🤖 Amazon Launches Real-Time AI Shopping

Plus: Amazon debuts Deals for second-hand goods 👚, while Best Buy teams with Uber Eats for same-day deliveries 🚚.

September 03, 2025

Want to start selling online? Get started with Shopify for just $1.

We can now see, and of course, buy the world through the Lens of Amazon.

Hi there, and welcome to another issue of The Ecom Press 🗞️!

Today’s lineup hits fast: Amazon’s Lens Live lands on iOS for real-time product matches, Second Chance Deal Days spotlights refurbished savings across Europe, and Uber Eats x Best Buy brings same-day electronics to your door.

We’ve also got a workshop on starting a dropshipping store so you can put recent trends to work, step by step.

Ready to get the signal without the noise? Let’s dive in. 🚀

In a rush? Here's the juice🤭:

🤖 Amazon launches Lens Live for real-time AI shopping.

👚 Amazon debuts Second Chance Deal Days for second-hand goods.

🚚 Best Buy teams with Uber Eats for same-day electronics delivery.

🛠️ Workshop: How to Start a Dropshipping Store in 2025.

⚡️Worthy Mentions

Source: Amazon

Amazon has rolled out Lens Live, a new feature that lets shoppers instantly identify and buy products by scanning them in real time with their phone camera. The tool brings visual search to life and integrates directly with Amazon’s AI assistant Rufus for product insights.

Here’s the lowdown ⬇️:

📸 Instant Detection – Instead of snapping a picture or uploading an image, customers can point their phone at any item. Lens Live identifies products on the spot and shows matches in a swipeable carousel at the bottom of the screen.

🛒 Seamless Shopping – Shoppers can tap on an item in their view to focus on it, add products to their cart with the + icon, or save them to wish lists with the heart icon, all without leaving the camera.

🤖 Rufus Integration – Amazon’s AI assistant provides quick product summaries, suggested questions, and conversational insights under the carousel. This helps users compare features, understand differences, and make faster purchase decisions.

⚙️ Powered by AI at Scale – Lens Live uses on-device computer vision models for object detection and deep learning models to match items against billions of Amazon listings. It runs on AWS services like OpenSearch and SageMaker to handle massive real-time queries.

📱 Availability – The feature is live for tens of millions of iOS users in the U.S. and will roll out to more customers in the coming weeks. Expansion to global markets has not yet been announced.This positions Amazon strategically in the point-of-discovery shopping. Lens Live pushes the boundary from online search into real-world discovery, effectively turning every object around you into a potential product page. 

Why it matters 🤔

This positions Amazon strategically in the point-of-discovery shopping. Lens Live pushes the boundary from online search into real-world discovery, effectively turning every object around you into a potential product page. For ecommerce sellers, this makes accurate catalogs and rich product data critical. What Rufus highlights in the carousel could decide whether a customer chooses you or a competitor.

Source: Amazon

Amazon has launched Second Chance Deal Days (September 3–9), its first shopping event dedicated to returned, used, and refurbished products. 

The sale covers major European markets and offers discounts of up to 50% across categories such as tech, home and kitchen, fitness, and toys, with the same customer service and return protections as new items.

Here are the deets ⬇️:

♻️ Dates and scope: The event runs September 3–9 in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK, featuring tens of millions of second-hand items.

🏷️ Discounts: Customers can save up to 50% on returned and refurbished goods across nearly all product categories.

🧰 Two programs drive the event: Amazon Resale for inspected and graded open-box items, and Amazon Renewed for professionally refurbished products sold by qualified partners.

🔎 Quality controls:  Each item goes through a quality process (inspected, tested, cleaned, and repaired if needed) before being listed with clear condition labels such as “Like New” or “Good.”

📊 Scale and adoption: Amazon says more than two-thirds of Europeans now buy second-hand, citing cost, sustainability, and convenience, with customers saving over €350 million on such products last year.

🧪 Return-reduction tools: To reduce returns, Amazon is expanding tools like detailed product information, reviews, AI-driven size charts, and augmented reality previews for fashion and homeware items.

🇩🇪 In Germany alone, more than 20 million second-hand orders were placed in 2024, saving customers around €160 million.

Why it matters 🤨

Second Chance Deal Days signals that Amazon is formalizing circular shopping as part of its peak-season calendar. For sellers, it’s both an opportunity to capture cost-conscious buyers and a challenge if “recommerce” undercuts new sales. The key is to differentiate products with warranties, service value, or unique features that refurbished items cannot replace.

🔁 Boost Repeat Sales with Shopify Subscriptions.

Let customers subscribe to products they love—weekly, monthly, or yearly. Manage everything in Shopify, offer flexible options, and build predictable revenue with ease.

Source: Uber Investor Relations

Uber Eats has teamed up with Best Buy to make consumer electronics available for on-demand delivery from more than 800 stores across the U.S. 

The deal allows shoppers to order everything from laptops and gaming gear to small appliances through the Uber Eats app, with both instant and scheduled delivery options available.

Here’s the scoop 🍨:

📱 How it works: Best Buy products are now listed on the Uber Eats app under the “Retail” or “Electronics” categories, where customers can browse, order, and track delivery in real time.

🏬 Store coverage: The partnership includes more than 800 Best Buy locations nationwide, making a wide range of electronics, appliances, and accessories available for delivery.

💸 Launch promo: To celebrate the rollout, Uber Eats is offering $20 off orders of $60 or more with the code BESTBUY10, valid through September 29, 2025. Uber One members also get $0 delivery fees on eligible orders.

🚚 Delivery options: Customers can choose between on-demand delivery or scheduled drop-offs, with live order tracking included in the Uber Eats app.

🤝 Other partnerships: Best Buy continues to expand its delivery ecosystem. It already partners with Instacart (since 2020) and DoorDash (since 2023), and Uber Eats is now the latest addition.

📈 Strategic move: Uber Eats is broadening its reach beyond groceries into retail, while electronics emerge as a high-demand category for convenience-driven shoppers.

Why it matters 🤷‍♂️

For ecommerce sellers, this partnership highlights how delivery apps are evolving into multipurpose retail marketplaces. It raises consumer expectations for same-day or near-instant delivery of high-value goods, not just food. Clearly, the edge will go to brands that integrate seamlessly into these platforms and maintain real-time visibility, as delivery speed is increasingly tied to customer loyalty.

🛎️ The Ecom Press Insider

Source: ChatGPT Image Generator 

Ecom Fact: Digital wallets now power 16% of all online purchases, double their usage in physical stores. Meanwhile, 42% of shoppers prefer debit cards in-store, compared to 38% opting for credit cards online. Amazon remains the leader in online card transactions, while Walmart holds the top spot in physical retail (Source: PYMNTS).

💡 Takeaway: Amazon and Walmart’s dominance shows that payment preference is tied to trust as much as convenience. Building checkout trust signals, from security badges to clear refund policies, can help smaller retailers compete.

🛠️ Workshop: How to Start a Dropshipping Store in 2025.

Dropshipping is often called the “gateway” into ecommerce, and with good reason. It’s low-cost, low-risk, and can be launched with nothing more than a laptop and internet connection. Mike recently shared a step-by-step tutorial on setting up a profitable dropshipping store. If you’re looking to get started, here’s the crash course 👇

🛍️ Build your storefront: Create a professional Shopify store that looks polished from day one. Choose a clean theme, set up your pages, and remove friction at checkout.

📦 Pick a winning product: Focus on items that are easy to ship, low-return, under $75 (impulse-buy friendly), and unique enough to spark attention. Quality suppliers with fast shipping are key.

📣 Market strategically: Success isn’t just about listing products; it’s about visibility. Use viral-style content, retargeting, and influencer marketing to stand out and avoid being drowned by copycats.

🔄 Optimize and repeat: Treat every product launch as an experiment. Study your data, improve what works, and quickly drop what doesn’t. The scientific, iterative approach is what separates winners from quitters.

💡 Stay consistent: Dropshipping isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes dedication, testing, and patience, but those who commit can build long-term ecommerce businesses.

👉 Want the full playbook? Check out the complete tutorial on YouTube and follow along step by step.

⚡️Worthy Mentions

Wrapping up…

Amazon stole the spotlight this week with Lens Live and, of course, Second Chance Deal Days. Quite a strategic move for circular inventory! 

For sellers, that’s a clear nudge toward richer product data, airtight warranties, and “recommerce” strategy baked into Q4 plans.

But which move stood out for you? 🤔

As always, stay curious, share with a friend or two, and we’ll be back next week with the latest ecommerce buzz⚡️.