America's Biggest Stores Fail an AI Shopping Agent Test, the FTC Fines a Payment Processor for Hiding Fees
2 min read · November 9, 2026 · Covering November 8 · 5 stories from 4 sources
Yesterday in ecommerce: a study found most of America's biggest online stores still can't complete a checkout when an AI shopping agent tries to buy, and the FTC fined a payment processor $600,000 for hiding fees from small businesses. 5 stories, about 3 minutes.
01AI & Agents
Most of America's biggest online stores fail an AI shopping agent test
Human Forward sent eight AI shopping assistants to buy from 200 major US retailers and direct-to-consumer brands, and only 2 of 48 large sites it could test let an agent complete checkout. Nearly half of all 200 sites, 98, blocked or would not load for its crawler, even though 58 of those 63 blockers say in their own robots.txt files that AI crawlers are welcome. Asked what Purple was, seven of eight assistants described the colour, not the mattress brand.
For your store:Check whether your product pages and robots.txt actually let AI shopping assistants read and buy before Black Friday.
FTC fines a payment processor for hiding fees from small businesses
The FTC says Riverside Payments promised small businesses savings of 40% to 60% on processing costs, then buried activation, batch and compliance fees inside a 26-page contract with a $695 early termination charge and a year of equipment leasing beyond that. A "no-risk" cancellation guarantee allegedly came with long hold times and missed callbacks. Riverside and its leasing affiliate will pay $600,000, with a $32.1 million judgment suspended, and must let affected merchants cancel penalty-free for 60 days.
For your store:If you process through Riverside or Cascade, check the 60-day penalty-free exit window and re-read your contract's renewal terms.
Google Shopping now dominates European product search results
Google dropped free product listings in the EU under the Digital Markets Act, and its own Shopping box has filled the gap. BrightEdge data cited by Search Engine Roundtable found Google's Shopping unit now appears 16 to 35 times more often than the next-largest comparison service across Spain, Italy, France and Germany, landing in the top four results 61% to 76% of the time. One marketer called it the only comparison service Google ever seems to spotlight.
For your store:If you sell into the EU, keep your Merchant Center feed clean; Google Shopping is now the main way EU shoppers find products.
Criteo takes its performance-based TV ads beyond the US
Criteo is expanding its Performance Connected TV product outside the US, launching in Brazil and Mexico before year end, with the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia following in 2027. The format uses Criteo's commerce and identity data, drawn from over $1 trillion in annual transactions, to target and measure TV campaigns like digital ads. A travel platform using it reported a 61 times return on ad spend and a lower cost per acquisition than display ads.
For your store:Retail media is moving onto the TV; watch for CTV options from your own ad platforms next year.
Beauty retailer Notino launches its own retail media network
Notino, an online beauty retailer in 27 European markets reaching 40 million customers, launched a retail media platform built on Criteo's commerce technology, offering brands sponsored product placements, onsite display and video ads. The platform uses Notino's first-party shopper data to target ads and gives advertisers performance reporting across all its markets from one place. Notino plans to extend the partnership to offsite ads and blend in offline sales data next.
For your store:A retailer your size can still open ad space to suppliers; even a small on-site sponsored-placement program adds margin.
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: ChannelX, InternetRetailing, Payments Dive, Search Engine Roundtable.