Artificial intelligence for brands
Blog
AI for brands and manufacturers · Marketing · Agentic commerce
-
AI StrategyUlta Beauty AI Assistant Boosts E-Commerce Sales
Executive summary Ulta Beauty reported a massive 11.1% year-over-year net sales increase in Q1 2026, hitting $3.16 billion. Digital channels crushed physical retail, with e-commerce delivering mid-teen growth compared to low single digits in stores. The secret weapon? “Ulta AI,” … Read More
Carlos Martínez Barriga 5 min read
-
NewsAmazon Launches AWS Agentic Shopping Assistant
Executive summary Amazon just packaged its internal AI shopping tech (which drove nearly $12 billion in sales) into a new AWS offering for outside retailers. Kate Spade New York is the first customer, launching an AI Gift Concierge that bypasses … Read More
-
AI StrategyAI Companies for Freshers: Why Brands Lose the Talent War
TL;DR — Key Takeaways The global talent gap is massive, with 3.2 open positions for every qualified tech candidate in 2026, forcing brands to compete fiercely for technical resources. The real problem isn’t a lack of human beings, but a … Read More
-
EcommerceWhen the Most Cautious AI Lab Uses Claude for 80% of Its Own Code
Executive Summary Fact: In May 2026, more than 80% of Anthropic’s production code was authored by Claude — up from near zero when Claude Code launched in February 2025. Impact: Engineers are now merging eight times as much code per … Read More
-
AI StrategyForward Deployed Engineer OpenAI: The Enterprise Shift Brands Can’t Ignore
Why the Forward Deployed Engineer role is now essential for enterprise AI adoption in commerce, and how Epinium bridges technology and retail.
-
EcommerceGoogle’s Universal Cart Is Now Live for Walmart and Target
Executive Summary Google’s Universal Cart — a single persistent shopping layer spanning Search, Gemini, YouTube, and Gmail — is rolling out to Walmart, Target, Nike, Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Wayfair, and Shopify merchants this summer 2026. For brand managers, the business … Read More
-
Epinium newsletter · no fluff, no spam
Every week, the most useful AI insights for your brand
I'm Carlos, CEO of Epinium. I share what actually moves the needle for brands and manufacturers.
By subscribing you accept the Privacy Policy.
Welcome aboard!Check your inbox to confirm your subscription.
-
EcommerceAmazon Advertising Management: What Brands Get Wrong
TL;DR — Key takeaways Amazon’s ad revenue crossed $56B in 2024 — but the brands winning aren’t the ones spending most. They’re spending at the right layer. ACoS measures campaign efficiency. TACoS measures whether you’re actually growing. Most brand teams … Read More
-
EcommerceOpenAI’s Codex Is Now Your Sales Team, Data Analyst, and Creative Director
Executive Summary Fact: On June 2, OpenAI launched six role-specific plugins for Codex — bundling 62 apps and 110 skills across sales, data analytics, creative production, product design, equity investing, and investment banking. Impact: Knowledge workers already represent 20% of … Read More
-
AI StrategyForward Deployed Engineer: The Brand Leader’s Reality Check
TL;DR — Key takeaways Forward deployed engineers (FDEs) are senior engineers embedded inside a client’s environment to ship production AI — not slides, not reports, working code. FDE job postings jumped 729% year-over-year to 5,330 by April 2026, with salaries … Read More
-
EcommerceAlphabet Raises $80 Billion as Enterprise AI Demand Outstrips Even Google’s Supply
Fact: Alphabet announced $80 billion in concurrent equity offerings on June 1, 2026, including a confirmed $10 billion strategic investment from Berkshire Hathaway, to fund AI data centre expansion. Impact: CEO Sundar Pichai guided to $180–190 billion in total 2026 … Read More
-
EcommerceClaude for Amazon: What Brands Actually Need to Know
TL;DR — Key takeaways Claude connects to Amazon via MCP — but the connection alone solves roughly 20% of what brand operations actually require. The other 80% lives in data curation, persistent brand context, and safe execution. Over 900,000 Amazon … Read More
-
Amazon SEOClaude for Amazon Sellers: The Non-Technical Playbook
TL;DR — Key takeaways Amazon launched a Claude-powered Seller Assistant (AWS Bedrock, Q4 2025) — your competitors are already operating against you with the same model you can use directly. 72% of Amazon sellers who tried AI tools abandoned them … Read More