This week has been a wild ride for the retail industry. From Belgium banning TikTok to Meta laying off thousands of employees and the malicious ad debacle, these latest headlines are sure to keep you on your toes.
Let’s dive into the top stories that have rocked e-commerce this week:
The Belgian government has banned TikTok for at least six months due to its lack of data protection standards.
A malicious ChatGPT-branded Chrome browser extension has been discovered, with the capability to hijack Facebook accounts and craft rogue admin accounts.
In an effort to become more efficient, Meta has announced that they will be eliminating 10,000 jobs while simultaneously creating 5,000 new roles.
Despite its ambition, Amazon's drone project is struggling to launch due to the lack of consumer interest and restrictive regulations.
Top Retail and E-commerce Stories
Privacy Matters: The Belgian Government Has Banned TikTok for at Least 6 Months
Photo Credit: picture alliance via Getty Images
A matter of national security?Belgium has become the latest country to ban TikTokdue to concerns over its data protection standards. Belgium's Prime Minister announced that government-issued phones would be blocked from using TikTok due to security and privacy concerns regarding misinformation. This decision mimics the recent measures taken by other European countries as well as the United States in relation to this popular video-sharing application.
For no less than six months, a post by Alexander de Croo on his website announced that the Chinese-owned, video-sharing app will be blocked from gadgets owned or financed by Belgium's federal government.
The European Union's three major organizations and Denmark's defense ministry have already mandated their staff to delete the app from all official devices. Canada and the United States are also joining in this boycott of TikTok, marking its place in a larger global conflict between China and America as well as its Western allies for control over technology and the economy.
A cautionary tale! Cybercriminals are continuously finding new ways to distribute malicious software, and a recently discovered Chrome browser extension has unveiled yet another method: hijacking Facebook accounts and generating rogue admin profiles. Thisdeceptive plug-in is presented under the guise of ChatGPT - so beware!
The browser add-on, promoted through Facebook's sponsored posts, enables its users to connect with the ChatGPT service. But it doesn't end there; underhanded and without users' knowledge, this tool also collects cookies and personal data from already authenticated sessions of their active Facebook accounts.
According to Guardio Labs researcher Nati Tal, the threat actor has developed a highly sophisticated operation by hijacking prominent Facebook business accounts and assembling an elite army of bots in addition to their malicious paid media apparatus.
This malicious extension allowed it to take advantage of unsuspecting victims by bombarding them with Facebook-paid ads in a self-replicating pattern, like a worm. After gaining unprecedented momentum with an astonishing 2,000 installations per day since March 3rd, 2023, Google wisely removed "Quick access to Chat GPT" from the Chrome Web Store on March 9th, 2023.
In recent weeks, Meta's personnel had been preparing for more cuts. Zuckerberg has publicly expressed the necessity to prioritize projects and investments better, insinuating further job losses. Earlier this year, Meta began flattening its organizational structure by removing some managerial-level employees and asking others to transition from managing roles back into individual contributors.
Having faced its first-ever annual sales decrease in 2022, due to the dip in advertising revenue, Meta - also owners of Instagram and WhatsApp - has recently directed its attention towards virtual reality technology and constructing what Mark Zuckerberg dubs "the metaverse", a potential next-generation computing platform.
Before Prime Air can roll out its services, it must log hundreds of hours of successful and incident-free flight data to submit for approval with the FAA. The Federal Aviation Administration is responsible for examining the details and granting permission for commercial deliveries.
A decade ago, Bezos predicted that a multitude of Amazon drones would take flight in merely five years. However, currently, drone delivery service is limited to two trial markets - College Station and Lockeford – the latter being an area with approximately 3,500 inhabitants located in south Sacramento.
Despite being meticulously chosen, these areas are still affected by FAA rules that do not allow the service to travel across people or roads. This has come after numerous obstacles such as accidents, failure to meet deadlines, and high employee turnover rates.
These obstacles have hindered Prime Air's advancement and their efforts to reach Amazon’s grand objective of delivering groceries, medication, and household items in half an hour or less.
With ChatGPT making rounds all over the news, would you trust an AI-powered chatbot to handle customer service? Check out the results next week!
QUICK TIP
Try this.When pricing for international e-commerce retailers, it's important to consider customer perception in the country of focus. In Western nations, a price ending with 9 - such as $19 or $29 - is commonplace whereas a round number works best in countries like China.
FUN FACT
Walmart, eBay and AliExpress are the three most frequented e-commerce websites in the world.
LISTEN UP
On this 76th episode of The E-Comm Show, our host, and BlueTuskr CEO Andrew Maff is with Greg Bicksler of Goodr Sunglasses, a well-established eyewear brand that makes unique, fun, and active sunglasses for everyone. Thriving in such a saturated market, Greg shares with us his insider tips on how to effectively manage supply chain, capitalize on performance using a strong company culture and create long-term relationships with external partners.
In our last week's poll results, we asked what type of influencers you love working with most and the results showed that more than 60% of brands prefer working with micro-influencers. This week, we'd love to know if you think AI-powered chatbots are the way forward for excellent customer service?
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