Welcome to the Moast newsletter. We spend the week collecting news, trends, and other content that we think would be interesting to e-commerce founders and CMOs. Our goal is to provide value without sounding like a promo for our app. Helpful wether you use Moast or not.

The company that started as an online bookstore is now destroying books at industrial scale. A 404 Media investigation tracked an AirTagged rare book to an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas where workers cut the spines off massive shipments and scan the pages for AI training data. Rare and out-of-print books are the new gold: they exist nowhere online, and anything printed before 2022 is guaranteed human-written. A strange full-circle moment for Amazon, and a sign of how hungry the AI data race has become.

Here's what caught our attention in the world of e-commerce this week 👇

1/ DTC Headlines

Nike is quietly closing its neighborhood concept stores

-> At least 14 Nike Live locations, later rebranded Nike Well Collective, have shut across a dozen states, including the original Melrose store.

-> Nike once said the hyperlocal, data-driven format could scale to 200 locations.

-> CEO Elliott Hill's plan is fewer, bigger, sport-led stores: "close the doors that are no longer aligned to our strategy."

Inside the quiet death of Nike's local store experiment →

Indochino is making its biggest bet on physical retail in years

-> The made-to-measure DTC brand will open 10 small-format showrooms across the US in 2027, six confirmed for early next year.

-> The expansion follows six straight quarters of positive EBITDA, including a record Q2.

-> CEO Drew Green calls it a format "we think we can expand for a decade." Showrooms carry no inventory: try on, get measured, order.

Why Indochino is doubling down on showrooms →

Home Depot now delivers in 3 hours or less, nationwide

-> Express Delivery costs a $7 flat fee ($10 in LA) with no membership, using 2,000+ stores as fulfillment hubs.

-> Most of those deliveries are actually arriving in under an hour, per the company.

-> Speed is officially table stakes in every category now, including lumber and caulk.

How Home Depot built 3-hour delivery →

Michaels built a 3D and AR frame builder you can project on your wall

-> Shoppers design custom frames online, then scan a QR code to preview them on their actual walls before buying.

-> It launched alongside 200+ new ready-made frames and an Architectural Digest collection.

-> Together with the Ask Mike AI assistant, Michaels is quietly becoming a digital experience leader in a very analog category.

See how the AR frame builder works →

Amazon is expanding drone delivery to nearly 500 cities

-> Prime Air will grow sixfold by year end, from 11 sites today to almost 500 US cities and towns.

-> Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, Syracuse, and Boise are next, with delivery in as fast as 30 minutes for items under 5 pounds.

-> Free for Prime members on $50+ orders, $2.99 below that. The drone era is arriving on a subscription model.

Inside Amazon's massive drone expansion →

Nike's stock hit a 12-year low

-> Shares closed at $39.09, the lowest since 2014 and down 78% from the 2021 peak, wiping out roughly $200 billion in value.

-> JPMorgan downgraded to Underweight, warning the "Win Now" turnaround costs will drag on earnings into fiscal 2028.

-> Greater China revenue has now fallen eight straight quarters as Anta and Li-Ning win younger shoppers.

What's behind Nike's brutal slide →

Walmart's e-commerce machine posted another monster quarter

-> Global e-commerce grew 23%, the 10th straight quarter above 20% for Walmart US, with marketplace up 52% and ads up 43%.

-> A $2.9B tariff refund, the largest reported by any company, is going straight into price cuts.

-> The stock still fell 9%: store comps grew just 2.6%, the slowest since early 2020, as gas and food squeeze shoppers.

The full breakdown of Walmart's quarter →

Shinola hired Cousin Greg to direct its first brand campaign in years

-> Succession's Nicholas Braun both stars in and makes his directorial debut with "The Restaurant," a meditation on time.

-> It launches Shinola's new "Set the Pace" brand platform, built with agency GentleForces.

-> A heritage Detroit brand selling the idea of owning your time, not watch specs. Smart repositioning.

Watch Shinola's Nicholas Braun campaign →

2/ Shopify

Shopify's new data: commerce now moves at the speed of culture

-> Nearly 10% of new shops made their first sale within a single day of signing up, a 43% jump in three years.

-> When the new pope was announced, "da pope" shirts were on sale within the hour. During the Knicks' playoff run, 3,000+ shops listed merch and typically sold within three days.

-> The trend stories stick too: 70% of the ~1,500 shops launched during the matcha craze are still active, and protein coffee sales are up 507%.

Read Shopify's culture-to-commerce data →

3/ What We Found Interesting

Walmart's stores are becoming the back end of its website

-> E-commerce is now over 23% of Walmart US sales, double what it was five years ago, and stores increasingly serve as fulfillment infrastructure.

-> CFO John David Rainey's framing: brick and mortar is vital precisely because retail is omnichannel.

-> Also buried in the quarter: new drug pricing regulation shaved 125 basis points off comps. Regulation is now a retail earnings line item.

How Walmart's stores quietly evolved →

Tom Holland's beer brand is a distribution masterclass

-> Bero is nearing eight figures in revenue in year one: online-only launch, Club BERO subscriptions, then the top-selling non-alcoholic beer on Amazon.

-> The team cold-called its way into Target and scaled to 4,000+ retail doors.

-> The stat worth stealing: 80%+ of its customers are new to the category, helped by packaging designed to "stand out but blend in."

Inside Bero's first-year playbook →

4/ What We Found Helpful

New data: creator fit beats follower count, and it isn't close

-> In CreatorIQ's survey of 5,000+ marketers and creators, suitability ranked as the top factor in creator partnerships. Follower count ranked dead last.

-> The catch: follower count still drives what creators get paid, so the market hasn't caught up to the data.

-> Also notable: 53% of large creators feel tension between what audiences want and what brands demand. Fit fixes that too.

See the full creator economy data →

The complete guide to social proof on Shopify

-> Our new guide covers the full stack: reviews, ratings, and video, and where each one actually moves conversion.

-> It breaks down why video testimonials outperform text reviews, and how to place both without cluttering your PDP.

-> Practical and step-by-step, whether you're starting from zero or optimizing an existing setup.

Read the full social proof guide →