💸 Amazon stealing orders?

Good morning, eComm legend.

So apparently, Amazon woke up and chose… generosity. Kind of. Sort of. Not really. They just launched a thing that lets people buy from your website, without leaving their app. Like a clingy ex who starts sending your mom birthday gifts. It’s called Buy for Me, and yes, it’s just as confusing as it sounds. (You get the sale. They get the credit. You get the customer support emails. Everyone wins. Except you. But also you win. It's weird.)

This isn’t affiliate. This isn’t a collab. This is Amazon showing up uninvited to your party, handing people your product, and saying “Don’t worry, I got this.” It’s like they broke into your store to help you make money, which is kind of sweet if it wasn’t also extremely unsettling. We’re in new territory now: brace for passive-aggressive growth.

Let’s dive in and get you growing.

In today’s agenda:

• 💸 CTRL + Convert: Blume’s popup decoded

• 📅 Tariff TL;DR: What’s hitting when

• 🕶️ X-Ray of the Week: Blume’s $2.8M growth engine

• 🤥 BeReal said no ads. BeReal lied.

• 🥷 Amazon just hijacked your Shopify checkout.

Hard to follow? Here is your cheat sheet, ecomm’ legend:

April 5 – 10% tariff goes brrrr
Blanket 10% tariff hits almost everything you import. Canada and Mexico are safe for now (USMCA perks). China is a bit higher than this, up to 145%.

Next 90 Days – Tariff limbo mode
Country-specific rates (except China, Hong Kong, Russia, Belarus) are frozen. You have three months to figure out if you’re dumping your current suppliers or just pretending it’s fine while doomscrolling Accio at midnight.

May 2 – De minimis goes poof
No more duty-free under $800 from China or Hong Kong. Every tiny package now has big paperwork. Flat fee enters the chat: $25/item or 30% of value. RIP, casual drop-shipping.

June 1 – Tariff jumpscare
Flat fee mutates into $150/item or 90% (whichever hurts more). At this point, your $5 hair clips are wearing a tux and asking to see the manager.

Soon™ – Electronics on deck
Phones, laptops, gadgets still chilling. But don’t get cozy, they’re probably next. If you're selling chargers, hoverboards, or smart toasters, maybe start thinking “Plan B” (aka not panic-googling “local warehousing near me” in July).

Ongoing – You, adapting
New sourcing, new math, maybe new suppliers (ImportYeti, we see you). Your to-do list is now 70% customs, 20% coffee, 10% screaming internally.

Sources: passportglobal.com, modernretail.co, freightwaves.com, yahoo.com

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BeReal ads are real now: You wake up, pour coffee (forget to drink it), and boom: your BeReal goes off. You snap your crooked-bedhead dual cam and post it because that’s the game. But guess who’s also playing now? Brands.

The vibe shift is real: BeReal was the "no filter" kid on the block. Now it's letting brands crash the party, but quietly. There’s no hyper-polished stuff, only dual-cam ads that blend in with real posts. Think less banner ad, more “oh, Levi’s is here too.” These aren’t flashy; they’re stealthy. Levi’s saw 5x the engagement here vs. anywhere else. That’s not a typo. Users scroll, they see, they tap (mostly because it doesn’t scream “AD”). So if you sell something that looks good in the wild (like a hoodie, candle, or oddly cute toaster), this is a surprisingly cozy fit.

How to sneak in: Ok, here’s the nitty gritty (aka: please screenshot this list and pretend you thought of it later):

• Minimum requirements: The minimum ad spend right now is $10K, so unless you're feeling spicy or VC-backed, aim for organic plays first.

• Keep it raw: Use an unfiltered, real-life photo of your product. No pro lighting, no thirst trap captions.

• Target smart-ish: Zip-code targeting is rolling out, so think local drops or pop-ups.

• Post at BeReal time: Be one of the first brands to actually be real when users get the daily ping. Timing matters more than “aesthetic.”

• Track engagement, not likes: This crowd doesn’t hit like, they click or dip. Watch that click rate.

No faking allowed: There’s this thing called RealBrands accounts, and yes, you have to play by the rules. No scheduling, no edits, and yes, you’ll have to respond to comments like you’re just some dude who happens to sell rings. Think of it like running a brand page in 2014, but now everyone’s in on the joke (and they will roast you if you slip).

Bottom line, no filter: BeReal ads aren’t a cash faucet yet, but they are a weird, promising alley for brands who get it. You’re not here to shout. You’re here to vibe. Get in, post something that looks like your cousin took it, and watch what happens. It might flop. It might hit. But at least it won’t feel like you’re losing to someone selling socks with a minion face on them again (never forget).

Sources: bereal.com

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Amazon just soft-launched a feature that feels like it was built by someone who got tired of switching tabs mid-doomscroll. It’s called ‘Buy for Me’, and yes, it does exactly what it sounds like: buys stuff for your customer on your own site, without them ever leaving the Amazon app. If that made your stomach drop a little (same), let’s talk about what this means for your ecommerce store before the algorithm eats your lunch.

Amazon stays sticky: Your customer can now search for your brand on Amazon, see your product listed not sold by Amazon, tap Buy for Me, and Amazon’s AI (named Nova, which sounds like a Gen Z popstar) will go full Mission: Impossible. It will buy the product from your site, with their encrypted data, while the customer chills in the app. The order still goes through your checkout. You fulfill it. But the customer gets to feel like they never left Amazon’s cozy little digital couch.

The catch-22 vibes: There’s no commission (yet). That’s the bait. You get more eyeballs without paying Jeff a cut. But customers now think your brand is an Amazon button. Which is fine, until they want to talk to someone about their order and come knocking like it’s 2014 and you still used Yahoo Messenger for customer support (no shade, just trauma).

Control your chaos: You’re still handling shipping, returns, and post-purchase “where’s my order” emails (the worst genre of email). So don’t list stuff with funky inventory. And don’t rely on Amazon to send updates, they don’t. Customers think they’re buying on Amazon, but you’re the one who gets blamed if things go full chaos mode (aka December 22nd orders).

Listing remains murky: Right now, it’s unclear how brands actually get added to the ‘Buy for Me’ pool. Amazon hasn’t published criteria or onboarding steps (very secret menu energy). If you’re not seeing your stuff show up, you’re not alone. We’re watching it closely and we’ll report back when the process is clearer 🫡.

Sources: amazon.com

* Executive Cheat Sheet

• Zero-party data: Data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand, often through quizzes, forms, or popups.

• Micro-commitment: A small action (like clicking or answering a question) that increases a user’s likelihood of completing a bigger action later, like making a purchase.

• De minimis: A legal threshold that allows low-value imports (usually under $800 in the U.S.) to enter duty-free without customs paperwork—until it’s removed.

• Conversion funnel: The step-by-step process a potential customer goes through, from first interaction to completing a purchase, often optimized to increase sales.