This content was created by Vinny O Brien. This content was uploaded by Vinny O Brien. This is a YouTube episode titled "The V Spot Week 21 - Nearly EComm News" (published May 30, 2025). The excerpt is a single-host, informal e‑commerce news/weekly roundup and ad-read (host labeled SPEAKER A) covering retail and e‑commerce headlines — Shopify Editions party in Toronto, tariff/labelling language, Starbucks high‑pay pilot job, Dole executive hire, Adidas ending kangaroo leather, Amazon piloting AI product summaries, Walmart fined over realistic toy guns, and commentary on LinkedIn/shopify culture. The segment includes a sponsored read for Omnisend (mentions a Vinny30 discount code) and uses a humorous, conversational-presenting tone aimed at merchants and e‑commerce professionals.
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Welcome to the VSpot, your home for e-com and your leaked news. Shopify are hosting their Editions party this week in Toronto. Their parties are the love-in, so all things great and good in Shopify. They are said to be more geek-off than freak-off though, thankfully. The tariff flip-flop continues and a certain DJT is left again with egg on his face this week. On the plus side, said eggs are coming down in price according to the fearless leader. This episode is powered and friended by Omnisend, the email and SMS platform that is not just Vinny-proof, it's everybody-proof. You don't need a PhD in UX to be able to use it. You don't need a week to get started, and you definitely don't need to sell a kidney to be able to afford to use it. I wish I'd known that a few weeks ago. 125,000+ brands are already using it. Why? Because merchants are pulling in $68 for every $1 invested in marketing. That's not marketing fluff, that's buy me a pint after work stuff. Omnisend gets your flows flowing, gets your lists growing, and analytics tell you more than something that is not just your open rate has gone up by 0.3%. And yes, they will migrate you for free. Nothing such as a free— nothing like a free lunch in this world. Nothing is a free lunch. What the hell is a free lunch? That's already about $1,000, which is why haven't I done this sooner kind of territory. Shout out to Taras and the team. Only questionable thing continues to be why do they continue to sponsor me? Time will tell. Let's do the news. First up, it is retail, and Starbucks posted a job this week for a pilot of its new Gulfstream, paying an eye-watering $360,000. So if your eyes water at that, you fail the pilot test. You only need 5 years experience too. And according to another job listing we saw for the head of e-commerce role in a remote location just outside New York, you need to have 8 to 10 years experience, get paid a salary of over only $110,000 $1,000 and no benefits. One uses Autopilot and the other an agentic assistant. You figure it out. More retail news and Dole Packaged Foods have chosen Todd Stillwell as their VP of Supply Chain. Todd fit the bill perfectly, a man from Del Monte, and he wears multiple hats. Would you have ever bought Adidas if you knew that Adidas were using kangaroo skin for their leather? Well, you'll be pleased to know they no longer are. Up to 2024, they said they were committed and will end the practice totally in 2025. Kind of makes you wonder what the shoe brand Kangaroo Poo are putting in theirs. Amazon is piloting new AI product summaries on select pages from this week. Users can get the app and use GenAI-powered automatic, uh, product descriptions. Nothing says authenticity like an AI-generated product summary. Walmart has been fined over the sale of toy guns that look too realistic. Third-party sellers on-site shipped guns that were deemed to be realistic in the suit filed in New Jersey and was fined $16,000 to settle the case. Meanwhile, real gun sales continue to be soaring, uh, in hunting season. The word tariff, you may be delighted to hear, may be about to be removed from the vernacular according to Business Insider. Colleagues are being asked to use phrases such as sourcing costs, supply chain expenses, and import costs. This will be music to your ears, Mike, but it does remind me of The Simpsons episode where Lisa was the president of the US and said she had to raise taxes but didn't want to ruffle the feathers of her electorate too much, so she went to her chief of staff Milhouse, who came up with the expression temporary refund adjustments. LinkedIn now seems a lot quieter with all those Shopify ecosystem People not out selling to each other, selling with each other. Instead, they are drinking fancy coffee and smoking big cigars. I hear a train a-coming. And that's a wrap for today, folks. Omnisend isn't just a tool. Remember, it's your growth engine, your 24/7 wingman. You're one flow away from a revenue blowup. No friction, no fluff, no faking it till you make it. See why 125,000 brands are already laughing all the way to the dashboard. And it's not just 'cause my haircut is so bad. My friend Paul says, did you get your ears dropped? Thanks again to our sponsor Omnisend. May your subject lines always be clicky and your unsubscribes few. Thanks for watching the VSpot. That is the 4 minutes you're not getting back this week. Check out my Omnisend link in the comments and you'll get 30% off your first 3 months if you use discount code Vinny30. Have a good weekend, folks. See you next week.
