The feed
Martech news and analysis. Every story says what changed, why it matters and what marketers should do next.
InMobi released a free scanner on October 5, 2026 that runs 80 live checks on a storefront. In its analysis of about 3 million US ecommerce sites, 36% could support an agent purchase from discovery through payment, and 37% were on platforms it has not scanned.
Why it matters
If assistants start buying on behalf of shoppers, a store that agents cannot read or check out of is invisible to them.
Google completed a worldwide rollout on August 31, 2026 of Search Console reports showing impressions in AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover's generative features, and of a property-level control to opt out of them. The UK CMA required the control.
Why it matters
It gives a first measure of AI visibility from Google itself, but without clicks it cannot show traffic value.
The all-stock merger of Fivetran and dbt Labs, announced October 13, 2025, completed on June 1, 2026. The combined company approaches $600 million in ARR; dbt Core stays open source under Apache 2.0.
Why it matters
Marketing data teams that use the modern data stack face a single vendor for the pipeline from source to activation, which affects pricing leverage.
A revised draft of the EU's Digital Omnibus dated October 2, 2026 would shorten the waiting period before a provider can ask again for cookie consent, add a review of data protection obligations and clarify that AI development does not automatically justify processing personal data.
Why it matters
Consent banners and repeat prompts drive both user experience and the share of consented data, which marketers depend on.
On June 23, 2026 Five9 announced platform-native Voice AI Agents powered by a Genius AI execution layer, secure tool calling and a unified AI Agent Studio for building, testing and monitoring them.
Why it matters
It signals that IVR replacement is becoming a standard product, with tooling to test and monitor agents before they take real calls.
Zendesk's October 2026 release notes list voice AI agents as generally available for voice customers: end-to-end phone automation, handoff to humans, transcripts, summaries and recordings, plus redaction in AI agent tickets.
Why it matters
Voice is a large share of service contacts, and handoff, recordings and redaction are what regulated teams ask for first.
From April 14, 2026 HubSpot charges for its Breeze Customer Agent only when a conversation is resolved, and for its Prospecting Agent only for each lead it recommends. Results quoted are HubSpot's.
Why it matters
It makes cost track outcomes, but the definitions of "resolved" and "qualified" now determine your bill.
On September 15, 2026 Salesforce introduced Koa, a model post-trained on NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super with synthetic CRM data. It claims three times fewer errors on CRM tasks. Pilots start now; general availability is expected in winter 2026.
Why it matters
A model that knows CRM objects and workflows may make agents more accurate at routine record changes, and keeps the model inside Salesforce's trust boundary.
On October 5, 2026 Constructor said retailers using its AI Shopping Agent or Product Insights Agent can enable Stripe-powered checkout, including Link by Stripe, so shoppers can buy within the conversation.
Why it matters
Removing the jump from conversation to checkout reduces drop-off, and shifts payment and liability questions into the agent.
On October 1, 2026 Shopify launched Canvas, an infinite workspace that shows all store pages at once, where merchants edit directly or ask Sidekick to write the code. Themes edited in Canvas stop receiving updates.
Why it matters
It lowers the cost of a custom store, and it also locks a theme out of the update path, which matters for maintenance and upgrades.
