ontap.daily (September 9th 2026)

In today's episode, John unpacks a Shopify product data update that solves a long-standing problem for multichannel merchants, examines why an 11x ROAS account was losing money on every order, and breaks down Bain's forecast for the first-ever trillion-dollar US holiday season, including what the headline number hides about real consumer spending power.- Shopify multiple barcodes per variant: what it fixes for multichannel operations and how to use it before peak season- Meta joins Shopify's Agentic Storefronts: what merchants should review in their AI channel settings- Shopify POS abandoned cart visibility: bridging online intent with in-store conversion- The 11x ROAS profitability trap: why ROAS alone can't tell you if your ads are making money, and what to measure instead- Google AI Max and Microsoft CPC changes: why automation makes the profitability problem worse- Bain's $1 trillion holiday forecast: the real growth rate behind the headline and what it means for peak season planning- 24% of consumers starting holiday shopping in AI platforms: up from 17% last year- Google Ads AI Dashboards: early impressions and when to trust the outputs- Retail media's differentiation problem: only 1 in 5 see clear differences between networksFor more insights on eCommerce strategy, platform updates, and peak season preparation, visit www.ontapgroup.com.