Front and Center
Google I/O
On Tuesday, Google held their first developer conference in over two years since the beginning of the pandemic. The otherwise annual event, named Google I/O, is a way for Google to engage and excite its developer network, with landmark updates for their “moonshots” -- their seemingly impossible undertakings -- for software, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and most importantly, shopping!

Google-Shopify Partnership
One major takeaway from the conference has to be the deepening of Google’s partnership with e-commerce platform Shopify. The search giant announced that Shopify’s 1.7 million merchants will now be easier to reach through Google Search, Maps, Lens, Images, and Youtube with “just a few clicks”. And in a blog post, Google said this will make Shopify merchants’ products more discoverable across its various properties.

Never Amazon
The Google-Shopify partnership is aligned with the companies’ joint effort to compete against Amazon in the e-commerce space, while Amazon is also increasingly competing with Google on search ads for commercial queries -- this means that a consumer is actively shopping and is expected to buy. Currently, Amazon earns 19% of all search ad revenue this year, while Google hauls in a whopping 57%. 

ECOM 30 for 30: The History of the Dream Team
Way back in the pre-pandemic era, Google previously waived fees for its “Buy” program, which allowed consumers to search and purchase retailers’ products directly on its platform without being directed to retailers’ sites. Google also opened its platform to third-party providers, including PayPal and Shopify, to allow retailers more buying options.

“We believe you deserve the most choice available and we’ll continue to innovate on shopping every step of the way,” says Bill Ready, Google’s President of Commerce and Payments, during the presentation at I/O.

Google’s E-commerce Push
Google also announced enhancements to its e-commerce functionality. Notably, Google Chrome has a new feature that will persistently display shopping carts across tabs so you can easily return to shopping at any time. Thanks Google 👍
 

Back of the Packet
Oracle? No, Google
Welcome to Quantum Supremacy, a future Jason Bourne movie title and also what Google achieved last year. Now on Tuesday during Google I/O, the search company announced a massive milestone in quantum computing, being able to perform a calculation in 200 seconds that would have taken 10,000 years or more on a SUPERcomputer… This extra processing power could be useful to simulate molecules, and hence nature, accurately, Google says… then whispered “gesundheit” a second before an audience member sneezed.

Big Twin (not Danny Devito)
Move over Winklevoss’s, there’s a new Big Twin in town. The e-commerce boom has propelled Amazon to create the world’s largest twin-engine cargo plane, being dubbed “Big Twin”. While the move may seem like a step backwards in terms of sustainability, it remains unclear whether using one massive cargo plane will be more energy efficient than multiple smaller cargo planes. 

Internet Explorer Takes its Final Expedition
Microsoft is taking Internet Explorer out to the “family farm”, where it will be able to run free alongside Netsuite and AOL. Effective June 15, 2022, Microsoft will no longer provide support for the antiquated yet nostalgic web browser. We salute you IE.

Cool Online Brand of the Week
For the fiscally responsible. Her First $100K began as a personal chronicle for Tori Dunlap’s journey to saving $100,000 by the age of 25. It now serves as a blog to share advice on spending, saving, and negotiating for more at work, and further grew it into a personal finance education platform for women, especially for millennials and Generation Z.  The platform brought in half a million in revenue last year. 
 

ShipHero News
Case Study: How to BURST onto the scene, with ShipHero
Masks are coming off and that means one thing… time to take care of your teeth again. Thankfully, the folks at BURST, a long-time ShipHero customer, are here with the affordable subscription service for oral care, championed by thousands of dental professionals across the USA.

“Since switching to ShipHero, we’ve reduced our fully-loaded costs by 35%. At the volumes we move, that’s huge.” Brittany Stewart, President and COO, BURST

Continue reading at our blog here.

ShipScore — The Free Shipping Evaluation Tool
ShipScore was built as a response to the growing need from ShipHero’s community of business owners to bring transparency into their supply chain. Because traditional shipping carriers make more money off of business owners who hardly understand their supply chain, ShipScore has been dubbed “the app that shipping carriers don’t want you to see”. Check out ShipScore in the Shopify App store and continue reading here.

Pick and Pack Guide for Warehouses
Effective supply chain management is vital for any business, big or small. Without the help of proven, efficient supply chain management strategies and practices, your company may suffer from poor workflows, high costs, unreliable order fulfillment, and major losses. Check out ShipHero’s Pick and Pack Guide for Warehouses including the tips and tricks you need to run an efficient warehouse.