Welcome to the Moast newsletter. We spend the week collecting news, trends, and other content that we think would be interesting to e-commerce founders and CMOs. Our goal is to provide value without sounding like a promo for our app. Helpful wether you use Moast or not.

Meta is building a photorealistic AI clone of Mark Zuckerberg to interact with employees on his behalf, trained on his mannerisms, tone, and current thinking on company strategy. Zuckerberg is personally involved in testing it. If AI can now stand in for a CEO, what else is it quietly replacing?

Busy week in the world of e-commerce, here's what else caught our attention👇

1/ DTC Headlines

PepsiCo Q1 beat: price cuts on snacks drive first volume growth in two years

-> Revenue hit $19.44B, up 8.5% YoY, beating analyst estimates by $500M.

-> Cuts of up to 15% on Lay's, Doritos, Tostitos, and Cheetos reversed two years of volume decline.

-> The playbook: drop prices to win back cost-conscious shoppers, earn shelf space back from retailers.

What PepsiCo's price cut strategy says about where CPG pricing is heading →

Allbirds sells its shoe brand for $39M and pivots to AI infrastructure

-> Once valued at $4.1B, Allbirds sold its footwear brand and is rebranding as NewBird AI.

-> It raised $50M to acquire GPUs and become a GPU-as-a-Service cloud provider.

-> Stock surged 600% on the news, then fell back -- the market is still figuring out what to make of it.

The most improbable corporate pivot of 2026 →

Backcountry launches brand incubator, acquires Coalatree as its first brand

-> Backcountry Garage is a new incubator built to scale up-and-coming outdoor brands.

-> First acquisition is Coalatree, a Utah-based eco-focused apparel brand known for its Trailhead Pants.

-> It's the retailer-to-brand-operator playbook -- same move Harry's made when it became Mammoth Brands.

Why more retailers are becoming brand builders →

On x Zendaya drop their first co-created collection

-> The full footwear and apparel line arrived April 16, with a Spike Jonze campaign film to match.

-> The Cloudnova Moon leads the drop -- a ballet-inspired silhouette in four colorways at $200.

-> On is doing celebrity collabs right: Zendaya had creative input, not just her face on the campaign.

What On's Zendaya strategy says about the future of celebrity partnerships →

Dollar Shave Club launches its first women's grooming line

-> CEO calls it "anti-Venus, anti-Billie, anti-Flamingo" -- no pink, no glitter, no fluff.

-> Products run $5-$10 and include a six-blade razor, shave butter, oil, scrub, and post-shave balm.

-> Campaign runs two 30-second ads -- one traditionally filmed, one AI-generated -- testing both formats.

How Dollar Shave Club is bringing its disruptor playbook to women's grooming →

Instagram is testing unskippable ads with a countdown timer

-> Users are seeing "Ad Break" interruptions in Reels with a timer -- no scrolling until it's done.

-> It's still a test, not a full rollout, but it's picking up steam across multiple countries.

-> For DTC brands: guaranteed views are coming, but expect backlash to shape how Meta prices them.

What Instagram's unskippable ads mean for DTC advertisers →

OpenAI quietly launches a self-serve ads manager

-> The tool looks like Google Ads -- real-time impressions, clicks, and campaign optimization.

-> Minimum spend dropped from $250K to $50K, opening the door to mid-market advertisers.

-> Self-serve is how every dominant ad platform scaled. OpenAI is following the exact same playbook.

What OpenAI's ads manager launch means for the future of digital advertising →

Temu and Shein hit with class actions over tariff price hikes

-> Lawsuits allege both raised prices up to 377% to cover Trump tariffs that were later ruled unconstitutional.

-> Plaintiffs argue the companies pocketed windfall profits they should now return to customers.

-> A messy situation that shows how fast tariff uncertainty can become a legal and brand liability.

The tariff refund lawsuits against Temu and Shein explained →

Sydney Sweeney returns with American Eagle after "Good Jeans" controversy

-> New campaign is "Syd for Short" -- jean shorts, beach vibes, and a playful wink at the backlash.

-> AE didn't back away from Sweeney after last year's controversy -- and that loyalty appears to be paying off.

-> The "Syd Jean" and "Syd Short" styles benefit Crisis Text Line, with 100% of proceeds donated.

How American Eagle turned controversy into a brand moment →

2/ Shopify

Shopify launches an AI toolkit for building AI-native apps

-> Shopify's new AI Toolkit gives developers pre-built components for adding AI features to Shopify apps.

-> Covers things like product recommendations, semantic search, and conversational shopping flows.

-> If you're building on Shopify, this dramatically lowers the bar to ship AI-powered functionality.

What Shopify's AI Toolkit means for the next generation of commerce apps →

3/ What We Found Interesting

Levi's CEO on AI, heritage, and the DTC pivot

-> CEO Michelle Gass: "We're a brand with a heritage, not a heritage brand." And AI is how they stay relevant.

-> Q1 net revenues up 14% YoY to $1.7B, with DTC up 16% -- the pivot is working.

-> The framing is worth stealing: AI as the engine underneath, brand identity as the thing that never changes.

How Levi's is using AI to accelerate a 170-year-old brand →

Klaviyo: the state of AI in customer service

-> AI is handling more customer service volume, but the brands winning are setting it up as a handoff, not a replacement.

-> The key finding: customers are fine with AI for simple issues -- they just want to reach a human fast when it matters.

-> A useful benchmark for where other brands are in their AI customer service journey.

What the data says about AI in customer service for e-commerce brands →

4/ What We Found Helpful

How Stanley builds products for a global audience

-> Stanley's CPO Graham Nearn on using geographic and category diversity as a product development lens.

-> North American customers want car-friendly containers; European and Asian customers want compact, commute-friendly ones.

-> The takeaway: knowing where your customer lives shapes what you build, not just how you market it.

How Stanley thinks about building products for a global, diverse customer base →

Google Chrome launches AI Skills -- save your best prompts and reuse them

-> Chrome's new "Skills" feature lets you save Gemini prompts and run them on any webpage with one click.

-> Pre-built Skills include things like ingredient substitutions, spec comparisons, and budget tracking.

-> Think of it as keyboard macros for AI -- a small feature with big implications for daily productivity.

How Google's Chrome Skills feature could change the way you work online →

Shopify apps you didn't know you needed

-> A roundup of underrated Shopify apps that solve real problems most brands overlook.

-> Covers everything from smart upsells and post-purchase flows to content tools and analytics.

-> Worth a read if you're always looking for ways to squeeze more out of your stack.

The Shopify apps worth adding to your stack →