Edible Arrangements Now Sells Actual Edibles 🍃

No, it’s not an April Fools’ joke. Edibles now sells edibles 🤪.

Hey you, welcome to another issue of The Ecom Press 🗞️!

This week, we’re unwrapping a sweet (and slightly cheeky) pivot from Edible Arrangements, breaking down how kids can now make payments via Google Wallet (yep, that’s happening), and catching wind of AliExpress making serious global moves 🌪️.

By the way, don’t miss our ultimate beginner’s guide to launching a Print on Demand biz in 2025—fresh inside this week’s Ecom Insider 🚀! 

If you’re ready, let’s slide in ⛷️!

In a rush? Here's the juice 🤭:

🍃Edible Arrangements now sells actual edibles.

💳 Google Wallet now allows kids make in-store payments.

🚚 AliExpress announces new marketplace model for U.S. sellers.

🚀 Ecom Strategies: The Best Way to Start Print on Demand in 2025

⚡️Worthy Mentions

🍃Edible Arrangements now sells actual edibles.

The brand known for gifting fruit bouquets is now dishing out a different kind of treat. Edible Brands, parent company of Edible Arrangements, has officially launched Edibles.com—a new cannabis ecomm marketplace selling hemp-derived THC products like gummies and drinks. The name pun? Entirely intentional.

Here’s the lowdown ⬇️:

🍃 Same Name, New Meaning: The move leans into the long-standing confusion around the name “Edible Arrangements.” CEO Somia Farid Silber told Forbes, “We’re already called ‘edible,’ right? Sometimes there’s even an expectation from customers for [cannabis] products.” 

🍬 What You Can Buy: The platform offers hemp-based THC products including drinks, gummies, chews, and wellness enhancers from buzzy brands like Cann, Wana, Ayrloom, and 1906 — all compliant with the 2018 Farm Bill (i.e., less than 0.3% THC by dry weight).

🚚 Starting with Texas: Edibles.com currently delivers to Texas, with plans to expand into Georgia, Florida, and other hemp-legal states. A flagship store is also headed to Atlanta’s Inman Park. It’ll act as a prototype for franchising opportunities. The company is also exploring its own line of hemp products in the near future.

🧑‍💼 Leadership with Experience: Former Theory Wellness CMO Thomas Winstanley has joined as EVP to lead the charge. With deep industry knowledge, his focus is on curating a trusted, premium, and education-first THC marketplace.

🤷Why Now? CEO Somia Farid Silber (daughter of Edible’s founder) says it best: “We’re already called ‘edible,’ right? There’s even a little bit of an expectation for [cannabis] products.” The company has reportedly held the Edibles.com domain for a while — and now the timing was right to activate it.

🧠 Education and Trust at the Core: With quality inconsistencies plaguing the hemp space, the platform aims to demystify cannabis products, offer lab-tested selections, and become a go-to trusted destination for hemp-based wellness.

Why it matters 🤷‍♂️

Considering that the company has reportedly held the Edibles.com domain for a while, I guess now’s the best time to activate it. It’s less of a gimmick and more of a calculated play into the hemp market that still struggles with quality control and regulation. Overall, ecommerce operators can learn a thing or two about strategic rebranding and smart category expansion.

💳 Google Wallet now allows kids make in-store payments.

With this new update, children under 13 (or the applicable legal age) with Android phones can now use Google Wallet to tap and pay at physical stores—under the watchful eye of parents, of course. Launched in five countries, the feature makes offline payments safer and more manageable for young users.

Here’s the scoop 🍨:

• Google Wallet for kids is tied to supervised accounts via Google’s Family Link.

• Parents must authorize every payment card added, and receive email alerts for each transaction.

• Children can use Wallet for tap-to-pay at physical stores and store digital passes like library cards, event tickets, and gift cards.

• Online purchases and Google services like YouTube and Play are strictly off-limits.

• The feature is now live in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Spain, and Poland, with no word yet on further expansion.

• Parents can add or remove cards, disable pass access, and monitor spending from their Family Link dashboard.

• Once a child turns 13, they can choose to manage their own account—with a heads-up sent to parents in advance.

Why it matters 🤨

Like it or not, the next generation of consumers are already forming payment habits that are digital, mobile, and highly supervised. Of course, this is another strategic plot from Google to build brand loyalty and trust with such kid-friendly wallets.

🚚 AliExpress announces new marketplace model for U.S. sellers. 

AliExpress is turning up the volume in the U.S. with the launch of its new AliExpressLocal Marketplace — a flexible, self-serve model for U.S. sellers. This builds on its earlier AliExpressLocal Direct program and is backed by powerful new API tools to simplify store management.

AliExpress is doubling down on its U.S. expansion with two key updates:

🛒 Two Ways to Sell, Built for Flexibility: Sellers can now choose between two models.

• AliExpressLocal Marketplace offers full autonomy: you control pricing, product listings, marketing, and more — all through a self-serve setup.

• AliExpressLocal Direct, on the other hand, is a more hands-on approach, with AliExpress helping out with merchandising and marketing — ideal for sellers who want support but not complexity.

⚙️ New API Integration Tools: AliExpress also rolled out two integration options — the Open API and ISV tools — designed to make sellers’ lives easier. These allow sellers (or the SaaS platforms they use) to:

• Sync inventory in real-time

• Automate product uploads and pricing

• Track orders and fulfillment efficiently

Basically, it’s plug-and-play infrastructure for serious sellers managing multiple channels.

🚀 Proof It’s Working: BorderX Lab, an AI-driven ecommerce company, is already seeing results. CEO Albert Shen said the API has helped them upload thousands of listings with ease and better control their strategy — a promising sign for other sellers eyeing this platform.

🎯 What’s Next: With a seller event planned in Los Angeles on April 3 and a flagship retail presence on the horizon, AliExpress is clearly putting serious energy into courting U.S. merchants — and offering them more than just another sales channel.

Why it matters 🤔

By handing over control to sellers and removing technical barriers through automation, AliExpress is positioning itself as a serious contender for ecommerce brands looking to diversify away from Amazon and Shopify. For sellers, it might be a space worth watching for lower fees, more freedom, and access to a global customer base.

🛎️ The Ecom Press Insider

Ecom Fact: The global Print on Demand (POD) market is growing at a staggering CAGR of 27.8%. It generated around $3.94 billion in 2022, is projected to hit $8.45 billion in 2025, and is expected to skyrocket to $43.07 billion by 2032.

The takeaway? If you've been sleeping on POD, it's time to wake up and smell the profits — unless you're cool with letting a $40 billion opportunity pass you by 😴💸. 

🚀 Ecom Strategies: The Best Way to Start Print on Demand in 2025

Print on Demand (POD) in 2025 is thriving! In fact, with the right setup, we’ve seen creators make up to $80,000 a month (in profit) selling simple products like T-shirts, posters, and mugs, without touching a single item 🤯. Worth giving a shot, right?  

Thankfully, we recently released a 3-hour packed beginner guide to starting POD. Mike, co-founder of Santrel Media, built an entire Shopify + Gelato POD store from scratch—live, on video—and showed every single step from store design to unboxing the first customer order.

If you’ve been sitting on a product idea (or you just want to tap into a no-inventory side hustle), this is your go-to blueprint. Here's a preview of what Mike covers in this step-by-step POD guide 👇.

🛠️ Setting Up a Store That Sells

Mike breaks down how to launch a clean, high-converting Shopify store using a simple theme and smart UX tweaks. From adding free shipping banners to customizing product pages, you’ll see how to make a professional storefront fast—with no coding needed.

🔗 The POD Fulfillment Stack We Recommend

We integrate Gelato as our POD partner, for global fulfillment, equipped with automatic product syncing, branded packaging, and zero inventory headaches. Mike teaches how to create custom apparel and wall art (even using AI-generated art) and publish them to your store in minutes.

🎯 Creating Mockups That Actually Convert 

Mockups can make or break your store. Mike uses Placeit and Gelato’s native tools to create clean, lifestyle-ready visuals—and shares why real photos (with samples you order) are game-changers for marketing.

💸 Discounts, Sample Orders & Profit Hacks

We teach how to create discount codes, order samples the smart way, and avoid unnecessary credit card fees. Plus, Mike shows how to actually test the buying experience, track your profit margins, and understand how much you’ll earn from each sale.

📬 Email Marketing: Set It and Let It Sell

We plug in Omnisend and set up killer automation: abandoned cart flows, welcome emails, product promos—all running in the background.

📈 Marketing Like a Pro (Even If You're a Beginner)

• SEO: Want Google traffic? Mike shows how to write blog posts that rank—and feature your products organically.

• Social Media: How to set up Facebook + Instagram pages the right way (especially if you plan to run ads).

• AI-Powered Ads: Mike walks through Arc Ads, a tool that uses AI-generated actors to make pro-level ad videos without hiring anyone.

🎯 Launching Paid Ads with TikTok & Meta

Mike shows how to:

• Set up the Meta Pixel and create high-performing Facebook/Instagram ad campaigns.

• Run TikTok ads that feel native, fast, and engaging.

• Structure ad campaigns (campaign > ad set > ad) and test multiple creatives—so you’re not just spending but learning what works.

🎁 Why Ordering Samples Is Non-Negotiable

Beyond the setting up process, Mike actually unboxes a real product, critiques the print quality, and points out possible corrections for better customer satisfaction and fewer returns. 

Want to turn your ideas into income, sell globally without inventory headaches, use AI to design, mockup, and advertise smarter, and launch a store that looks and feels like a 6-figure brand? Check out our masterclass on YouTube on The Best way to Start POD in 2025 for FREE!

⚡️Worthy Mentions

• Temu reportedly hires top talent from Amazon and Walmart to fuel U.S. expansion.

• BuyBuy Baby to relaunch online in May with enhanced features.

• U.S. government bans DeepSeek AI on government devices over security concerns.

• Perplexity AI makes surprise bid for TikTok U.S. operations.

• Google makes historic $32 billion acquisition of cloud security firm Wiz.

Wrapping up…

From tasty brand twists to payment updates and big brand strategies, this week’s ecommerce scoop came in hot 🔥.

Some weeks, it’s all about AI tools; others, it’s about launches and brand updates—but no matter what’s bubbling in the pot, we’re always here to serve you the tastiest bits.

Until next time—stay sharp, stay selling, and if you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button like it owes you money 😉.