Startups of The Year: Meet the Commerce Industry

No nation was ever ruined by trade, even seemingly the most disadvantageous — Benjamin Franklin.

Since the dawn of time, societies have been known to trade their surpluses in exchange for goods and services they need. In the modern age, commerce has become an industry worth trillions of dollars, dominated by advanced economies such as the United States, China, and the European Union.

While commerce predominantly plays a role in trade, the politics surrounding it shape the kind of goods and services you, as a consumer, can receive. Issues like offshoring jobs, imposing import tariffs, and granting government subsidies, all play into the abilities of an economy to compete on a global stage.

Commerce has also resulted in the rapid advancement of economies, with technology and skills passed on from developed nations to countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, who utilize this knowledge to nurture startups that can then go on to trade globally.

Startups of The Year 2024 & Commerce

HackerNoon's Startups of The Year is celebrating the commerce industry by shedding light on tech's rising stars across a number of industries, including:

• Consumer Goods
• E-commerce
• Payments
• Travel
• Food & Beverages
• Fashion
• Recreation

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS:

E-commerce startups thrive on data, and Bright Data is proud to support them with the tools they need to collect and analyze market trends in real time. By partnering with HackerNoon’s 2024 Startups of The Year, we’re championing the next generation of e-commerce innovators, empowering them to scale efficiently and compete globally with data-driven insights.”

— Or Lenchner, CEO of Bright Data

Commerce on HackerNoon

Are you a die-hard fan of HackerNoon? We’ve just launched some fantastic new “Startups of The Year” merch, including tote bags and iPhone cases, along with our vast back catalog of HackerNoon merch - check them out on the HackerNoon Shop. And if you’re a business that likes what we’re doing around here and would like to partner with the HackerNoon team, book a meeting with us on our HackerNoon Business Publishing page to take advantage of all that HackerNoon distribution goodness.

HackerNoon has broadened its Commerce coverage to include multiple categories, such as Travel, Fashion, E-Commerce, Retail, Payments, and more. To help you get started on your journey through this dynamic industry, here are some stories you might find interesting:

Commerce Stories to Kickstart Your Journey

1. Americans Are Starting to Figure Out Livestream Commerce, and It Is Good by Drew Chapin

TikTok is the channel that has finally cracked the code for live-stream e-commerce in the United States. The platform is reinventing e-commerce, but it isn’t working that well. TikTok creators have taken to peddling low-quality beauty products, cheap electronics, and fast fashion.

2. Toward Accurate, Realistic Virtual Try-on Through Shape Matching: Experiments by Polyframe Peer Reviewed Publication

Researchers improve virtual try-on methods by using a new dataset to choose target models and train specialized warpers, enhancing realism and accuracy.

3. Crypto and Open Banking: Synergies, Real-world Applications, and Future Prospects by Noda

Open banking revolutionizes traditional financial paradigms by obligating banks to share customer-permitted data with authorized fintech entities. Open banking amplifies the cryptocurrency ecosystem by enhancing user experiences and fostering innovation. The trajectory of open banking and cryptocurrency integration is poised for expansive growth, driven by regulatory developments and increasing consumer adoption.

4. Is There an AI Threat to Blue-Collar Jobs? by Zac Amos

AI is not just making some white-collar roles obsolete; blue-collar fields like retail, manufacturing, agriculture, and food processing will also be changed by AI. However, given existing labor shortages and high workloads, AI and human workers can still coexist peacefully in the workforce — and humans still have an edge with creativity, originality, and the ability to learn.

5. How fear can be transformed into confidence by Amy Pravin Shah

This article discusses strategies for converting fear into confidence. It emphasizes acknowledging and understanding fear rather than avoiding it, setting small, manageable goals to gradually build courage, and using positive self-talk to shift mindset. By re-framing fear as an opportunity for growth and focusing on past successes, individuals can transform their apprehensions into a source of strength and self-assurance.

That’s all for today!

About HackerNoon’s Startups of The Year

Startups of The Year 2024 is HackerNoon’s flagship community-driven event celebrating startups, technology, and the spirit of innovation. Currently in its third iteration, the prestigious Internet award recognizes and celebrates tech startups of all shapes and sizes. This year, over 150,000 entities across 4200+ cities, 6 continents, and 100+ industries will participate in a bid to be crowned the best startup of the year! Millions of votes have been cast over the past few years, and many stories have been written about these daring and rising startups.

The winners will get a free interview on HackerNoon and an Evergreen Tech Company News page.

Visit our FAQ page to learn more.

Download our design assets here.

Check out the Startups of the Year Merch Shop here.

HackerNoon’s Startups of The Year is a branding opportunity unlike any other. Whether your goal is brand awareness or lead generation, HackerNoon has curated startups-friendly packages to solve your marketing challenges.

Meet our sponsors:

Wellfound: Join the #1 global, startup-focused community. At Wellfound, we're not just a job board—we're the place where top startup talent and the world's most exciting companies connect to build the future.

Notion: Notion is trusted and loved by thousands of startups as their connected workspace—from building product roadmaps to tracking fundraising. Try Notion with unlimited AI, FREE for up to 6 months, to build and scale your company with one powerful tool. Get your offer now!

Hubspot: If you’re looking for a smart CRM platform that meets the needs of small businesses, look no further than HubSpot. Seamlessly connect your data, teams and customers in one easy-to-use scalable platform that grows with your business.

Bright Data: Startups that leverage public web data can make faster, data-driven decisions, giving them a competitive edge. With Bright Data’s scalable web data collection, businesses can grow from a small operation to an enterprise by harnessing insights at every stage.