Return Helper closes US$4 million Series A to deepen ai-driven cross-border logistics in Japan and beyond. May 29, 2026 TAIPEI, May 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Return Helper, a tech-first provider of global cross-border e-commerce returns solutions, today announced the close of its US$4 million Series A funding round, completed in Q1 2026. The round welcomes new investors Cathay Venture (a subsidiary of Cathay Financial Holdings), MLC Ventures (the corporate venture arm of Mitsubishi Logistics Corporation), Jun Yue Investment Co., Ltd., and Pegatron Venture Capital Co., Ltd., alongside returning investors Colopl Next. Capital will be deployed across three strategic priorities: deepening Japan market expansion in partnership with Mitsubishi Logistics, developing next-generation AI agents for automated cross-border returns decisions, and scaling the company's recommerce business - helping merchants convert returned inventory into recoverable revenue. 60%+ Growth and Profitability in 2025 Return Helper achieved over 60% year-over-year revenue growth in 2025 and reached profitability in the second half of the year, driven by the strategic deployment of AI across its network of 20+ overseas warehouses. "The biggest leak in cross-border ecommerce happens after the return is initiated. We're using AI to bridge those gaps by measuring, systemizing, and fixing the chain where it usually breaks." - Roy Wan, CEO, Return Helper Bridging Taiwan Brands into Japan with FlexForward As a Shopify ecosystem partner, Return Helper provides DTC brands with a native-integrated self-serve Returns Portal, completing the post-purchase loop. For Taiwan brands targeting Japan - one of the fastest-growing cross-border markets for the region - Return Helper's sub-brand FlexForward offers flexible fulfilment modes combining Mitsubishi Logistics' local infrastructure to support multi-channel shipping (B2B and B2C) and returns processing to Japanese standards. "We invested in Return Helper because of the strong growth momentum in cross-border e-commerce and the rising returns demand that comes with it. The team's international execution capability and global network were equally compelling factors in our decision." - Ronald Chou, Investment Associate, Cathay Venture About Return Helper Return Helper (www.returnhelper.com) is a tech-first startup providing global cross-border e-commerce returns solutions. The company builds its products in-house - a SaaS returns management platform (including Shopify Returns Portal and Buyer Portal), a proprietary WMS with mobile apps, and FlexForward forward logistics services. Return Helper operates 20+ overseas warehouses, partners with 30+ carriers, and supports Shopify, Amazon, TikTok, eBay and more, with offices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. SOURCE Return Helper

Shopify adds SMS marketing automations to Messaging. Summarise this article with Shopify rolls out SMS marketing automations in Shopify Messaging. Released on 19 May 2026, Shopify Messaging now supports automated SMS marketing flows for abandoned carts, abandoned checkouts, and browse abandonment, with the option to create custom automations alongside the prebuilt templates. Read the Shopify release note here. For UK Shopify merchants who have been running cart-recovery email but treating SMS as a manual broadcast channel, this update closes a meaningful gap. SMS sits inside the same Shopify Messaging surface that already manages chat-based customer conversations, so the operational model is shared rather than bolted on through a third-party app. The headline is straightforward: three of the highest-intent triggers in ecommerce now have native, plug-and-play SMS automations on Shopify, with custom flows available where the templates do not fit a merchant's exact funnel. How it works. Merchants configure SMS automations under Shopify Messaging > Automations. Three prebuilt templates ship with the release: abandoned cart, abandoned checkout, and browse abandonment. Each template comes with default trigger conditions, default copy, and a default delay, and each is editable before activation so the message reflects the brand's voice and the store's pricing or promotional policy. Spending controls live under Shopify Messaging > Settings, where merchants set an SMS spending threshold to cap monthly outlay. SMS pricing varies by destination country, and a threshold is the simplest way to keep costs predictable before scaling sends. Custom automations sit alongside the templates for merchants who want to trigger SMS on first purchase, post-delivery, win-back windows, or any other event the platform exposes. Because the automations live inside Shopify Messaging, they share the same subscriber list, the same compliance plumbing, and the same conversation history as inbound SMS from customers. A reply to an automated abandoned cart message lands in the merchant's Messaging inbox rather than disappearing into a separate app. Examples and use cases. Abandoned cart is the obvious starting point. UK merchants typically see 60 to 75 percent cart abandonment rates, in line with the Baymard Institute's long-running cart abandonment benchmark. An automated SMS sent 30 to 60 minutes after abandonment can recover a meaningful share of carts that email alone misses, especially on mobile-first stores where customers are likely to be away from desktop email by the time a follow-up lands. Browse abandonment is the more strategic of the three. It targets shoppers who viewed a product but did not add to cart, which is a softer signal than abandoned cart, but a higher-intent one than a generic newsletter subscriber. Used carefully, browse-abandonment SMS can prompt a return visit without feeling intrusive, particularly on considered-purchase categories where the buyer needs a second look before committing. Custom automations open the door to flows that prebuilt templates do not cover. Examples include a same-day-delivery cutoff reminder for local merchants, a low-stock nudge for items the customer recently viewed, a reorder prompt timed to a product's typical replenishment window, or a post-purchase upsell scheduled a fixed number of days after fulfilment. None of these are new ideas in marketing automation, but having them native to Shopify Messaging removes the integration tax that used to come with running them. What this means for UK Shopify merchants. For UK merchants, the practical question is whether to consolidate SMS inside Shopify Messaging or keep a dedicated SMS app for advanced segmentation and reporting. The honest answer depends on volume and complexity. Stores doing low to moderate SMS volume with a small set of high-impact automations will find Shopify Messaging sufficient and simpler. Stores running multi-step journeys with complex branching, deep behavioural segmentation, or attribution into a multi-touch reporting model will still get more out of dedicated SMS platforms. The compliance side matters more than the marketing copy. UK SMS marketing falls under the ICO's PECR guidance, which requires prior consent for marketing texts and a clear opt-out mechanism. Shopify Messaging handles the technical opt-out through STOP keywords, but the consent capture happens at checkout or via opt-in forms upstream, so merchants must make sure the wording and the audit trail are tight before turning the automations on at scale. For agencies running Shopify retainers, this is the kind of feature that justifies a short, focused engagement: audit the existing consent capture, set spending thresholds, write the SMS copy in the brand's voice, and define the test plan. Its Shopify build standard already accounts for clean opt-in flows on collection and product pages, and Peak Digital Limited treat this rollout as another reason to review the consent UX rather than a reason to retrofit a separate SMS app. Practical considerations. SMS costs more per send than email. A 5 percent recovery rate on cart-abandonment email may be profitable at zero marginal cost, but the same recovery rate on SMS only stacks up once the per-message cost is netted off against average order value. Stores with sub-£20 AOV need to think harder about segmenting SMS to higher-intent triggers rather than blasting every abandoned cart, regardless of basket size. Timing is the second variable that compounds quickly. SMS is intrusive in a way email is not, and a poorly timed abandoned-checkout text at 11pm reads as spam rather than helpful. Start with conservative send windows, monitor opt-out rates closely in the first month, and only widen the timing once the unsubscribe trajectory looks healthy. Measurement is the third trap. Native Shopify reporting captures sends, deliveries, clicks, and revenue attributed to the SMS channel, but agencies running clients on multi-channel attribution should pipe the SMS click data into their existing GA4 or warehouse model before treating Shopify's last-click revenue figure as the whole story. The risk is double counting recovery revenue across email and SMS when both reminders fire on the same abandoned cart, then making creative decisions on inflated figures. Finally, think about the relationship with your email automations rather than running them in isolation. Customers who already engaged with the abandoned cart email do not need a duplicate SMS five minutes later. Build the SMS flow with a suppression condition that excludes contacts who clicked the recovery email, or stagger the SMS to fire only when the email goes unopened after a sensible delay. The combined channel beats either channel in isolation, but only when the orchestration prevents friction. Faq. Which SMS automations does Shopify Messaging include out of the box? Shopify Messaging ships with three prebuilt SMS automation templates: abandoned cart, abandoned checkout, and browse abandonment. Each has default trigger conditions, default copy, and default delays that merchants can edit before activation. Custom automations can also be created for any other supported trigger. How do I control how much I spend on SMS marketing? SMS spending is capped through a spending threshold under Shopify Messaging > Settings. Setting the threshold before activating automations keeps monthly SMS costs predictable, which matters because per-message pricing varies by destination country. Where do I set up SMS marketing automations in Shopify? SMS automations are configured under Shopify Messaging > Automations. Merchants choose a prebuilt template or create a custom automation, edit the trigger and copy, then activate. Replies to automated SMS land in the same Shopify Messaging inbox as inbound chat conversations. Do I still need a third-party SMS marketing app on Shopify? Not for the three core abandonment automations. Merchants running advanced segmentation, complex branching journeys, or multi-touch attribution may still benefit from dedicated SMS platforms. Stores with low to moderate volume and a focused set of automations will find Shopify Messaging sufficient and easier to maintain. What UK rules apply to SMS marketing? UK SMS marketing is regulated under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), enforced by the ICO. Merchants must capture prior consent for marketing texts and provide a clear opt-out mechanism. Shopify Messaging supports the technical STOP opt-out, but the consent capture and audit trail are the merchant's responsibility. When should I send an abandoned cart SMS? A first SMS reminder roughly 30 to 60 minutes after abandonment tends to perform well. Avoid late-evening sends, monitor opt-out rates closely in the first month, and segment by basket size so the per-message cost makes sense against average order value.

Shopify auto calculates Canada's Newfoundland vapour tax: what store owners Need to know. May 5, 2026 Introduction Canadian tax compliance just got easier for vape product sellers. On April 17, 2026, Shopify introduced an update that simplifies tax handling for stores selling to customers in Newfoundland and Labrador. If you sell vape products and use Shopify Basic Tax, the platform now manages this calculation automatically, reducing manual effort and improving accuracy. What Shopify Now Does Automatically With Shopify Basic Tax in Canada, the platform now calculates the 20% Vapour Products Tax at checkout for eligible orders in Newfoundland and Labrador. This tax applies to electronic liquid vaporizers and cannabis vape pods. The key detail is tax compounding. Shopify ensures that HST is applied on the product price plus Vapour Products Tax, aligning with provincial regulations. No manual setup is required. If your store is properly configured, the tax calculation is fully automated. Why the Compounding Part Matters The compounding rule is where many sellers make mistakes. Instead of applying taxes separately, Newfoundland and Labrador requires HST to be calculated on the combined total. This increases the taxable amount and makes manual calculations risky. Even small errors can lead to compliance issues. Shopify now handles this accurately, reducing risk and ensuring compliance for merchants. What Products Does This Cover This update applies to vapour products defined under provincial tax regulations. * Electronic vaporizers * Cannabis vape pods Other products in your store will not be affected unless they fall into this category. Who This Applies To This update is relevant if your store meets the following conditions: * You use Shopify Basic Tax * You sell vape products * You have customers in Newfoundland and Labrador If you use Shopify Tax or a third party tax app, review your setup to confirm how these taxes are being handled. What You Still Need to Handle While Shopify automates tax calculations, compliance responsibilities still remain with the store owner. * You must file and remit taxes * You need proper tax registration in Canada * You must ensure correct product categorization Automation improves accuracy, but it does not replace your legal obligations. The Bigger Picture for Vape Retailers Newfoundland and Labrador is not the only province with vape related taxes. Regions like British Columbia and Saskatchewan also have their own tax rules. For multi province sellers, this adds complexity. Shopify is gradually improving automated tax handling, making it easier to scale across regions. Final Thoughts This update simplifies a critical part of ecommerce tax management. By automating Vapour Products Tax and handling tax compounding, Shopify reduces errors and saves time. For vape store owners, this means fewer manual calculations and better compliance with provincial regulations. Stay Updated with Amwhiz At Amwhiz, Amwhiz Media Private Limited break down every important Shopify update and ecommerce change into clear, actionable insights. If you want to stay ahead in Shopify ecommerce, keep following Amwhiz Media Private Limited for updates that directly impact your store performance.