The hottest E-commerce Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Technology Topics

Why speed should be your first priority

Talking to Computers: The Email • 0 implied HN points • 15 May 24
🕹 Technology E-commerce
  1. Prioritize speeding up processes to save users time. When making choices, consider what helps users get what they need faster.
  2. Saving time is beneficial for businesses, like e-commerce and streaming services, as it leads to more sales and viewings.
  3. Look at projects through the lens of speed and efficiency. Evaluate how your features help users save time and adjust priorities accordingly.

The Optimal Amount of Irrelevant Search Results is Non-Zero

Talking to Computers: The Email • 0 implied HN points • 22 Apr 24
🕹 Technology E-commerce
  1. Sometimes, it's okay to have a few irrelevant search results mixed in with the good ones. This balance can help show more options, even if some aren't what you wanted.
  2. Businesses often choose to include a small number of unrelated items in search results. This helps them find a middle ground between showing only perfect matches and potentially missing out on useful items.
  3. In systems like AI, having occasional mistakes or 'hallucinations' can spark creativity. It's about finding the right balance that works for the situation.

A simple suggestion to improve search UX

Talking to Computers: The Email • 0 implied HN points • 25 Mar 24
🕹 Technology E-commerce
  1. Search suggestions help users type less and avoid mistakes, which is especially important on mobile devices. Fewer keystrokes lead to faster and more successful searches.
  2. Contextual suggestions can guide users to better queries, showing them related products or searches when they type. This can help them find what they actually want more easily.
  3. E-commerce websites, especially for groceries, benefit from these smart suggestions to help shoppers buy more items at once. It’s a unique approach that supports the way people shop for multiple products.

Using Redirects for Broad Search Terms

Talking to Computers: The Email • 0 implied HN points • 04 Mar 24
💼 Business E-commerce
  1. Redirects can help handle broad search queries better by sending users to optimized category pages instead of generic search results. This helps manage the overwhelming number of options users face.
  2. Using a smart layout with options for refining searches can improve user experience. It helps guide shoppers to what they're truly looking for rather than just presenting them with endless choices.
  3. A hybrid approach that combines category redirects with engaging banners might be more effective. This way, it keeps essential information visible and caters to user needs without overwhelming them.

How DTC brand JUDY made prepping cool with PR, podcasts, and joyful branding

the case for brand 💼 • 0 implied HN points • 16 Nov 24
💼 Business E-commerce
  1. JUDY, a go-bag brand, makes emergency planning fun and accessible. They focus on turning disaster prep into smart and positive emergency plans.
  2. The brand uses celebrity endorsements to gain popularity. Having the Kardashians support them helps JUDY stand out in the market.
  3. JUDY emphasizes the importance of community and expert partnerships. They collaborate with organizations like the Los Angeles Fire Department to build credibility and trust in their products.
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How challenger brand Bobbie disrupted a $70B industry to become the fastest growing brand in the infant formula category

the case for brand 💼 • 0 implied HN points • 02 Nov 24
💼 Business E-commerce
  1. Bobbie is changing the way people think about infant formula. They focus on building trust with customers by addressing the emotional challenges that parents face when choosing formula.
  2. During a nationwide formula shortage, Bobbie prioritized existing customers over gaining new ones. This decision helped them build strong loyalty and trust with their audience.
  3. Bobbie stands out by creating meaningful content and advocating for parents, like pushing for paid parental leave. They understand their audience and take action on issues that matter to them.

MKT1 Newsletter - Active Discounts on Tools & Agencies for Marketers

MKT1 Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 29 Nov 24
💼 Business E-commerce
  1. Paid subscribers can access exclusive discounts on various products and services. It's a good way to save money while getting useful tools.
  2. Different software tools are available for marketers, like Fiverr Pro and Riverside.fm, each offering unique features and discounts. These can help with tasks like recording podcasts or managing marketing projects.
  3. Subscribers can reach out if they want to list their own discounts or sponsor the newsletter. This creates a community where everyone can benefit from shared resources.

10 Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing (Part II)

Digital Native • 0 implied HN points • 11 Dec 24
🕹 Technology E-commerce
  1. Generative music is on the rise, thanks to AI, allowing anyone to create songs by mixing different styles and moods. This could change how we produce and enjoy music in the future.
  2. Shopify is experiencing significant growth, showing a strong recovery after recent challenges. With e-commerce still expanding, there are plenty of opportunities for startups in this space.
  3. Video content is dominating internet usage, with a huge shift from text and images. As new tools emerge, like AI video generators, we can expect even more video creation and consumption.

Agentic Commerce: When AI Does the Shopping for You

Digital Native • 0 implied HN points • 28 May 25
🕹 Technology E-commerce
  1. Agentic commerce is the next big change in shopping, where AI will do a lot of the work for us. Instead of us searching and buying, our AI agents will find deals and make purchases based on our preferences.
  2. There are two types of shopping: utility and emotional. Utility shopping is for necessary items like groceries, while emotional shopping is for things we want, like clothes or gifts. AI can help with both, but they need to be designed differently.
  3. For agentic commerce to work, websites need to change to make it easier for AI to shop. This means having better data and systems so AI agents can find and buy products quickly for us.

July 4th Weekend Sale

Computer Ads from the Past • 0 implied HN points • 04 Jul 25
💼 Business E-commerce
  1. There is a July 4th sale offering 40% off on all paid subscriptions until July 7th. It's a great chance to save money if you're interested.
  2. Various donation options are available for supporting the work, including Ko-Fi, PayPal, and Patreon. You can choose the method that works best for you.
  3. The message ends with warm wishes for a happy 4th of July for American readers and a peaceful weekend for those outside the US.

Special offer

Eclecticism: Reflections on literature, writing and life • 0 implied HN points • 11 Nov 25
💼 Business E-commerce
  1. You can get a big 70% discount on a yearly subscription right now. It costs £15 instead of £50 for a limited time.
  2. This special offer is only available for about a week or ten days. Make sure to grab it before it ends.
  3. To take advantage of this deal, you just need to use the link provided. Don't miss out on this savings!

$89 Lifetime Subs, 50% Off Monthly All December

The Lunduke Journal of Technology • 0 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
💼 Business E-commerce
  1. You can get a Lifetime Subscription to The Lunduke Journal for only $89 until the end of December. This is a huge discount from the regular price of $300.
  2. There's also a 50% discount on Monthly and Yearly subscriptions, making them very affordable at $3 a month or $27 a year.
  3. You can easily purchase the subscriptions through Substack, Locals, or even with Bitcoin for extra savings. It's a great deal for long-term access to exclusive content.

How to Typeless

My Home Office Hacks • 0 implied HN points • 01 Dec 25
🕹 Technology E-commerce
  1. Typeless lets you dictate to your computer or phone across multiple apps and in browsers, which is much faster than typing.
  2. Typeless offers a free plan for 2,000 words per week and supports 100 languages, with a Pro plan priced at $60 per year or $30 per month.
  3. The Rocketbook New Core is a reusable spiral notebook meant to replace traditional paper notebooks, and it was listed at about $26.12 for Cyber Monday.

Ignoring Black Friday

Squirrel Squadron Substack • 0 implied HN points • 19 Dec 25
💼 Business E-commerce
  1. Some deadlines are truly fixed and unavoidable, like holidays, elections, or launch windows. Others are socially created and movable, and those movable dates mostly drive herd behaviour rather than real necessity.
  2. Copying culturally specific sales events from elsewhere is usually pointless when they don't fit your market. Running sales on a different day can help your business stand out.
  3. Arbitrary internal deadlines are transparent and unmotivating, so don't use them. Use meaningful deadlines and methods like a glidepath or Procrustes to focus effort and force helpful trade-offs.

State Must Live With the Agent

domsteil • 0 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🕹 Technology E-commerce
  1. Commerce built around remote services breaks when autonomous agents execute and retry at scale, so state must live where decisions are made to avoid duplication, corruption, and ambiguous outcomes.
  2. Safe autonomous commerce requires embedding execution and local persistence inside agents, with deterministic state transitions, idempotent commands, and event-sourced histories so actions are replayable and resilient offline.
  3. This is a fundamental architectural shift: commerce should behave like a local database (iCommerce) with network sync and settlement as secondary roles, not an optional optimization, to enable reliable agent-driven economies.