Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Google's Universal Cart goes live in the US, the UK plans to extend VAT liability to marketplaces, and Bonobos relaunches on Shopify with omnichannel fit profiles.
Google just launched a shopping cart that keeps buyers inside Search — and never sends them to your site. Plus, UK marketplaces like Amazon and eBay may soon own VAT collection for domestic sellers.
In this episode:
The Digital Commerce Daily is a concise briefing for ecommerce, retail media and digital commerce professionals, hosted by Marco & Klara. New episode every day.
Enjoying the show? A quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps other marketers find us.
Also from Marco & Klara: The FMCG Marketing Daily · The Health Marketing Daily
Your 8-minute briefing on the platforms, players, and profits driving digital commerce today. Hosted by Marco and Klara.
Marco: Good morning — today's show is a good one.
Klara: We're looking at a big regulatory shift in the UK that could reshape how marketplaces operate — then we've got a menswear brand's website relaunch that says a lot about where Shopify is headed.
Marco: And we'll end with Google's new AI shopping cart — and what it means for everyone selling online.
Klara: Let's go.
Marco: The UK government wants to make online marketplaces responsible for collecting VAT on sales by larger domestic sellers — and that's a bigger deal than it sounds.
Klara: Let's set the scene. Right now, marketplaces like Amazon and eBay already have to collect VAT on behalf of overseas sellers. So if a seller based in China sells through Amazon UK, the platform handles the tax. But domestic UK sellers — businesses based in Britain — have managed their own VAT. Until now, that's been their responsibility, not the platform's.
Marco: The proposal would change that. The UK government wants to extend that same system to larger UK-based sellers. So platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy would become directly responsible for collecting and sending VAT to HMRC on those sales too. The UK is following a path the EU already took with its own marketplace VAT reforms — essentially saying, if the platform facilitates the sale, the platform owns the tax collection.
Klara: And for sellers, this could feel like losing control. You're no longer managing your own tax position — the platform does it for you. Some sellers will see that as one less headache. But others will worry about accuracy, timing, and what happens if the platform gets it wrong.
Marco: My concern is margins. When platforms take on more legal responsibility, they often charge for it. Fees tend to creep up. And for brands already watching their costs carefully, selling via a marketplace just got a little more expensive — even if the rules haven't landed yet.
Klara: Worth noting — this is still a proposal. But given how the EU moved on this, and how HMRC has been tightening platform rules for years, I'd treat it as a question of when, not if.
Marco: Sellers and brands should be running their numbers now, not scrambling when it becomes law.
Klara: Our next story is coming up straight after this.
Marco: Bonobos — the US menswear brand — has just relaunched its website on Shopify, and it's more interesting than a typical platform migration.
Klara: A bit of context. Bonobos was one of the original direct-to-consumer success stories — built on the idea that great fit and a brilliant online experience could beat traditional retail. For years, brands like Bonobos ran their own custom-built platforms, or used expensive enterprise software, because they wanted full control. Shopify was seen as the tool for smaller players.
Marco: That's changed. As of October last year, Bonobos moved its entire ecommerce operation to Shopify. But the really interesting part isn't the move itself — it's what they built on top of it. The new site connects in-store fitting data with online purchasing. So if a customer visits one of their physical guideshops — that's what Bonobos calls its showrooms where you try things on — that fit profile follows them online. The platform is doing the stitching between physical and digital.
Klara: And that's the signal worth paying attention to. Shopify has spent years positioning itself as checkout infrastructure. Now it's becoming something closer to the central nervous system of a retail brand — holding customer data, fit preferences, purchase history, across every channel.
Marco: For mid-sized brands in Europe sitting on ageing custom platforms, this is a case study worth reading. The cost and complexity of maintaining your own tech stack is only going in one direction.
Klara: I'd add a note of caution though. Consolidating onto one platform — any platform — creates dependency. If Shopify changes its pricing or its terms, you feel it everywhere at once. That's a real trade-off, not just a technical one.
Marco: True. But right now, the migration tide is clearly moving one way.
Klara: Our third and final story is up next.
Marco: Google has just launched something that could fundamentally shift how online shopping works — and most European brands aren't paying close enough attention yet.
Klara: So let's place this. For years, Google Search has been where people discover products. You type in "men's running shoes," you get results, and then you click through to a retailer's website to actually buy. Google was the door. The shop was somewhere else.
Marco: Google wants to own the whole journey now. Its new tool — called Universal Cart — is live in the US ahead of the 2026 holiday season. The idea is simple: shoppers can add products from multiple different retailers into a single cart, managed by Google, without ever leaving Google's platform. Discovery and purchase, all in one place.
Klara: So Google becomes the shop, not just the door.
Marco: Exactly. And the implications for any brand that sells online are significant. Right now, when someone finds your product through Google and clicks through to your site, you own that moment. You get their data. You can retarget them. You control the experience. If the sale happens inside Google's cart instead, you lose all of that.
Klara: Though I'd argue some brands will see this as a real opportunity, not just a threat. Smaller retailers who struggle to convert traffic once they get it — they might actually benefit from handing that transaction moment to Google. Lower friction at checkout can mean more completed sales.
Marco: That's true for volume. But your margins, your customer relationship, your repeat purchase data — all of that becomes Google's, not yours.
Klara: So the question every brand needs to answer is: do you feed Google's cart and accept less control, or do you fight to keep shoppers in your own checkout and risk losing visibility?
Marco: That is the defining question for anyone selling online this holiday season — and honestly, well beyond it.
Marco: The single biggest idea from today — the infrastructure underneath commerce is shifting, whether it's who collects the tax, who owns the checkout, or who controls the search results.
Klara: So ask yourself: in your business right now, how many of those three things do you actually control — and how many are controlled for you?