Closely watched retail trade analysts in the United States decreased their import target for the first half of 2023 on Monday, predicting that inbound ocean container volume will remain light until this autumn when stores like Walmart should be well into holiday season preparations.

The Global Port Tracker predicts 10.4 million 20-foot equivalent unit imports to the United States in the first half of the year, down about 4% from its prior estimate, reported Reuters.

According to an assessment released on Monday by the National Retail Federation and maritime trade consultancy Hackett Associates, if imports hit the revised objective, they will be down 23% from the first half of 2022.

The uncertainty caused by high inflation, Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, and recent bank failures is dragging on commerce, according to Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates.

“Year-over-year import volumes have been on the decline at most ports since late last year, and declining exports out of China highlight the slowdown in demand for consumer goods,” Hackett said.

“Our view is that imports will remain below recent levels until inflation rates and inventory surpluses are reduced,” he said, according to the report.

The first trend is that closed environments are beginning to take search volume away from Google, according to a report by Search Engine Journal.

40% of people, particularly the younger generation, begin their search on Instagram or TikTok.

Another trend is that Google will be increasingly updating its algorithm.

According to the article, the best way to tackle SEO is to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Then, you want to come in, get your brand attention, answer questions, and solve problems.

Then, find specialists to back you up so your authority grows in that area.

In terms of content, there will be a change from content writers to content editors who will be responsible for fact-checking, and production will grow.

Undoubtedly, AI is here to stay and will continue to assist you with jobs that often take a long time, such as writer’s block, social media postings, and many other things.

The changes attempt to respond to queries that typical ’10 blue links’ web results cannot simply answer.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Google is changing the way it displays search results to include artificial intelligence dialogues and more brief video and social media posts, a change from the list of website results that has made it the leading search engine for decades.

According to corporate records and others acquainted with the situation, they would move the service away from its original style, known colloquially as the “10 blue links.”

According to the documents, Google intends to incorporate more human voices as part of the move, supporting content creators like it did with websites.

In response to their queries, Google search users may be more frequently invited to ask follow-up questions or swipe through visuals such as TikTok videos.

Microsoft has made its Bing GPT-4 chatbot available to everyone Thursday, with no waiting list required.

Simply sign in to the new Bing or Edge with your Microsoft account to gain access to the open preview version powered by GPT-4. Microsoft is also heavily improving Bing Chat, adding new features and even plug-in compatibility, reported The Verge.

This open preview launch comes nearly two months after Microsoft experimented with removing the Bing Chat waitlist. The chatbot first appeared in a closed preview in February, and Microsoft has progressively expanded its availability since then.

Microsoft is now introducing additional intelligent features to Bing Chat, such as image and video results, new Bing and Edge Actions, persistent chat and history, and plug-in compatibility. The addition of plug-in functionality will be critical for developers and the future of Bing Chat.

According to the report, Microsoft is collaborating with OpenTable to integrate their restaurant booking plug-in into Bing Chat and WolframAlpha for visualization generation.

Etsy surpassed market estimates for quarterly sales on Wednesday, thanks to increased demand for products like personalized gifts sold on its e-commerce platform and higher transaction fees, sending the company’s stock up roughly 2% in extended trading.

According to Reuters, after a pandemic-driven rise in growth when consumers bought cloth masks and craft supplies from the comfort of their homes, Etsy – a platform for sellers of vintage or homemade goods – has maintained its popularity among cost-conscious shoppers.

Marketplace revenue climbed by more than 9%, mainly owing to an increase in the transaction fee, or the charge that a business must pay each time it processes a customer’s payment, from 5% to 6.5%.

However, according to the report, the company’s consolidated gross merchandise sales, a key industry metric, fell 4.6% to $3.1 billion in the reported quarter due to consumer spending pressures, particularly for lower-income buyers, as well as year-over-year declines in some larger categories such as home and living and craft supplies.

Amid platform expansion and broader income problems, Google is upgrading YouTube Shorts advertising and offering new options for brand awareness.

Google is unveiling new advertising options on YouTube Shorts, including expanded video reach campaigns and the introduction of a “First Position on Shorts” tool, reported the Search Engine Journal.

This feature allows an advertiser’s content to be the first video viewers see when scrolling on Shorts.

YouTube Shorts is a rapidly growing platform with over 50 billion daily views.

Google is introducing in-feed video advertisements into video reach campaigns, meaning these ads will appear on YouTube’s home feed and search results.

Shopify Bill Pay, a service for merchants to manage and pay vendors directly in the Shopify admin dashboard with no membership fees, is being added to the company’s finance solutions portfolio.

Shopify announced on April 24 that the function is being powered by Melio and will save store owners hours each month paying bills.

Shopify store owners using Bill Pay will benefit from the following features:

-Schedule, pay, and manage B2B payments from the Shopify admin dashboard
-Payment method preference (pay with credit even if the vendor does not accept it)
-A dedicated bill pay dashboard for filtering, sorting, and scheduling payments—now or in the future
-Uploading expenses via email and images

“Shopify Bill Pay also seamlessly integrates into Shopify Balance. With Shopify Bill Pay, there are no subscription or sign-up fees, and merchants can pay bills with their Shopify Balance accounts or ACH bank transfers for free,” stated Shopify.

The world’s largest consumer goods companies, which produce everything from instant noodles to soap and ice cream, are paying less for raw materials and energy. Still, it may be some time before consumers see considerably lower prices for their household items, reported Reuters.

Rising costs for everything from sunflower oil to milk and grain have hit the packaged products industry hard in the last two years, causing companies to raise prices and contributing to a global cost-of-living issue.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, cost inflation increased, compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which brought energy costs to all-time highs last year. However, energy prices have since fallen, while worldwide prices for some commodities have risen more slowly.

It is uncertain when businesses will begin to pass on some of their cheaper expenses to customers, according to the report. Associated British Foods (ABF.L) said on Tuesday that it does not foresee many further price hikes in the second half of this year as expenses such as wheat, vegetable oils, freight, and energy begin to reduce.

According to Piper Sandler, 37% of US teens named TikTok their favorite social media app in March, up from 30% the previous month.

Snapchat fell to second place, dropping from 31% to 27% within that period. Instagram is ranked third, with 23% of youngsters naming it their favorite choice, reported Insider Intelligence/eMarketer.

TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram are the most popular platforms for marketers to target younger Gen Z social media users.

A TikTok ban would open the door for other social media platforms. To reclaim its youthful popularity, Snapchat made its My AI chatbot, powered by OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, available to all users and introduced new AR experiences.

Google’s documented ranking systems page has been amended to remove four ranking methods, including three ranking systems, from the list.

According to an article on the Search Engine Roundtable, Google removed the page experience system from the main list but did not add it to the retired list. It also removed the mobile-friendly ranking, page speed, and secure sites systems from the retired list.

“This makes you wonder if any of those were significant or actual ranking systems in Google’s search ranking algorithms ever,” stated Barry Schwartz in the report.

John Mueller of Google tweeted, “This is not a change in how ranking works, it’s more about how we’ve been thinking about these elements. We’ve seen people hyper-focus on these numbers, that’s not a good use of time & energy. Think holistically instead.”