90% of Europe's Cross-Border Shopping Goes to Temu, Shein and AliExpress, Ikea Sends Driverless Trucks Onto Texas Highways
3 min read · October 3, 2026 · Covering October 2 · 8 stories from 6 sources
Yesterday in ecommerce: Temu, Shein and AliExpress captured over 90% of the money Europeans spent outside the EU, and Ikea let Kodiak's trucks drive a Texas freight route with no safety driver at all. 8 stories, about 4 minutes.
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90% of Europe's cross-border spending now goes to Temu, Shein or AliExpress
Europeans spent 421 billion euros online on physical goods in 2025, and 55.1 billion euros of that left the EU, over five times the 2.3% share that crossed borders in 2020. Of that outbound spending, 49.7 billion euros, more than 90%, went to Temu, Shein and AliExpress, a new ECDB report found. ECDB expects the outbound share to keep climbing, to 15.2% in 2026.
For your store:If you compete on price against these platforms you likely can't win there; lean into service, fit guidance or speed instead.
Ikea and Kodiak send fully driverless trucks onto Texas highways
Ikea and Kodiak Robotics are removing the safety driver from a Texas freight route later this year, after a planned three-month pilot stretched into four years and over 750,000 autonomous miles. The trucks have carried more than 1,300 loads from Ikea's Baytown distribution center to its Frisco store along roughly 220 miles of highway between Houston and Dallas, which Kodiak says have run without incident.
For your store:Autonomous trucking is moving from pilot to production; expect freight costs on long domestic lanes to shift over the next few years.
Card networks draft the rules for letting AI agents pay
EMVCo closed public comment on its Agentic Payments framework, a card industry standard for how merchants and banks know what an AI shopping agent was actually authorized to do. It proposes shared "Intent Services" to record consumer permission, a "Know Your Agent" scheme to identify the agent, and transaction flags for fraud and dispute checks. PYMNTS Intelligence found 56% of shoppers would let an agent compare products, but only 37% would let it pay.
For your store:Before plugging an AI checkout agent into your store, check what it actually logs about what the shopper approved.
Kroger launches a rewards credit card to pull shoppers online
Kroger, fintech Imprint and Mastercard launched the Kroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard: 5X points on Kroger.com and app orders, up to 3X in stores, extra points on fuel, dining and travel, and a $100 welcome bonus, plus a free Boost delivery membership. Kroger's Megan Shaffer says the card should "turn purchases into real savings," while an analyst called it a way to move shoppers "from the aisle to the screen."
For your store:A co-branded card is out of reach for most small stores, but richer rewards for online orders than in-store ones is worth copying.
TinyHealth turns a gut test into a mail-order subscription business
Founder Cheryl Sew Hoy started TinyHealth in 2020 with $50,000 and has since closed a $33 million Series B. Customers swab themselves at home, mail the sample in a prepaid box, and the company sequences it to flag gut bacteria, parasites and fungi, selling to both consumers and practitioners. About half its customers arrive through Meta and Google ads, the rest through content, email and influencers.
For your store:A credible lab story and a simple mail-in kit can justify a premium price; pair paid ads with content so it isn't your only channel.
Morrisons trials a multi-temperature Click & Collect locker wall
Morrisons installed what it calls the UK's first supermarket multi-temperature locker system at its Skipton store, built with StrongPoint. Orders are pre-packed into chilled, frozen and ambient compartments and released with a six-digit code, with several doors assigned together for bigger orders; age-restricted items stay locked until staff check ID. The trial also extended Click & Collect hours by two hours a day.
For your store:If pickup congestion or missed age checks slow your collection point, a code-locked locker can fix both at once.
Ikea closes three US order-and-collect stores less than a year after opening one
Ikea is shutting small-format plan-and-order stores in Georgetown (Washington D.C.), Annapolis and Fairfax by the end of November, with the Georgetown site closing barely a year after it opened. The company says it is "continuing to invest in home delivery, pick-up services and its digital channels" instead, reversing a 2023 plan that had committed $2.2 billion to nine such stores. Staff can transfer to nearby full-size locations.
For your store:Before copying a competitor's small-format or showroom push, make sure your delivery and digital experience can carry the weight instead.
Columbia turns sore feet into a marketing stunt for its new hiking boots
Columbia Sportswear turned an East London salon into a free pop-up offering hikers foot massages and pedicures after guided hikes, to launch its Peakfreak Titanium OutDry, Peakfreak III and Peakfreak Hera hiking shoes. The brand said "our feet do all the hard work on a hike, and they rarely get the credit," building on an earlier stunt that paid hikers for photos of their feet.
For your store:A small, specific stunt tied to one body part or use case travels further on social media than a generic product launch post.
The Daily Checkout is a daily summary written by KonvertiQ. Every story links to its original source, where you will find full reporting and context. Covered today: Digital Commerce 360, Ecommerce News Europe, PYMNTS, Practical Ecommerce, Retail Dive, Retail Gazette.