Coffee & Commerce #58: ChatGPT goes shopping, Amazon’s Quick Suite & PayPal’s new ad play

Good afternoon,

Here’s the headlines for this week: 17 October 2025

ECOMMERCE

Most sellers active on 6 marketplaces

On average, online sellers operate across six different marketplaces, and 67% are active on at least four marketplaces, requiring more complex management.
A key challenge is operational burden: sellers spend approximately 36% of their week on manual tasks (listing updates, error fixes, repricing), and 29% cite maintaining competitive pricing/visibility as the toughest issue.
Barriers to expanding into new marketplaces include economic uncertainty (28% of sellers) and complex technical setup (26%).

Trump is planning to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports starting in November, on top of the current ~30 % rate, citing China’s export controls on rare earths.
The move is framed as retaliation for new Chinese rules restricting the export of critical materials, and risks escalating tensions just ahead of a planned meeting with Xi Jinping.
Markets reacted negatively: the S&P 500 fell ~2.7 %, the Dow ~1.8 %, and the Nasdaq ~3.6 % following the announcement.

Users can now buy products directly within chat, starting with U.S. Etsy sellers, with more merchants (like Shopify brands) and regions coming soon.
This is a new open standard co-developed with Stripe that lets AI agents coordinate purchases while merchants retain control over payments, fulfillment, and customer data.
Encrypted payments, explicit user approval and minimal data sharing ensure trust and transparency in in-chat transactions on the platform.

PayPal has launched PayPal Ads Manager, which enables small businesses to become their own retail media networks—allowing them to monetize their website/app traffic by selling ad placements.
The tool requires no upfront cost or minimum commitment, integrates via a simple SDK, and uses PayPal’s transaction graph and cross-merchant data to help match ads to high-intent buyers.
Rolling out in early 2026 (starting in the U.S., then UK & Germany), PayPal aims to democratize access to high-margin retail media revenue previously dominated by large retailers.

CONSUMERS

A new Deloitte survey finds U.S. consumers expect continued high prices and a weak economy in the year ahead, reflecting widespread pessimism.
Over half (57%) of respondents believe economic conditions will worsen, prompting many to plan for reduced holiday spending.

Department stores are leaning into perks like generous return policies, in-store services, or free “ship-to-store” fulfilment to compete with online retailers.
These physical retailers are leveraging personalized customer experience (e.g. stylists, waived delivery fees, hand delivery) as a differentiator, especially to retain older, more loyalty-oriented shoppers.

TECH

Adobe is releasing a new suite of AI agents specifically for B2B marketing, built on its Experience Platform Agent Orchestrator, aiming to help marketers identify decision-makers, orchestrate customer journeys, and generate insights.
These B2B agents include tools like an Audience Agent, Journey Agent, and Data Insights Agent, and Adobe plans to expand with further agents (e.g. Account Qualification, Brand Concierge) to cover more parts of the sales funnel.

RETAILERS

Amazon is introducing Amazon Quick Suite, a unified “agentic teammate” that combines research, business intelligence, and automation tools into a single workspace — letting users ask natural-language questions, get insights, and trigger workflows without switching apps.
Key components include Quick Index (a searchable, secure knowledge base across internal and external data), Quick Research (AI-driven research across data sources), Quick Sight (conversational BI + one-click actions), and Quick Flows / Quick Automate (low-code to full automation of tasks and processes).
Existing QuickSight users will be upgraded into Quick Suite without data migration or permission changes; pricing is subscription + consumption-based.

Amazon launches “Amazon Grocery,” a new private-label brand combining Amazon Fresh and Happy Belly, offering 1,000+ items mostly priced under $5 to target budget-conscious shoppers.
Positioned between Saver and 365 by Whole Foods, the line aims to compete directly with Walmart and Aldi as inflation drives consumers toward affordable store brands.
Amazon reports a 15% year-over-year increase in private-label purchases, adding new products like cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, and lemonade to attract everyday grocery buyers.

Amazon is rolling out “Amazon Pharmacy kiosks” in select One Medical clinics in Los Angeles starting December 2025, enabling patients to pick up common prescriptions (e.g. antibiotics, inhalers, blood-pressure meds) immediately after their doctor visit.
The system requires prescriptions to be sent to Amazon Pharmacy, payment via the Amazon app, and QR-code scanning at the kiosk; remote pharmacists will verify orders and be accessible via video or phone.
The initiative is Amazon’s first in-person prescription pickup model (beyond home delivery), and excludes refrigerated or tightly regulated drugs.