Best Buy, Ulta and Sephora Join TikTok Shop for the Holidays, Walmart Bundles Sam's Club Plus Into a Prime Rival
4 min read · October 21, 2026 · Covering October 20 · 10 stories from 7 sources
Yesterday in ecommerce: Best Buy, Ulta Beauty and Sephora sold on TikTok Shop for the first time, Walmart bundled Walmart+ with Sam's Club Plus to take on Amazon Prime, and Amazon promised holiday staff healthcare from day one. 10 stories, about 4 minutes.
01Social Commerce
Best Buy, Ulta Beauty and Sephora join TikTok Shop for their first holiday season
TikTok Shop's Black Friday to Cyber Monday push runs November 11 to 30, a day earlier than last year, and for the first time features Best Buy, Ulta Beauty and Sephora. TikTok says holiday-themed content jumped 263% from August to September, and last year's four-day weekend already topped $500 million in sales, with livestreaming sellers growing 84% faster than the rest of the platform.
For your store:If you sell apparel, beauty or electronics, book a livestream slot before November 11. Shoppers are already searching with holiday intent, and live sellers outgrew everyone else last year.
Walmart bundles Walmart+ and Sam's Club Plus into a $120 membership to challenge Amazon Prime
Walmart will let shoppers combine Walmart+ and Sam's Club Plus for $120 a year, calling it nearly $100 in savings over buying both separately. The bundle adds four exclusive perks: pharmacy and optical savings, early access to deals, and a $60 T-Mobile e-gift card, on top of free shipping, streaming and 10 cents off fuel at over 17,000 stations.
For your store:A bundled membership raises the switching cost for shoppers who already use both chains. If you compete with Walmart or Sam's Club, lean on service or selection they can't easily bundle away.
Amazon will hire over 300,000 seasonal workers, with healthcare from day one
Amazon plans to hire more than 300,000 seasonal, part-time and full-time workers across its US operations this holiday season. Starting January 1, 2027, seasonal staff working 30+ hours a week get healthcare coverage from their first day, with plans from $5 a week. Seasonal pay averages $20 an hour, and full-time operations staff average nearly $24 an hour, over $32 including benefits.
For your store:If you're competing for seasonal staff against Amazon's pay and new healthcare offer, start recruiting now and be explicit about perks it can't match, like flexible hours or a short commute.
Shopify and Vercel let AI shopping agents browse and buy directly from any store
Shopify and Vercel unveiled tools so AI agents, not just human shoppers, can browse a store's catalog, check live stock and get checkout links without scraping pages. A rebuilt Hydrogen SDK returns product data as Markdown, and an open-source Vercel Shop template adds an optional built-in assistant that cannot finalize payments itself. "Checkouts are ridiculously hard to get right," Shopify's Tobi Lutke said.
For your store:If your store runs on Shopify, clean, structured product data now doubles as SEO for AI agents, not just search engines. Check how your catalog reads without its usual page design.
UPS brings box-free Happy Returns drop-offs directly into TikTok Shop
UPS's Happy Returns is now built into TikTok Shop, letting shoppers return items at roughly 10,000 counters, including UPS Stores, Ulta Beauty and Staples, without a box or label. Everlane, Windsor and Pacsun already use it. Happy Returns says its seller-fulfilled option suits merchants handling 10,000 or more returns a year, mostly in apparel, footwear and accessories, ahead of the post-holiday returns rush.
For your store:If you sell apparel on TikTok Shop, a frictionless in-person return option can cut refund disputes and win back shoppers who'd otherwise just keep the item or file a chargeback.
Wildfire and Badge push merchant cashback offers straight into Apple, Google and Samsung Wallet
Loyalty platform Wildfire and wallet provider Badge are letting shoppers carry personalized cashback offers in their phone's wallet, updating automatically and sending location-based reminders near stores. Wildfire's network covers more than 50,000 merchants, including Best Buy, Macy's and Ulta Beauty, with clients like Visa and Citi. "The next evolution of mobile wallets is about what happens beyond the transaction," Badge's CEO said.
For your store:Wallet-based rewards reach shoppers without an app download. If your loyalty program already runs on a platform like Wildfire, ask whether wallet-pass offers are on its roadmap.
Temu and the IACC give brands a 48-hour escalation line for counterfeit listings
Temu expanded its anti-counterfeiting work with the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, giving member brands a dedicated portal to escalate rejected or disputed takedown notices, with a 48-hour response window. Brands can also submit keywords and images so Temu flags suspect listings before they're reported. Temu says it already removes 331 listings proactively for every one taken down after a complaint, across a database covering 15,000 brands.
For your store:If counterfeits of your product turn up on marketplaces, a formal escalation channel like this one moves faster than filing one-off complaints that go nowhere.
AliExpress lets YouTube creators tag its products in videos and earn commission
AliExpress and YouTube launched a global affiliate partnership letting eligible creators tag AliExpress products, including a curated Brand+ selection, directly in long-form videos, Shorts and livestreams. Viewers click through to buy, and creators earn commission on qualifying sales. The partnership started in South Korea in March and is expanding to the UK, US, Brazil and Germany. "Content and commerce are converging globally," AliExpress VP Eric Zhang said.
For your store:Creator-tagged product links are becoming a standard affiliate channel alongside TikTok and Instagram. If you sell on AliExpress or a similar marketplace, check whether creator tagging is live for your listings.
Allegro opens its Polish marketplace to shoppers in Ukraine
Polish marketplace Allegro will let consumers in Ukraine order and receive deliveries through Allegro.pl, without launching a separate local site. New terms bar reselling purchases into Russia, Belarus or occupied territories, and Allegro's buyer protection program now covers deliveries to Ukraine. Allegro's international GMV grew almost 65% in the first half of the year, far outpacing its nearly 14% domestic growth.
For your store:Cross-border GMV is growing faster than domestic sales on major European marketplaces. If you already sell on Allegro, Ukraine is a new addressable market with no extra listing work.
Best Buy pilots a gaming hub with IGN content, in-store play and late-night openings
Best Buy is piloting an online gaming hub with reviews and videos from IGN, plus preorders, deals and a profile shoppers set up with favorite platforms and genres. A Torrance, California store gets a dedicated gaming space in November, and Best Buy plans late-night openings for November's Zelda: Ocarina of Time release and a League of Legends pop-up in Brooklyn.
For your store:Gaming audiences respond to events and community, not just discounts. A small in-store or livestream event tied to a major release can do more for a niche category than another markdown.
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: About Amazon, ChannelX (Tamebay), Digital Commerce 360, Ecommerce News Europe, Modern Retail, Practical Ecommerce, Retail Dive.