Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel isn't one to typically tease future products, but he did hint that Snapchat has bigger ambitions for e-commerce during a talk at a conference on Monday.
Snapchat ($SNAP) has "pretty cool products coming on the e-commerce side that we’re excited about," Spiegel said onstage at Morgan Stanley's Tech, Media, and Telecom industry conference in San Francisco.
One year ago, Snapchat opened its own in-app store where users can buy physical products, like Snapchat and Bitmoji-branded t-shirts, coffee mugs, and plushies. But Spiegel hinted on Monday that Snapchat's virtual store could be a prelude to something bigger.
“I think we’ll be able to take a lot of learnings from our e-commerce store and maybe apply them more broadly to the product," he said.
Snap has a history of experimenting with new features on its own before opening them up to outside users. For example, Snap ran its own company-themed TV show during the early days of its Discover media platform. Now dozens of media companies around the world publish content to Discover every day. Snap also made the first agumented reality lenses for its app, like the iconic puppy dog filter, before allowing brands and outside developers to make their own lenses.
In the e-commerce space, Snap has already experimented with a few brands to help people buy products like limited-editon Nike ($NKE) sneakers. Snapchat stores a user's credit card information once they make a purchase in the app, which makes it easier for that user to buy something again later.
A bigger push into e-commerce could potentially dovetail nicely with Snap's growing popularity among direct response advertisers. These advertisers usually buy digital ads with the goal of driving an immediate response from the viewer, whether it be downloading an app or making a purchase.
Aside from e-commerce, Spiegel revealed that Snapchat's long-awaited Android redesign will be released by the end of 2019 — the first firm committment he's made publicly to any timeline for the release. Snap has already started testing the new app, which is supposed to be faster and easier to use, with a small percentage of users, per Spiegel.
Investors are banking on the new and improved Android version of Snapchat to help revive user growth, particiularly in markets outside the U.S. where Snapchat has ceded ground to competitors like WhatsApp.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
Starbucks’ AI barista aims to speed service and improve experience. Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Business Editor, explains its impact on workers and customers.
As Big Tech reports Q3 earnings, investors await proof that massive AI and cloud investments from Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet are driving real growth.
