This Week in M&A Issue #259
October 19, 2026
Hey hey!
Today’s trend of the week is “dollhouses”. 🏠
Dollhouses aren’t just for kids anymore.
Adults are turning this childhood pastime into a creative hobby, designing miniature dream homes filled with tiny books, custom wallpaper, antique-style furniture, and carefully chosen accessories.
Some enthusiasts spend thousands of dollars on bespoke creations, while others hunt for secondhand dollhouses to restore and decorate on a budget.
The hobby is gaining traction on TikTok and Instagram. As a result, the global dollhouse market is expected to more than double, growing from $1.2 billion in 2025 to $2.5 billion by 2034.
For business owners, this growing interest presents opportunities across several niches. Selling miniature furniture, decorative accessories, wallpaper, DIY kits, and restoration supplies could appeal to hobbyists looking to personalize their creations. Specialist ecommerce stores catering to collectors also have potential, especially as social media introduces the pastime to a new generation of enthusiasts.
Today we have for you:
- Shopify data reveals a boom in entrepreneurship
- Amazon launches paid tool to help sellers get more reviews
And:
- FedEx and Stripe partner to make funding easier for small businesses
- Shopify makes it possible to shop directly through AI agents
- The products driving sales on TikTok Shop
Alright, let’s dive in.
ecommerce
Image Source: Giphy (Wing’s Art Studio)
New Shopify Report Shows the Growth of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is growing.
According to Shopify’s new The Entrepreneur Effect report, a new entrepreneur makes their first Shopify sale every 26 seconds, adding up to approximately 1.2 million first sales annually. Around half of new sellers make their first sale within three weeks of opening their store. And 43% more sellers achieve a sale within a day of signing up compared with 2022.
Starting small is also common. 41% of merchants launched with one product, while 78% built their own online stores without hiring someone to do it for them.
Technology is also extending the reach of businesses. Rural businesses’ orders travel an average of 1,118 miles, nearly matching the 1,162-mile average for urban businesses. Entrepreneurs generated $68 billion in international sales last year, while rural merchants’ share of international sales grew 4.4 times over six years.
Smaller, specialized markets are growing too. Products outside Shopify’s 100 largest categories account for nearly 55% of sales and are growing faster than the biggest categories. Nearly 54% of new stores launch in these less dominant categories.
AI is creating additional opportunities. Between April and June 2026, orders referred through AI channels converted at a rate 80% higher than organic search sessions and had 14% higher average order values. Nearly 75% of AI-referred sales came from outside the 100 largest product categories.
Customer demand continues to grow. In 2025, 186 million people made their first purchase from an entrepreneur, about six new customers every second.
As a result, between July 2025 and June 2026, businesses using Shopify generated an estimated $688 billion in US economic activity and supported 2.3 million jobs, double the number reported in 2022. Globally, Shopify merchants supported 9.6 million jobs and generated more than $1.2 trillion in economic activity.
Entrepreneurship is becoming a more realistic option for people who previously lacked the money, skills, or resources to start a business. Technology can’t remove the risks of running a business, but it can reduce the cost and expertise needed to get started.
Amazon
Amazon’s New Ad Tool Targets Listings With Fewer Than 1,000 Reviews
Amazon is introducing a new advertising product that helps sellers collect more product reviews.
The new feature, called Review Requests, invites recent customers to leave feedback while browsing Amazon. Buyers can submit a star rating with one click, then choose to add a written review, photos, or video.
The service launches in open beta in the US in late October 2026. Eligible sellers and vendors must have advertising accounts in good standing, with no active policy violations. Products must have fewer than 1,000 total ratings and reviews, and campaigns automatically pause once they reach that limit.
Sellers can manage campaigns through Amazon Ads Agent, using familiar bidding and budget controls. Amazon is also making the feature available through its Unified Campaign Management API, allowing advertising software providers to integrate it into their existing workflows.
Early results look promising. Amazon reports that testing generated three times as many ratings and reviews per week as before the trial. However, the closed beta only ran for just under three weeks. Amazon hasn’t shared how many products participated, how much campaigns will cost, or how much of the increase came directly from the ads.
Amazon already offers a free Request a Review tool, so businesses will need to weigh the potential for more customer feedback against the cost of running paid campaigns. Amazon has not yet disclosed its pricing model.
The launch also follows Amazon’s 2026 restrictions on sharing reviews between product variations. Listings that previously benefited from shared reviews may now have fewer ratings of their own, making it harder to build credibility.
For now, the beta is US-only, with Amazon planning to expand to other marketplaces and properties.
Financing
Stripe and FedEx Team Up to Use Shipping Data for Small Business Financing
Getting funding to grow a business isn’t always easy, especially for businesses that rely heavily on shipping and logistics.
That’s why Stripe and FedEx are teaming up to help small and medium-sized businesses access financing by combining financial data with supply chain information.
The companies announced a long-term partnership on October 6, with the first joint solution planned for early 2027. It will combine FedEx Dataworks’ logistics data with Stripe’s financial infrastructure and Stripe Capital to expand access to funding for tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses.
Traditionally, lenders have relied on credit scores and bank statements to decide whether a business qualifies for funding. But this data doesn’t always tell the full story. A business might be growing quickly, processing plenty of orders and managing its inventory well, yet still struggle to get a loan.
FedEx Dataworks can provide operational signals such as shipment activity, inventory movement, and fulfillment performance. Stripe plans to use those signals alongside financial information when analyzing businesses for potential funding.
This could help eligible businesses access funding faster and get offers better suited to their needs.
The partnership also brings benefits for customers. FedEx plans to use Stripe to process payments, adding more than 50 payment methods to its checkout experience. This will give customers in different markets more ways to pay.
With this partnership, there are two developments worth watching. Better access to funding could help businesses invest in growth, while more payment options could make it easier to sell internationally.
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ecommerce
Shopify Brings Product Shopping and Checkout to AI Agents
What if you could find a product, add it to your cart, and pay for it without ever leaving a conversation with an AI assistant?
Shopify is making that possible with a new tool that lets AI agents handle more of the shopping process.
Announced on October 13, Shopify’s new Shop MCP gives developers a way to connect AI agents and apps to more than 1 billion products in Shopify Catalog, covering products sold by millions of stores. Developers can use it to help people discover products, build carts, complete purchases, and track orders without creating separate integrations for individual stores.
Shop MCP uses MCP, or Model Context Protocol, a standard that lets AI applications connect to external services. Its 17 available tools cover product searches, product details, checkout, and order tracking for signed-in shoppers.
Customers can also sign in with Shop to give agents access to saved information, including their sizes, preferences, and shipping addresses. This could make it easier to find relevant products without repeatedly entering the same details.
Shop Pay also makes it possible to complete purchases without leaving the AI conversation. Once a shopper confirms the order total and payment method, the agent can complete checkout using their saved payment details.
Shopify is also making it possible to buy from stores that have not directly integrated with Shop MCP. In these cases, shoppers approve the purchase through Shop, which provides single-use card details for the agent to use at the merchant’s existing checkout.
Developers can start searching Shopify’s product catalog without an API key, making it easier to experiment with AI shopping experiences.
The big question is whether customers will get comfortable letting AI agents handle purchases. Shopify is providing the technology to make this possible, but how much it will affect merchant sales remains to be seen.
eCommerce
What 4.5 Million Products Reveal About TikTok Shop Success
What makes a product successful on TikTok Shop?
Sellers are learning that selling on TikTok requires a different approach than selling on Amazon.
New research from Marketplace Pulse analyzed more than 4.5 million products and 150,000 US sellers to examine what makes TikTok Shop different.
The research found that TikTok Shop is particularly strong in products linked to personal care and appearance. More than two-thirds of revenue from top-selling products comes from items people apply to their bodies, consume, or wear. Beauty products alone account for nearly 30% of revenue.
TikTok’s visual format makes it easy for creators to demonstrate beauty products, show before-and-after results, apply products on camera, and share personal recommendations. This can help customers understand a product’s benefits and encourage impulse purchases.
Price is another factor. The median price of top-selling products is around $40, making them relatively accessible purchases for people who discover something appealing in their feeds.
But attracting attention doesn’t guarantee lasting success. Marketplace Pulse found that TikTok Shop’s top-seller rankings change faster than any other marketplace it tracks. A seller might climb the rankings during a strong month, but many struggle to maintain that position.
Sales are also concentrated among a relatively small group of businesses. A few hundred sellers account for half of TikTok Shop sales.
There’s limited overlap between top sellers on TikTok Shop and Amazon, too. An established Amazon business doesn’t automatically translate into success on TikTok Shop because the platforms attract customers differently.
For sellers, this means that expanding to TikTok Shop involves more than simply listing existing products on another marketplace. Products need to appeal to TikTok’s unique audience, and businesses need a way to turn content-driven discovery into consistent sales.
Money Nomad
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ecommerce | gaming
Established European multi-channel e-commerce business selling retro gaming and wellness products through Shopify, Amazon, and EU marketplaces. Currently averaging $3,809/month profit with minimal advertising after intentional scale-down. Strong foundation with proven products, supplier relationships, and significant reactivation potential. Learn More
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