Large Account Executive

The retail tax you already paid for. And... Augmodo, Auger raises funding, Shopify rolls out WebMCP and more Jul 15, 2026 The Watson Weekly is sponsored by Avalara - the agentic AI platform automating global tax and compliance for leading eCommerce brands with simple plans, transparent pricing, and complete coverage across Shopify, Stripe, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and more. Tl;dr. * You Earned the Money. Walmart Just Kept Some. Retail compliance from 2 directions. * Agentic Corner: The AI and LLM news you need to know, not the slop. * Investor News Roundup: A B2B vintage marketplace raises funding, and more The interview takeaway. You Earned the Money. Walmart Just Kept Some. Here's a number that should bother you if you sell into retail: three to five percent of your gross invoice, gone. Not to returns. Not to damaged goods. Gone to chargebacks. Elle Smyth, CEO and Co-founder of RetailReady, put it in plain terms on the podcast this week. Do $10M shipping into retail and you can expect roughly $500k to disappear off your invoice. Zoom out and it's about $40B a year in the US alone. The reason brands lose their minds over this particular line item is that it isn't a cost. It's revenue you already earned. You made the product, you shipped it, and then Walmart or Target quietly hands back a smaller check than the one you were owed. What did you do wrong? Usually nothing that has anything to do with the product. A label an inch off the spot the overhead scanner wants. A carton a hair over the max dimension buried on page 212 of a routing guide. A shipping notice that showed up in a format the retailer's system couldn't read. The box was fine. The paperwork wasn't. I've been saying for years that compliance is where a lot of good brands quietly bleed out, and this episode made it concrete. Art Nimbley, who runs IT for Pierre Fabre in the US, told me his team used to eat thirty or forty chargebacks a week. Every one of those is a person running a root-cause investigation instead of doing real work. One of his employees was spending forty hours a month, a quarter of their time, hand-building shipping notices so the retailer wouldn't ding them. That's the tax behind the tax. It doesn't just cost you the deduction. It costs you the payroll you throw at avoiding the deduction. The part that got me: when Pierre Fabre automated it, the technical chargebacks basically went to zero on the first order. Not down twenty percent. Near zero. Which tells you the problem was never that these teams are sloppy. The problem is that Walmart's guide runs 399 pages, Target's is completely different, and every one of them changes at least once a year. Nobody is beating that with a binder and good intentions. So here's my take. If you're shipping wholesale and you've been writing off chargebacks as the cost of doing business, stop. That's a story you tell yourself because the alternative feels hard. Ask your 3PL one simple question: show me how you track chargebacks over time. If they can't pull it up, they don't have a system. They have a process and a prayer. Today's Watson Weekly episode is sponsored by Radial and Avalara. The big idea. One more thing from Art, because I loved it. The big retailers are not always right. He has challenged national accounts three times and won three times. Read the manual, trust your data, and go find a real human on the other side of that shared inbox. The money is yours. Go get paid. Listen to The Watson Weekly interview. The $40 billion retail tax nobody sends you a bill for. July 15, 2026 Sponsor The Watson Weekly. The Agentic Corner. * Supply Chain Dive: Apple has extended its partnership with Broadcom, who will supply it with more than 15B chips, at a cost of over $30B. US-made silicon chips are like chicken teeth. * Nekuda: Shopify has rolled out WebMCP unannounced. Hello Agent! * GeekWire: Auger (Remember Amazon's Dave Clark) has announced it has raised $50M in Series B funding. Another AI company using "operating system" as its reason for existing. * Monogram: Announced a $30M Seed funding round emerging from stealth. AI meet visual interface. * geoSurge: Announced a $12M Seed funding round focused on a new thesis for AI optimization. Do RMW Commerce not have enough brand visibility startups? Investor News Roundup. * GeekWire: Augmodo who create hardware that scans store shelves raised $21M at a $350M valuation. How does this scale? * TMX Newsfile: RevMatics acquired DateFeedWatch from Cart.com in a cash and stock deal. Remember data feeds? * ESG Today: UK-based Fleek, a B2B resale marketplace for vintage fashion announced it has raised $25M in Series B funding. Add Fleek to the list of words being reused by startups. Watson in the wild. * Rick Watson appeared on a ShipStation webinar: How Intelligent is your eCommerce delivery? * Missed any of the Watson Webinars? From recaps to earnings and more - Watch the webinars.

Shopify VAT and e-invoicing for cross-border sales: a Docnova guide. Shopify makes it easy to sell globally, but global sales come with a VAT and e-invoicing compliance challenge that the platform itself doesn't fully solve. Every country where you sell may require a different invoice format, different VAT treatment, and increasingly structured digital invoice submission to a government portal. Managing this manually across dozens of markets is unsustainable. Docnova connects to your Shopify store to automate compliant invoice generation for every order, applying the correct VAT rules and generating legally valid e-invoices for each country your customers are in.Note: Shopify is available under Integrations | Third Party Apps (not the ERP Connections tab). Note: Shopify is available under Integrations | Third Party Apps in Docnova. E-Invoicing requirements for Shopify sellers. E-invoicing mandates are expanding rapidly. For Shopify sellers, the practical impact depends on where your customers are located and where your business is registered: * B2B sales in mandated countries require structured invoices (XML, UBL) submitted to government portals a PDF invoice emailed to the buyer is no longer sufficient. * B2C sales in many countries require simplified invoices that still meet specific format and content rules. * Cross-border EU sales trigger VAT registration obligations in destination countries once thresholds are crossed, meaning you may need to issue invoices compliant with multiple countries' rules simultaneously. * Marketplace facilitator rules mean some obligations fall on Shopify, but many still rest with the seller particularly for B2B transactions. Shopify's built-in invoicing generates PDF invoices suitable for many B2C transactions. It does not generate structured XML invoices, does not submit to government portals, and does not apply country-specific VAT validation rules. VAT compliance challenges. Cross-border VAT compliance for Shopify sellers involves several layers of complexity: VAT rates vary by country and product type. A digital product sold to a German consumer is taxed at a different rate than the same product sold to a Romanian consumer. Getting this wrong results in underpaid VAT, penalties, and potentially required corrections across historical invoices. Invoice content requirements differ by jurisdiction. France requires different mandatory fields than Poland. Romania's e-Factura system requires specific XML structure that doesn't match what Germany's Peppol network expects. Real-time reporting obligations in countries like Poland (KSeF) and Romania (e-Factura) mean invoices must be submitted to government systems before or immediately after delivery not just archived. Multi-currency and multi-language invoicing adds further complexity when your Shopify store serves markets with different currencies and local-language invoice requirements. How Docnova handles Shopify invoicing. Docnova acts as the compliance engine for your Shopify orders. When connected to your store, it: * Receives order data from Shopify as orders are placed or completed * Applies the correct VAT rules for the buyer's country and the product type * Generates a compliant invoice in the legally required format for that country - UBL, XML, PDF/A-3, or Peppol BIS as applicable * Submits to the relevant government portal where real-time reporting is required * Archives the invoice with a full audit trail accessible from the Docnova dashboard Your Shopify store continues operating as normal. Your team doesn't need to learn new invoicing tools or manually handle country-specific formats. Docnova runs the compliance layer behind the scenes. To connect your Shopify store, navigate to Integrations | Third Party Apps, locate Shopify in the list, and click Connect. Follow the on-screen prompts to authorize Docnova's access to your store. Supported countries. | Country | Platform / Network | Invoice Format | | Germany (DE) | Peppol (erechnungen24) | UBL / ZUGFeRD | | Belgium (BE) | Peppol (eFactuurHub) | UBL | | Poland (PL) | KSeF (eFakturaPolska) | FA_VAT XML | | France (FR) | Chorus Pro / Peppol | UBL | | Romania (RO) | e-Factura | XML | | Italy (IT) | SDI | XML (FatturaPA) | | Netherlands (NL) | Peppol | UBL | | Denmark (DK) | Peppol | UBL | | Sweden (SE) | Peppol | UBL | | Croatia (HR) | Fiscalization | XML | | Serbia (RS) | SEF | XML | Docnova supports e-invoicing compliance for the following countries, relevant for Shopify sellers with cross-border EU and international sales: TODO: verify: Italy (IT) backend module listed as "N/A (planned)" in countries index confirm whether Italian e-invoicing is live in Docnova For Shopify sellers, the most immediately relevant markets are typically Germany, France, Netherlands, Poland, and Romania all of which are fully supported by Docnova. How Docnova helps. Docnova removes the biggest e-invoicing burden for Shopify sellers: the need to understand and implement different invoice formats and submission rules for every country you sell into. Instead of building country-specific invoice workflows in Shopify (which isn't designed for this) or managing a patchwork of country-specific tools, you connect once and Docnova handles the rest. As you expand into new countries, Docnova's compliance rules expand with you. There's no additional plugin to install, no Shopify theme modification, and no new software for your team to learn. The full invoice history submitted, pending, and failed is available in the Docnova dashboard with enough detail to satisfy a VAT audit in any supported country. For sellers approaching or exceeding VAT registration thresholds in multiple EU countries, Docnova's multi-country support means a single integration covers your entire compliance footprint rather than one tool per country. Conclusion. Cross-border selling on Shopify doesn't have to mean a compliance nightmare. By connecting your Shopify store to Docnova, VAT calculation, invoice generation, and government submission are handled automatically for every country in Docnova's supported network.

4 PPC challenges for ecommerce (and how E-goi can help). Optimise your ecommerce PPC strategy. Discover how E-goi helps solve audience targeting, click quality, abandoned cart recovery, and attribution challenges to maximise your ROAS. PPC (Pay-Per-Click) is one of the most effective channels for generating qualified traffic and driving ecommerce sales. However, its success depends on several technical factors, including audience targeting, creative optimisation, conversion attribution, and data integration. 4 challenges and how to solve them. 1. Advanced audience segmentation and traffic quality. The challenge * Broad audience targeting generates irrelevant impressions and clicks, increasing CPA (Cost Per Acquisition). * Disconnected campaign and customer data makes it difficult to build highly accurate audience segments. PPC best practices * Build custom audiences using first-party data and create lookalike audiences in Google Ads and Meta Ads. * Exclude low-intent users with dynamic exclusion lists. * Integrate behavioural and purchase history data directly into your advertising platforms. How E-goi can help Customer database synchronisation: E-goi integrates with ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and others, automatically synchronising customer profiles, purchase history, and preferences. Automatic audience synchronisation: Segments created within E-goi can be exported to Google Ads and Meta Ads, with dynamic updates supported for Meta Ads, for example, customers who purchased within the last 90 days or abandoned carts from the last 7 days. Higher ROAS: Targeting audiences with stronger purchase intent reduces CPA while increasing conversion rates. 2. Reducing budget waste from low-quality clicks. The challenge * Low-intent clicks consume advertising budget, distort campaign metrics, and negatively impact Quality Score. * Many businesses lack mechanisms to qualify leads before or immediately after the first interaction. PPC best practices * Continuously refine negative keyword lists in Google Ads. * Optimise keyword match types (phrase match, exact match, and broad match where appropriate). * Use dynamic ads with URL parameters to support A/B testing and personalised landing experiences. How E-goi can help Smart forms: Forms embedded within PPC landing pages can include conditional fields that qualify leads before they enter your CRM. Instant marketing automation: Newly captured leads automatically enter nurturing workflows, helping identify those with the highest conversion potential. UTM tracking: E-goi captures and stores UTM parameters, allowing every lead to be linked back to its PPC campaign, ad, or keyword for more accurate performance analysis. 3. Recovering abandoned carts with a multichannel strategy. The challenge * PPC campaigns successfully attract high-intent visitors, yet nearly 70% of shopping carts are abandoned. * Relying solely on paid remarketing significantly increases customer reacquisition costs. PPC best practices * Configure Dynamic Remarketing campaigns in Google Ads and Meta Ads to display products customers have viewed or added to their basket. * Integrate cart abandonment events with your marketing automation platform to reduce dependence on paid traffic. How E-goi can help Real-time ecommerce events: E-goi integrates with your online store to identify abandoned carts as they happen. Multichannel automation: Automatically send recovery sequences via email, SMS, and push notifications featuring product images, pricing, discount vouchers, and urgency messaging such as "Only a few items left." Integrated remarketing: The same abandoned cart audience can also be exported into PPC platforms, combining paid remarketing with owned channels like email and SMS for higher recovery rates at a lower cost. 4. Advanced measurement and accurate attribution. The challenge * Last-click attribution often undervalues PPC's true contribution to the customer journey. * Many businesses struggle to connect PPC conversion data with retention, Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), and repeat purchase metrics. PPC best practices * Use data-driven attribution models within Google Ads. * Import offline conversions to connect CRM outcomes with PPC reporting. How E-goi can help Unified conversion tracking: E-goi stores conversion events from multiple channels and can export these events to Google Ads and Meta Ads as offline conversions. LTV analysis: Built-in dashboards reveal the lifetime value of customers acquired through PPC, enabling more intelligent bidding strategies and budget allocation. Business intelligence integration: Export campaign and customer data to Google Looker Studio, Microsoft Power BI, or other BI platforms to combine advertising metrics with customer performance insights. Conclusion. Successful ecommerce PPC management isn't just about improving CTRs or lowering CPCs. It's about connecting customer data, audience segmentation, remarketing, and marketing automation so that every click delivers the highest possible long-term return. Within this ecosystem, E-goi is far more than another marketing platform. It acts as the central hub connecting paid acquisition with the entire customer lifecycle, ensuring every advertising dollar has a greater chance of generating repeat purchases and long-term customer loyalty. Next step: If you're already investing in PPC, explore E-goi's integrations with leading advertising platforms and ecommerce solutions. Small improvements in your data flow can translate into significant gains in ROAS and overall campaign profitability. Discover how E-goi can help strengthen your marketing strategy by requesting a free demonstration.