Cross-border intelligence

America’s Car-Mart Considers Sale as Inflation Hits Subprime Borrowers

Used car dealer and subprime lender America’s Car-Mart and its lenders are in talks for a sale that would allow the company to continue running, Bloomberg reported Tuesday (Oct. 20), citing unnamed sources. The discussions center on a deal

October 21 E-commerce Morning Brief: Number of Douyin Double 11 merchants exceeding 100 million yuan in sales up 200%; AliExpress partners with YouTube for overseas expansion

Create, manage and review stock counts in Shopify admin

Stock counts give you a structured way to verify inventory in Shopify admin. Create a count, have staff record what’s on the shelf using barcode scanning or manual entry, then review results before stock levels change. If you currently coun

Metaobject analytics queryable capability available in the Admin API

Starting with GraphQL Admin API version 2027-01, you can read and configure the analyticsQueryable capability on metaobject definitions. This applies to apps that create, update, or inspect metaobject definitions. No action is required unle

Large employers are hiring part-time workers over seasonal ones, Indeed data shows

The shift indicates potential optimism about future staffing needs, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab said.

Salesforce Buying Customer Engagement Firm Braze for $5.6 Billion

Salesforce says it will pay $5.6 billion to acquire customer engagement platform Braze. “Every interaction is an opportunity to wow your customers,” Patrick Stokes, president of applications and marketing at Salesforce, said in a news relea

Commerce Bancshares Net Income Rises as Acquisitions Expand Investment Banking and Wealth Services

Commerce Bank parent company Commerce Bancshares increased its net income year over year to $155 million in the third quarter, up from $141.5 million in the same quarter in 2025, thanks in part to its diversified business model, the company

TransUnion Debuts New Scoring Capability to Combat Fraud

TransUnion has introduced new solutions designed to help organizations combat synthetic identity fraud and credit washing. The company says its Credit Washing and Synthetic Fraud Scores, announced Tuesday (Oct. 20), are the first-ever “adve

Securing your app, together

Merchants install your app because they trust it, and because they trust the Shopify App Store. There are bad actors out there who are motivated to exploit that trust. Alongside the rest of the industry, we are seeing the number of attacks

Payment Data Can Keep Merchants Tied to Their Processors

A merchant can negotiate a better payment processing rate and still face an expensive move if its saved customer credentials are tied to its existing provider. That tension sits at the center of payment orchestration’s promise. The technolo

Amazon Uses Healthcare and Banking to Woo More Holiday Workers

Amazon will begin offering seasonal workers health coverage to attract more workers for the holiday shopping season. The eCommerce giant made that announcement Tuesday (Oct. 20) as it began its annual holiday recruitment effort, aiming to h

Apple Wallet Car Keys Now Work With GM Vehicles

Automaker General Motors has begun offering Apple Wallet car key support in some vehicles. The integration went into effect last month, and was flagged Monday (Oct. 9) in a report on the website MacRumors. It applies to select Cadillac, Che

Mural Raises $15 Million to Help Companies Scale Agentic Finance

Financial infrastructure company Mural said it has raised $15 million in new funding. The Series A financing round will support the firm’s global expansion and investments in the regulatory and payments infrastructure needed to scale agenti

Governments Urged to Plan for Breaches That Defenses Cannot Stop

State and local governments need to prepare for attackers getting inside their networks, with cybersecurity protocols that contain intrusions before they disrupt water systems, transportation, benefits payments and other essential services.

Wildfire and Badge bring merchant rewards into Apple, Google and Samsung wallets

The loyalty platform Wildfire Systems and mobile wallet infrastructure provider Badge are partnering to push merchant offers and cashback rewards to more shoppers through popular payment methods. The companies announced their partnership at

Robot Arms Finally Crack the Meal Assembly Line

For a long time, robots made little economic sense for food manufacturers juggling many recipes, each with its own mix of ingredients. Chef Robotics, a San Francisco startup that sells artificial intelligence (AI)-guided robot arms to food

Hasbro Hopes for Happy Holiday Season as Revenue Rises 15%

Hasbro saw 15% year-over-year revenue growth in the third quarter, fueled by its Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment, according to a Tuesday (Oct. 20) earnings press release. “Despite all of the macro noise in the quarter, we st

Equifax Data Shows Mortgage Volume Slump While Consumer Financial Health Stays Strong

The U.S. mortgage market has “weakened meaningfully” since July, though the rest of the U.S. market remains as healthy as it was, Equifax Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer John Gamble said Tuesday (Oct. 20) during an earn

Walmart enlists Sam’s Club in latest challenge to Amazon Prime

The retail giant has bundled its Walmart+ and Sam’s Club Plus memberships for a savings of nearly $100, which could appeal to stressed-out consumers.

Magic: The Gathering reaches record $600M in quarterly revenue

Parent company Hasbro raised its 2026 financial outlook as it reported its strongest quarter of the year.

Can Best Buy be the new gaming boss?

The electronics retailer is piloting a gaming hub that brings together content, deals and preorders, and will also open a dedicated gaming hub inside a store in California.

Synchrony: Broad-Based Consumer Spending Drives Q3 Purchase Volume to Record High

Consumer financing company Synchrony saw record third-quarter purchase volume, with both discretionary and non-discretionary out-of-partner spend on its consumer co-branded cards growing by double digits, Synchrony President and CEO Brian D

Enable the analytics queryable capability on metafield and metaobject definitions from your app's TOML

You can now enable the analytics_queryable capability on metafield and metaobject definitions that you declare in shopify.app.toml. Merchants can then use those metafields and metaobjects as dimensions and filters in Shopify Analytics and S

Treasury Stablecoin Proposal Draws Questions Over Foreign Access

Treasury’s effort to regulate payment stablecoins hinges on questions on when a coin has actually been issued, who issued it and how a stablecoin created outside the country can legally reach a customer in the United States. The department’