Hey, it’s Cam from Platter 👋

If you’re new here, welcome. Quick re-intro: we send two newsletters a week.

• Tuesdays → your roundup of the biggest ecom news, updates, and content.

• Thursdays → tactical tips + design inspo to level up your Shopify store.

Yes, I know it’s Wednesday. Yesterday’s newsletter was all queued up… except for me actually hitting send. My bad. Consider this your belated Tuesday roundup.

If you’ve been enjoying it so far, the best way to support us is to forward it to a friend. We appreciate you.

Alright, enough housekeeping. Here’s what’s happening this week in Shopify and ecom.

In this issue

📰 Google dodges a breakup
👕 J.Crew’s AI self-counterfeit
🤖 Forever 21’s AI models
📦 Amazon ends Prime Invitee
🛍 Obvi’s new Shopify store
🛠 Shopify’s updates this week
🎲 Poker night in NYC

STORY OF THE WEEK

Google dodges a breakup, but has to share its “secret sauce”

A federal judge ruled Google won’t have to sell Chrome or Android, and it can keep paying Apple $20B a year to stay Safari’s default. But regulators still scored some wins:

Here are the outcomes from Judge Mehta's new ruling:

• Google barred from signing exclusive search deals.

• Must share snapshots of its search index + interaction data with rivals.

• Chrome + Android remain untouched, keeping Alphabet investors happy (shares jumped 7%).

Mehta summed it up: “The money flowing into this space, and how quickly it has arrived, is astonishing.”

As a reminder, this case started back in 2020 when the U.S. Justice Department accused Google of using exclusionary tactics to maintain a monopoly in online search and search advertising.

• 2023: DOJ filed a second case targeting Google’s ad tech stack.

• 2024: Judge Mehta ruled Google does hold an illegal monopoly in search + search ads.

• 2025: After nearly five years of litigation, the remedies phase landed and no Chrome/Android breakup, but new restrictions and data-sharing requirements.

Google has made it clear that the plan to file an appeal, which means it could take years before the company is required to act on the ruling. And a lot can change in that time.

Read the full story.

OTHER NEWS THIS WEEK

J.Crew's awful AI images

J.Crew posted a new throwback campaign on Instagram that looked straight out of its ’80s/’90s catalogs. But the internet quickly noticed that the images were created with AI. The creator was later identified as AI photographer Sam Finn, who used Midjourney and other tools to generate the shoots. Read the full article from Blackbird Spyplane.

Forever 21 experiments with AI models

Forever 21 is now using AI-generated models on its ecommerce store. Videos and photos show avatars showcasing new pieces, raising questions like “is the model real”, “are the clothes real”, or “does it even matter”? Read posts on LinkedIn or checkout this video on TikTok.

Amazon is sunsetting Prime Invitee

Amazon is eliminating one of it’s most legacy perks. Beginning October 1, the company is eliminating “Prime Invitee,” a program that let Prime members outside of their household share their free shipping benefit. Going forward, customers will need their own Prime membership to get free shipping. It was fun while it lasted. Read the full story.

STORE OF THE WEEK

Obvi

Last month we helped the team at Obvi relaunch their brand new Shopify store. Our team crushed this one.

What’s new:

• Bold refresh: brighter colors, updated imagery, and easier navigation.

• Updated PDPs: ingredient breakdowns, before/after timelines, and comparison tables that educate and convert.

• AOV optimized: sticky add-to-cart, progress bar, upsells, gifts, and subscribe-and-save incentives.

• Bundles and subscriptions: a new mix-and-match bundle builder with tiered discounts.

Check out the new store → myobvi.com

Thinking about building (or rebuilding) your Shopify store?

Meet with our expert team and get a free storefront analysis and learn what’s possible with Platter.

Book your free audit

SHOPIFY UPDATES OF THE WEEK

Multi-store reporting in Analytics

Plus orgs can now see performance across all stores in one unified dashboard — no more hopping between Admins.

Send customers an email notification when they receive store credit

A new toggle lets you automatically email customers when you issue them store credit.

Run personalized pre-launch checks in under 2 minutes, with Shopify Launch Check

Shopify’s new app scans your store setup and delivers AI-powered pre-launch recommendations in under 2 minutes.

See all of Shopify’s updates in their changelog.

EVENT OF THE WEEK

Poker Night in NYC

Last week we co-hosted a ~20-person CPG poker night in NYC with Andrea Popova and Akash Raju. The vibes were great.

We’re already thinking about making this a regular series. Reply to this email or DM Ben if you want a seat at the next table.

Shoutout to a few of the incredible founders and brands who showed up:

• Jahaan (Gainful)

• Jacob (Byte’m Brownie Bites)

• Erin (Goldilocks)

• Lauryn (S’NOODS)

• Brian (Banza)

• Ilay (BEZI)

• David (Brodo)

• Olivia (Holiday Vodka)

• Noah (Dirty Spoon)

• Nathan (Pacagen)

See Ben’s LinkedIn post.