{"id":1887,"date":"2023-03-23T12:27:47","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T12:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trackmefast.com\/blog\/?p=1887"},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:52:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T12:52:06","slug":"season-roundup-biggest-ecommerce-news-in-q1-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trackmefast.com\/blog\/season-roundup-biggest-ecommerce-news-in-q1-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Season Roundup: Biggest E-commerce News in Q1 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Track Me Fast team takes a look back at the biggest news having shaped the global e-commerce landscape in Q1 2023. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The first quarter of 2023 is quickly approaching its end, and oh boy, were past three months a real whirlwind of breaking news and updates, from tens of thousands of job cuts in the online retail sector amid the fears of recession, to the introduction of new AI solutions, which may potentially change the future of e-commerce, the launch of AliExpress Choice, release of the brand-new Track Me Fast app for Android OS, and much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s dive into some of the biggest e-commerce news from the last three months in more detail. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Layoff Rounds: Prerequisites & Potential Consequences<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Amazon announced another round of massive job cuts<\/a> in March 2023, some of the optimists who’d previously predicted the worst-case scenario in the global digital economy wouldn\u2019t happen, had their heads scratched. Are we at the dawn of the world\u2019s online commerce bubble burst, or is it just the inevitable result of the industry-wide excessive hiring practices in the Covid-19 years? While the latter reason probably has more ground, the current shake-up in the e-commerce sector is clearly marking significant changes we\u2019re about to face in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Shopify\u2019s recent statement<\/a>, for instance, while the company isn\u2019t planning to cut more staff, its management is reluctant to hire many new employees in the future months either. Even in the galloping e-retail sector in China and across ASEAN, some of the 2023 announcements already demonstrate that the hiring spree isn\u2019t coming. On the contrary, the forecasted automation<\/a> dynamics would probably lead to layoff rounds in the near future in this geo, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dawn of the New, AI-powered Era in E-commerce<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While the media was still gossiping about the perks of ChatGPT and similar solutions<\/a>, and their potential impact on the digital creators\u2019 job market, the biggest players in the Chinese e-commerce niche have also rushed to introduce similar generative AI-based tech in Q1 2023, obviously wishing to demonstrate their in-house technical capabilities, as well as their willingness to pioneer the innovation across the board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is, however, the public releases of JD\u2019s ChatJD<\/a> or Baidu\u2019s ERNIE<\/a> at the beginning of the year, for example, weren\u2019t as smooth as expected, showing that the companies\u2019 tech teams, primarily focusing on the Chinese markets, still have much to improve. This is, perhaps why, according to the media reports (and the AliExpress tracking data), Alibaba\u2019s ChatGPT-like tech<\/a> is still in the works, with the main company\u2019s focus remaining on its expansion overseas – to LATAM (where their rival business, – Shopee has boosted its presence in the past several years), Spain and South Korea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the penetration of AI solutions into the e-commerce industry as a whole has been, undoubtedly, growing at an accelerated pace over the past years, with over 70% in the US and Europe actively adopting AI for personalization purposes back in 2020 – 2021 (per Statista<\/a>). More importantly, the latest announcements, regarding the use of AI-generated models by world-known brands, like Levi\u2019s<\/a>, prove this pace will only likely speed up further on.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major Releases: Android App by Track Me Fast, AliExpress Choice<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n