerce.

Alibaba previously reported that international commerce revenue was being supported by growth in businesses including AliExpress and Trendyol. The group therefore has an opportunity to apply AI capabilities across markets with very different languages, consumer behaviors and merchant ecosystems.

AI tools could prove especially valuable in cross-border commerce, where sellers must deal with challenges including multilingual product information, localization, customer service, search relevance and international marketing.

As AI becomes more deeply embedded in Alibaba's international platforms, these services could lower some of the barriers merchants face when selling into unfamiliar markets.

A leaner Alibaba emerges

The Lingxi Games sale therefore represents more than simply the disposal of a gaming studio. It also signals how Alibaba is reshaping itself after years of operating as a highly diversified technology conglomerate.

The company has repeatedly stressed portfolio discipline and the disposal of non-core assets while increasing spending on businesses that can support long-term growth. That increasingly means concentrating resources around consumption, e-commerce, cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

Gaming may remain a large global digital industry, but maintaining a major gaming studio does not necessarily strengthen Alibaba's position in its most strategically important markets.

Selling Lingxi lets the company simplify its portfolio while potentially freeing up billions of dollars in capital as investment requirements in AI infrastructure continue to grow.

What the Lingxi Games sale means for e-commerce

For the wider e-commerce industry, Alibaba's restructuring illustrates how quickly AI is becoming intertwined with competition between the world's largest commerce platforms.

Amazon, Alibaba, Google, Meta and other technology companies are all exploring how generative and agentic AI could change product discovery and purchasing. The competition is no longer simply about which marketplace has the largest selection of merchants or the fastest logistics network.

Increasingly, it could also depend on who controls the AI systems consumers use to discover, compare and buy products. Alibaba's combination of marketplaces, merchant relationships, consumer data, cloud infrastructure and proprietary AI models puts it in a particularly strong position to pursue that opportunity.

The sale of Lingxi Games suggests the company is willing to give up significant businesses if they no longer fit that objective. And as Alibaba continues to invest tens of billions of dollars into AI and cloud infrastructure, the direction of travel is becoming increasingly clear: the company wants e-commerce and artificial intelligence to reinforce each other as the foundations of its next stage of growth.

The post Alibaba Sells Lingxi Games as It Doubles Down on E-Commerce and AI appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

India’s e-commerce enablement company Shiprocket has entered the final day of its initial public offering with strong investor demand, putting one of the country’s best-known logistics technology companies on course for a closely watched stock-market debut.

The IPO opened on August 12 and closes on August 14, with Shiprocket shares expected to begin trading on the BSE and NSE on August 19. The company has established a price band of ₹92 to ₹97 per share for an issue worth approximately ₹1,617.5 crore at the upper end of the range.

Investor demand accelerated significantly during the final day. According to Economic Times data, as of 12:18 IST on August 14, the offering had been subscribed 18.12 times overall. Non-institutional investors had subscribed 35 times their allocated portion, retail investors 24.66 times and qualified institutional buyers 7.26 times.

The figures represent a sharp acceleration from the end of the second day, when the IPO stood at 3.16 times subscribed overall. Retail demand had already been particularly strong at that stage, with the retail portion subscribed 9.77 times.

Shiprocket aims to raise around ₹1,617.5 crore

The Shiprocket IPO combines a fresh share issue with an offer for sale by existing shareholders.

Approximately ₹885.5 million? No — ₹885.5 crore of the offering comes from newly issued shares, while around ₹732 crore is being offered by existing shareholders. This brings the total IPO size to approximately ₹1,617.5 crore.

The distinction is important. Money raised through the fresh issue will go to Shiprocket and can be invested in the company, while proceeds from the offer-for-sale portion go to the shareholders selling their stakes.

Shiprocket has identified technology investment, marketing, business expansion, debt repayment and potential acquisitions among the areas where proceeds from the fresh issue may be deployed.

The company also secured ₹727.41 crore from anchor investors before the public subscription opened. According to Economic Times, roughly two-thirds of the anchor allocation was taken by 13 domestic mutual funds across 31 schemes.

At the upper price of ₹97, retail investors must bid for a minimum lot of 154 shares, equivalent to an investment of ₹14,938.

More than an e-commerce delivery company

Shiprocket's public offering is particularly relevant to the e-commerce industry because the business has expanded considerably beyond its original role as a shipping aggregator.

The platform connects online merchants with logistics providers while also offering services covering fulfilment, checkout, payments, cross-border shipping, marketing, omnichannel commerce, hyperlocal delivery and other merchant tools.

This effectively positions Shiprocket as infrastructure for e-commerce businesses rather than as a conventional parcel carrier.

The company works with third-party logistics providers including Delhivery, FedEx, Aramex, Xpressbees, DTDC and Shadowfax, allowing merchants to manage different delivery services through a single technology ecosystem.

As of the six months ending September 30, 2025, Shiprocket reported more than 145,000 active merchants and more than 97 million transactions processed through its platform. More than 8,500 of those companies were classified as high-volume merchants.

That merchant network gives the IPO significance beyond the performance of a single Indian technology company. Shiprocket sits at the intersection of several of the fastest-developing parts of e-commerce: D2C brands, small and medium-sized online merchants, marketplace selling, fulfilment technology and cross-border commerce.

Revenue reaches more than ₹2,000 crore

Shiprocket has also continued to expand its revenue.

Revenue from operations increased approximately 24% during the financial year ending March 2026, reaching ₹2,024.1 crore compared with ₹1,632 crore in FY25.

However, the company has not yet reached net profitability.

Shiprocket recorded a consolidated net loss of approximately ₹79.2 crore in FY26, slightly wider than the ₹74.4 crore loss reported in the previous financial year. EBITDA losses nevertheless narrowed to around ₹16.6 crore from ₹17.2 crore.

The financial picture therefore reflects a common challenge among technology-enabled e-commerce platforms entering the public markets: substantial revenue growth accompanied by continued investment in newer business segments.

Shiprocket's established domestic shipping operation is complemented by what the company describes as emerging businesses, including cross-border commerce, checkout services, marketing, hyperlocal delivery and other merchant solutions.

These newer businesses provide additional growth opportunities, but they also require continued investment before reaching the scale and profitability of the company's core operations.

Strong investor interest builds ahead of listing

Investor enthusiasm has also been visible outside the formal subscription process.

Early on the final day, Shiprocket shares were reportedly commanding a grey-market premium of around ₹37 over the upper IPO price of ₹97, equivalent to roughly 38%. Grey-market activity is unofficial and can change rapidly, however, meaning it should not be interpreted as a guaranteed indication of the eventual listing price.

Several Indian brokerages cited by Economic Times have also issued positive views on the offering, pointing to Shiprocket's position within India's growing e-commerce ecosystem, its merchant network and its ability to expand revenue across multiple services. Profitability remains one of the principal risks highlighted around the business.

The final subscription figures will ultimately provide a clearer indication of institutional demand once bidding closes.

Why Shiprocket's IPO matters for e-commerce

Shiprocket's market debut represents more than another Indian technology IPO.

The company has built its business around enabling thousands of merchants to access logistics and commerce capabilities that historically would have required relationships with multiple individual providers.

That model reflects a broader change taking place in e-commerce infrastructure.

Online sellers increasingly expect shipping, returns, fulfilment, payments, marketing, cross-border delivery and order management systems to work together. Platforms capable of aggregating those services can become an important layer between merchants, marketplaces, carriers and consumers.

Shiprocket is attempting to position itself within exactly that layer.

Its cross-border operations are particularly relevant as Indian merchants increasingly look beyond the domestic market. International shipping, customs support and integrated technology can lower some of the operational barriers that traditionally make international expansion difficult for smaller online sellers.

At the same time, the IPO will test whether public investors are prepared to value e-commerce infrastructure businesses primarily on growth, scale and future operating leverage while they remain loss-making at the net-income level.

What happens next?

The Shiprocket IPO closes on August 14.

The basis of allotment is currently scheduled for August 17, with refunds and the crediting of shares expected on August 18. Shiprocket is then scheduled to list on both the BSE and NSE on August 19, 2026.

With demand accelerating significantly during the final day, attention will now move toward the final subscription figures and the company's performance when trading begins.

For the e-commerce industry, however, the listing has broader significance. Shiprocket's journey from a shipping-focused technology provider into a wider commerce enablement ecosystem demonstrates how logistics technology companies are increasingly becoming integral infrastructure for digital commerce.

The response from investors suggests that the capital markets are paying attention too.

The post Shiprocket IPO Draws Strong Demand on Final Day of Bidding appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

Amazon has signed a global strategic supply agreement with warehouse automation specialist AutoStore, establishing a framework that could allow the e-commerce giant to deploy AutoStore technology across its international fulfillment network.

AutoStore announced the agreement on 13 August 2026 and set the commercial terms for Amazon to procure AutoStore products and automation solutions globally. However, AutoStore stressed that the agreement does not currently include any firm purchasing commitments.

The deal nevertheless represents a significant development for the warehouse automation sector, bringing together one of the world's largest e-commerce fulfillment operators and one of the most established providers of cube-based automated storage and retrieval technology.

A global framework for future Amazon automation

Under the agreement, AutoStore will have a framework through which Amazon can purchase its systems and solutions for facilities around the world.

The distinction between a supply agreement and an actual order is important. AutoStore has not disclosed any guaranteed volumes, deployment locations, investment values or implementation timetable.

Instead, the agreement effectively lays the commercial foundation for future procurement should Amazon decide to deploy AutoStore technology at additional fulfillment sites.

AutoStore described the agreement as a global framework covering its products and solutions, while confirming that no purchase commitments are included at this stage.

For Amazon, such an arrangement could provide another automation platform to support fulfillment operations as the company continues to invest heavily in warehouse robotics, artificial intelligence and automated inventory handling.

What is AutoStore?

Norway-founded AutoStore develops automated storage and retrieval systems designed around a dense cubic storage grid.

Rather than relying on conventional warehouse aisles and shelving, products are stored in bins stacked vertically inside a grid. Robots travel across the top of the structure, retrieving bins and delivering them to workstations where orders can be picked and processed.

The approach allows warehouses to store significantly more inventory within a smaller physical footprint while reducing the amount of manual movement required inside fulfillment centers.

AutoStore says it now has approximately 2,000 systems operating across 68 countries, serving retailers, logistics companies, industrial businesses and other fulfillment-intensive sectors.

The company increasingly positions its offering not simply as warehouse robotics, but as a broader fulfillment platform combining automation, software and AI.

Why Amazon's agreement with AutoStore matters

Amazon already operates one of the most technologically sophisticated logistics networks in the world.

Warehouse automation is central to that strategy.

The company has spent years developing and deploying its own robotic systems while also acquiring and working with external automation technologies. Robotics is increasingly used to move inventory, organize products, assist picking and packing processes, and reduce the amount of repetitive physical movement required from warehouse employees.

The AutoStore agreement suggests that Amazon is continuing to evaluate multiple technological approaches rather than relying exclusively on internally developed systems.

For AutoStore, securing a global procurement framework with a customer of Amazon's scale also provides significant strategic validation.

In its Q2 2026 report, AutoStore CEO Mats Hovland Vikse described the Amazon agreement as further validation of the company's strategic direction and of the relevance of its technology for major global customers.

E-commerce is accelerating warehouse automation

The agreement comes at a time when fulfillment automation is becoming increasingly important across the global e-commerce industry. Online retailers are under continuing pressure to process higher order volumes while simultaneously meeting increasingly demanding delivery expectations.

Customers now expect faster fulfillment, reliable inventory availability and greater visibility throughout the delivery process. At the same time, warehouse operators face rising labor costs and pressure to make better use of expensive logistics real estate.

AutoStore identifies continued e-commerce penetration, labor-cost inflation and increasing demand for operational efficiency as major structural drivers behind the long-term expansion of warehouse automation. Automated storage systems can potentially address several of those challenges simultaneously by increasing storage density, accelerating product retrieval and reducing repetitive warehouse movements.

AutoStore reports strong growth in 2026

The Amazon announcement coincided with AutoStore's second-quarter 2026 financial results. The company reported quarterly revenue of approximately $192 million, representing an increase of around 43% year on year. Order intake reached approximately $218 million, up around 45% compared with the same period in 2025. AutoStore's order backlog stood at approximately $596 million at the end of the quarter.

The company also reported a gross margin of around 72% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 45%. For the full 2026 financial year, AutoStore is currently targeting revenue of around $700 million. The company says it has also launched 14 new products and features during the past 12 months as it expands beyond its traditional core storage platform into additional warehouse automation applications.

Automation is becoming a competitive advantage in fulfillment

The wider significance of the agreement extends beyond Amazon and AutoStore. Fulfillment has increasingly become a competitive differentiator in e-commerce. Retailers are no longer competing only through product assortment and price. Delivery speed, order accuracy, inventory availability and returns processing can directly affect the customer experience.

That places growing pressure on warehouse infrastructure. Automation allows operators to increase throughput without necessarily increasing warehouse size or workforce at the same rate. For large international retailers and marketplaces, these efficiencies can become particularly important because improvements made across dozens or hundreds of fulfillment centers can translate into substantial operational savings.

The Amazon-AutoStore agreement therefore highlights the increasing strategic importance of warehouse technology within the global e-commerce ecosystem.

No confirmed Amazon deployment yet

Despite the potential scale of the partnership, the announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of a major Amazon AutoStore rollout. Neither company has announced how many systems Amazon may acquire, which fulfillment centers could receive the technology, or how much Amazon could ultimately spend under the agreement.

AutoStore has explicitly stated that the framework does not contain purchasing commitments. Any future procurement would therefore represent a separate commercial decision. The agreement nevertheless removes part of the contractual groundwork that would otherwise be required for future deployments, potentially making it easier for Amazon to procure AutoStore technology across multiple markets.

What this could mean for global e-commerce fulfillment

Amazon's logistics operations have often influenced wider industry investment trends. Technologies deployed successfully at Amazon's enormous fulfillment scale can attract greater attention from retailers, marketplaces and third-party logistics providers seeking similar efficiency improvements. AutoStore says the majority of warehouses globally remain unautomated, suggesting significant potential for further expansion of automated fulfillment technology.

As e-commerce businesses look to shorten delivery times while controlling fulfillment costs, warehouse density and automation are likely to become increasingly important components of logistics strategy. For AutoStore, the new Amazon agreement provides access to potentially one of the largest automation customers in the world. For Amazon, it adds another proven technology platform to an increasingly sophisticated fulfillment ecosystem.

The immediate financial impact remains uncertain because no orders have yet been committed. But strategically, the agreement illustrates how quickly automation is becoming embedded in the infrastructure supporting global e-commerce.

The post Amazon signs global warehouse automation agreement with AutoStore appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

Oman has completed nearly 87% of its National E-Commerce Plan 2022–2027, marking another major step in the Sultanate’s efforts to strengthen its digital economy and establish itself as a regional e-commerce hub.

According to recent reports, 26 of the programme’s 30 initiatives had been completed by the end of 2025, corresponding to a completion rate of 86.7%. Four additional initiatives were delivered during the second half of 2025 alone.

The programme covers several areas considered essential for building a competitive digital-commerce ecosystem, including regulation, digital services, electronic payments, logistics, business facilitation and e-commerce awareness.

The remaining initiatives are expected to be completed before the National E-Commerce Plan reaches its scheduled conclusion in 2027.

Oman wants to become a regional e-commerce hub

The National E-Commerce Plan forms part of the wider Oman Vision 2040 economic transformation programme, through which the country is attempting to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on traditional oil and gas revenues.

The e-commerce strategy is specifically designed to improve the environment for digital businesses and SMEs while strengthening the infrastructure required for domestic and cross-border online trade.

Oman's Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology describes the national strategy as a programme aimed at empowering businesses, particularly SMEs, through better digital infrastructure, logistics services and electronic payment capabilities.

The plan covers eight main areas, including ICT infrastructure, transportation and trade facilitation, payments, digital skills, e-procurement and the legal and regulatory environment.

Progress has accelerated significantly

Implementation of the programme has accelerated over the past several years.

By the end of 2023, Oman had completed 14 of the 30 planned initiatives, representing approximately 46% of the programme. By November 2024, that figure had increased to 21 completed initiatives, or around 70%.

Current reporting now puts the number at 26 initiatives.

That means Oman has moved from completing fewer than half of the programme's initiatives in 2023 to completing almost nine out of ten within roughly two years.

The government aims to complete the entire programme by 2027.

Regulation and consumer trust are becoming increasingly important

Building infrastructure alone is not sufficient to develop a mature e-commerce market.

Oman has therefore also focused on creating a more formal regulatory environment for online merchants.

Previous initiatives under the programme have included measures aimed at regulating digital marketplaces, simplifying the registration of online businesses and developing mechanisms designed to increase consumer confidence in legitimate e-commerce operators.

This becomes increasingly important as more small businesses and entrepreneurs move from social-commerce channels into formal digital retail.

For international sellers, greater standardisation could also make Oman a more predictable market in which to operate, particularly when it comes to business registration, payments and marketplace compliance.

Digital payments support Oman's e-commerce expansion

Payments represent another important component of the country's digital-commerce strategy.

Oman's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion recently reported significant growth in the use of digital payment methods during 2025, alongside continued development of fintech, digital banking and e-commerce infrastructure.

Improving payment infrastructure can remove one of the most persistent barriers to e-commerce adoption in developing digital markets.

It also makes the market more accessible to international merchants, payment providers and marketplaces looking to serve consumers in the Gulf region.

Logistics remains central to the strategy

Oman's ambitions extend beyond domestic online retail.

Its National E-Commerce Plan is designed to help position the country as a regional digital-commerce hub, making logistics and trade facilitation critical components of the programme.

Oman's geographical position between Asia, the Middle East and East Africa gives the country potential advantages as a logistics and distribution gateway.

For cross-border e-commerce operators, improvements to customs processes, addressing systems, logistics networks and digital trade infrastructure could therefore be as important as growth in domestic consumer demand.

China is already an important source market for goods purchased online by Omani consumers, particularly in categories such as furnishings, machinery and construction-related products, according to the US International Trade Administration.

A growing opportunity for cross-border sellers

The development of a more mature e-commerce ecosystem could gradually make Oman a more attractive destination for international retailers, marketplaces and logistics companies.

Industry estimates also point towards continued growth in the country's online retail sector. Mordor Intelligence estimates the Omani e-commerce market at approximately $3.26 billion in 2026 and forecasts it could reach $4.62 billion by 2031.

Market forecasts should always be treated as estimates rather than guaranteed outcomes, but the direction is consistent with the government's wider push towards digitalisation.

The broader ambition is significant. The IMF has previously noted that Oman wants the digital economy's contribution to GDP to increase from around 2% to 10% by 2040 as part of its economic transformation strategy.

What happens next?

With 26 of 30 initiatives now reported as completed, Oman is entering the final phase of its National E-Commerce Plan.

The remaining challenge will be translating government programmes into measurable commercial outcomes: more digital businesses, higher online sales, greater consumer trust, smoother cross-border transactions and stronger participation by Omani SMEs in international markets.

For international e-commerce businesses, Oman is unlikely to rival neighbouring Saudi Arabia or the UAE in market size in the immediate future.

Its importance may instead come from its position as an increasingly sophisticated digital market and potential logistics gateway connecting the Gulf with Asia and East Africa.

If Oman completes its remaining initiatives by 2027, the National E-Commerce Plan will provide an important test of whether government-led digital infrastructure programmes can successfully turn a relatively small Gulf market into a more significant participant in regional cross-border commerce.

The post Oman completes nearly 87% of national E-Commerce Plan as digital trade push accelerates appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has passed 500 million cumulative transactions, marking a major milestone for the country’s attempt to build an open and interoperable alternative to traditional e-commerce platforms.

The milestone was reached in July 2026, according to figures provided by India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). ONDC has grown rapidly from around 200,000 transactions in the 2022–23 financial year to 218 million transactions during FY2025–26.

Unlike Amazon, Flipkart or other conventional marketplaces, however, ONDC is not itself an e-commerce platform. It provides the infrastructure through which different buyer applications, sellers, logistics providers and other services can interact.

That distinction is becoming increasingly important as ONDC expands beyond retail commerce into transport, logistics and other digital services.

What is ONDC?

ONDC was launched in 2022 as part of India's wider digital infrastructure strategy.

Rather than requiring consumers and sellers to operate within the same marketplace, ONDC is designed around interoperability.

A customer using one ONDC-connected shopping application can, in principle, discover and purchase products offered through a seller connected via another network participant.

The concept resembles the approach used by open digital infrastructure elsewhere in India, particularly the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), where banks and payment applications can interact using common standards.

India's government describes ONDC as an open network rather than an application, platform or marketplace. Its objective is to reduce dependence on individual digital platforms while making online commerce more accessible to smaller businesses.

More than 200,000 retail merchants are active on ONDC

By July 2026, more than 200,000 retail merchants were active on ONDC, while over one million service providers across mobility and logistics were associated with the network.

Earlier government figures showed ONDC reaching more than 200 million potential buyers, around 500,000 sellers and approximately 1,000 Indian cities by June 2026.

At that point, the network was handling close to nine million transactions per month.

The figures illustrate how rapidly ONDC has evolved from an experimental digital commerce initiative into a significant part of India's broader digital economy.

For smaller retailers in particular, the model is intended to provide online visibility without requiring them to become dependent on a single marketplace ecosystem.

India has also launched initiatives designed specifically to accelerate that process.

The DigiDukaan programme, for example, has reportedly onboarded more than 13,000 small kirana stores in Hyderabad and Jaipur, providing support to help traditional retailers participate in digital commerce.

ONDC is becoming more than an e-commerce network

One of the most important developments behind the 500 million transaction milestone is ONDC's expansion beyond conventional retail.

More than one million drivers are now participating in ride-hailing services connected to the network.

ONDC has also entered public transport. As of June 2026, it was facilitating more than 370,000 public transport journeys per day through more than 35 buyer applications.

The network covers nine metro systems and four urban bus transport operators, while approximately 80% of India's metro ticketing inventory is now available through ONDC.

This expansion demonstrates the broader ambition behind ONDC.

Instead of creating another online marketplace, India is attempting to establish a common digital commerce layer that can potentially support retail products, mobility, logistics, financial services and other transactions.

Logistics becomes increasingly important

Logistics is also developing into a significant part of the ONDC ecosystem.

More than 50 hyperlocal logistics providers are currently live on the network, while over 60,000 merchants are using ONDC Logistics.

More than 50 brands operating in areas including food delivery, quick commerce, pharmacy and general retail are also reportedly using the network for deliveries across more than 150 cities.

India Post has additionally been integrated as a logistics provider.

This could prove particularly important for smaller merchants located outside India's largest urban areas, where access to established fulfilment networks can be more limited.

A commerce network can only become genuinely open if sellers also have access to competitive payment and delivery services. Expanding the number of logistics providers available through ONDC therefore represents an important part of its development.

Small businesses remain at the centre of the strategy

Supporting small and medium-sized enterprises remains one of the government's main arguments for ONDC.

Large marketplaces typically combine customer acquisition, technology, fulfilment, advertising and payments within the same ecosystem.

That can provide enormous reach, but it can also make merchants highly dependent on the rules and fees of an individual platform.

ONDC attempts to separate these functions.

Sellers can theoretically connect with multiple buyer applications, while logistics providers, payment services and other companies can compete to provide different elements of the transaction.

India has approved ₹2.77 billion under the MSME TEAM initiative for FY2024–25 to FY2026–27 to help micro and small enterprises participate in digital commerce.

The programme provides assistance with onboarding, product cataloguing, account management, logistics and packaging, with 50% of the targeted beneficiary businesses expected to be women-owned enterprises.

Agriculture is also moving onto the network

ONDC's expansion is extending into agricultural commerce.

Through the Amazing India initiative, more than 800 independent sellers and eight aggregator organisations representing more than 1,500 Farmer Producer Organisations have joined the network.

Seven warehouses have also been established in cooperation with India Post and DGCPack.

The development points towards another potential use for open commerce infrastructure: connecting smaller producers directly with digital buyers without requiring them to build their own e-commerce operations.

Could ONDC become India's UPI for commerce?

The most ambitious comparison surrounding ONDC is inevitably UPI.

India's Unified Payments Interface transformed digital payments by allowing financial institutions and payment applications to communicate through common infrastructure.

UPI processed more than 24,000 crore transactions during FY2025–26 and has become one of the central components of India's digital economy.

ONDC is attempting something similar for commerce, although the challenge is considerably more complicated.

A payment transaction primarily requires the movement of money and information.

E-commerce requires product discovery, inventory management, pricing, fulfilment, delivery, returns, customer support, payments and dispute resolution to work across multiple participants.

Creating interoperability across that entire chain is considerably harder.

Crossing 500 million transactions therefore does not mean ONDC has already created an alternative capable of replacing India's largest marketplaces.

It does, however, demonstrate that open-network commerce is operating at increasingly meaningful scale.

What ONDC could mean for global e-commerce

ONDC is particularly interesting outside India because it offers a fundamentally different model for organising digital commerce.

Most of the global e-commerce economy is dominated by vertically integrated platforms. Amazon, Alibaba, Mercado Libre and other major marketplaces bring buyers and sellers together inside proprietary ecosystems.

ONDC proposes that commerce itself could instead become interoperable.

If the model continues to scale, buyers, merchants, fulfilment providers and technology companies may not necessarily need to belong to the same platform to transact with one another.

ONDC has already tested an international use case involving a Singapore buyer sourcing tea directly from India through an ONDC-enabled buyer network participant, suggesting that cross-border commerce could eventually become part of the network's expansion.

That development will be particularly important to watch.

India is one of the world's largest and fastest-developing digital commerce markets. If ONDC succeeds at scale, its biggest impact may eventually extend beyond the number of transactions taking place inside India.

It could provide the global e-commerce industry with a real-world test of whether open, interoperable commerce infrastructure can coexist with — or eventually challenge — the closed marketplace model that has dominated online retail for more than two decades.

The post ONDC passes 500 million transactions as India’s open commerce network scales appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.