Good morning,

Walmart is expanding its high-tech fulfillment network across the West Coast.

The retailer has opened its fifth next-generation fulfillment center in Stockton, California. Spanning more than 900,000 square feet, the facility is expected to create over 1,000 jobs and help Walmart speed up deliveries across California and the West Coast.

Built with automation technology from Knapp, the facility streamlines fulfillment from 12 steps to five.

Let’s dive into today’s edition.

Amazon’s October 6–7 Prime Big Deal Days event helped U.S. retailers generate $9.86 billion in online sales, up 8.5% year over year, according to Adobe Analytics.

Key Details: Electronics sales rose 85% versus September’s average daily sales, while toys climbed 158%, video games rose 90%, and personal care grew 73%.

Shoppers also used discounts to stock up on everyday essentials. Online sales of household cleaning and paper products rose 55% year over year, while personal hygiene products and pet food each increased 45%. Apparel basics grew 25%, extending the momentum fashion sellers saw during Amazon’s summer Prime Day event.

Price Comparison: Amazon also benefited from shoppers comparing prices across retailers. Numerator found that half of Prime Big Deal Days shoppers checked competing offers, including Walmart’s sale. Amazon’s average household spend reached $114, nearly double its typical Tuesday-Wednesday level and four times the sales lift Walmart recorded during the first two days of its promotion.

Walmart’s multibillion-dollar warehouse automation push is running into problems as robots struggle to handle heavy goods, oversized items and routine tasks, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Box Challenges: Walmart is replacing cardboard boxes it has reused for more than two decades with versions 1.5 inches shorter to fit its automated systems. The change adds costs and requires workers to tape boxes shut. Robots also struggle to handle products such as large bags of dog food and frozen turkeys, forcing Walmart to rely on manual labor or redirect shipments to other warehouses.

Money Matters: Maintenance and energy costs are adding to the challenge. In recent months, about 5% of Symbotic’s robots were undergoing repairs at any given time, down from less than 10% last year. Monthly electricity bills at Walmart’s automated grocery facilities can reach $800,000 or more, compared with roughly $250,000 when operations were more manual.

Big Picture: Despite the setbacks, Walmart expects automation spending to peak this year and next. By August, more than 65% of its stores received some automated freight, while over 50% of its e-commerce inventory moved through automated systems.

TikTok is rolling out an AI shopping assistant and one-click checkout, letting users discover products, get shopping advice, and complete purchases without leaving the app. The assistant can answer questions about product details, sizing, availability, and shipping while remembering users’ preferences throughout a conversation.

One-Click Checkout: The new checkout feature lets users buy directly from brands through TikTok’s For You feed, extending shopping beyond its dedicated TikTok Shop marketplace. The move could help TikTok capture more of the purchasing journey by turning product discovery into an immediate transaction, rather than sending users to external websites or AI tools.

What’s Next: TikTok is developing the features with commerce and payment partners including Salesforce, Shopify, Shoplazza and Stripe.

Big Picture: The expansion comes as the platform’s influence on U.S. shopping grows: TikTok’s latest Economic Impact Report said activity on the platform generated $81 billion in GDP for U.S. businesses, while 54 million Americans reported buying a product after watching a TikTok video.

Shopify expects AI-powered shopping to reshape product discovery this holiday season, as consumers increasingly use AI tools to research products and find brands.

Key Details: According to the company’s 2026 Global Holiday Retail Report, 65% of shoppers plan to use AI for at least one shopping task, while 71% of regular AI users are more likely to choose an independent brand this year than last.

Rise of AI: Merchants are already seeing growth from AI-driven referrals. Drinkware brand Stanley 1913 reported five times as many AI-referred orders in the U.S. as during the same period last year, while beauty brand ILIA nearly tripled its AI-referred sales. Hypoallergenic apparel brand Cottonique saw AI-referred sales rise 276% year over year, alongside 52% growth in total sales.

Big Picture: Shopify is encouraging merchants to structure product information so AI agents can understand their offerings and recommend them to relevant shoppers. Its Shopify Catalog organizes product data, while Agentic Storefronts make products available through AI channels such as ChatGPT, Google and Muse.

ShipStation has launched Ship with Walmart, a new service that gives Walmart Marketplace sellers access to Walmart-negotiated shipping rates and seller protections directly through its shipping platform.

Sellers can purchase eligible shipping labels and manage Walmart orders alongside orders from Amazon, TikTok Shop, Shopify, and eBay without building a separate integration.

Discounted Rates: The service offers discounted rates from domestic carriers, on-time delivery support and valid tracking, and up to $100 in protection for eligible lost-package claims. ShipStation also surfaces Walmart-recommended carriers and service levels based on sellers’ delivery promises.

What’s Next: Ship with Walmart is available to U.S. Walmart Marketplace sellers using ShipStation and currently supports domestic U.S. shipments only. New ShipStation users who activate the service can also receive a 20% subscription discount for one year, subject to eligibility and terms.

UK parcel delivery group Evri has acquired Florida-based Cross Border Connect (CBC), a logistics technology company specializing in cross-border deliveries and returns between the UK and U.S. The deal expands Evri’s access to the U.S. market as trade along the UK–U.S. e-commerce corridor grows.

Key Details: CBC operates a proprietary technology platform connected to U.S. delivery networks and strategic ports of entry. Its system helps retailers and marketplaces optimize parcel routing based on cost, speed, and service. Co-founder and CEO Chris Lentjes will remain in charge of the business following the acquisition.

The deal follows Evri’s 2025 merger with DHL eCommerce UK to form the UK’s largest dedicated parcel delivery group and its recent acquisition of Irish customs clearance specialist Coll-8. Together, the moves strengthen Evri’s cross-border capabilities, providing access to U.S. delivery networks and supporting broader European trade.

Fast Retailing, Uniqlo's Japanese owner, reported a 32% rise in annual operating profit to 743.13 billion yen ($4.7 billion) for the year ended August 31, marking its fifth consecutive year of record profits.

Key Details: The result exceeded its 730 billion yen forecast, driven by strong sales in North America and Europe, which overtook Greater China as its largest market for the first time.

Combined revenue from North America and Europe reached 877.6 billion yen, surpassing the 724 billion yen generated in Greater China. The shift reflects Fast Retailing’s expansion into Western markets as slowing consumer spending and intensifying competition from domestic brands weigh on sales in China.

What’s Next: Founder and CEO Tadashi Yanai reiterated his ambition to grow annual sales to 10 trillion yen ($63.2 billion), up from just under 4 trillion yen in the latest fiscal year, by adding about 500 billion yen in annual revenue. Fast Retailing operates more than 2,500 Uniqlo stores globally and is expanding its large-format flagship stores to strengthen its presence in Western markets.

Tariffs imposed under President Donald Trump raised U.S. consumer goods prices by 2.9 percentage points through February 2026, accounting for all goods-price inflation during the period studied, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The study examined 67 categories of non-oil consumer goods and found that importers passed through nearly 90% of tariff costs to import prices.

Key Details: About two-thirds of the price increase came directly from higher costs for imported finished goods. The remainder stemmed from more expensive imported components used by U.S. manufacturers and domestic producers raising markups as competing imports became costlier.

Increased Prices: The impact extends beyond import prices. The researchers found that indirect effects on U.S.-made goods take nine to 12 months to move through supply chains, meaning tariff increases can continue pushing up prices long after they are introduced. For every percentage-point increase in average tariff rates, consumer goods prices rise by roughly 0.25 percentage points after a year.