Shoplazza Spotlights Athena, Its AI Commerce Agent, at DTC Summit 2026

Co-hosted with global technology and payment partners, the summit brought together the DTC community to explore the future of AI-powered commerce and autonomous store operations.

SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Shoplazza, an e-commerce platform provider for direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, today announced the successful completion of Shoplazza DTC Summit 2026, which took place in Shenzhen, China, on August 7, 2026. The event brought together DTC brands, e-commerce merchants, technology partners, and industry leaders to discuss the future of AI-powered commerce and showcased the latest enhancements of Athena, Shoplazza's AI commerce agent.

The summit featured a keynote, six speaking sessions, three expert-led panel discussions, merchant success stories, and a hands-on AI Product Experience Area where attendees interacted directly with Shoplazza's AI Agents. Sessions covered topics such as conversion optimization, omnichannel growth strategies, AI-powered workflows, and practical approaches to scaling e-commerce businesses in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace.

In the opening keynote, Shoplazza Founder and CEO Jeff Li discussed how AI adoption in e-commerce is evolving from individual AI tools to more autonomous ways of running an online business. He also shared Shoplazza's broader vision for the role AI agents will play in managing day-to-day store operations.

Athena at the Summit

One of the highlights of the event was the latest evolution of Athena, Shoplazza's conversational AI commerce agent. Following its July 26 public launch on Product Hunt, where it earned the #2 Product of the Day spot, Athena continued its public debut with live demonstrations at the summit.

Designed to simplify store operations through natural language, Athena brings together multiple AI capabilities in one place, enabling merchants to manage products, marketing, payments, analytics, and daily operations through conversation rather than toggling across multiple tools and workflows. Attendees saw Athena in action across key areas of e-commerce operations.

Among the capabilities Shoplazza highlighted at the summit:

• Advertising attribution: Athena analyzes commerce signals across channels to give merchants a clearer view of marketing performance, moving beyond simplified attribution models.
• Payment optimization: Athena dynamically selects the optimal payment routing path for each transaction in milliseconds based on factors such as card type, bank, and transaction timing that help reduce checkout failures.
• Conversational store operations: Merchants can simply ask Athena to complete high-volume tasks, including bulk product updates, promotions, and order management, with a preview-and-confirm step before changes go live.

Shoplazza also showcased enhancements to Shoplazza Payments, including upgrades to Smart Express Checkout, demonstrating how AI can help merchants improve payment success rates, better understand marketing performance, and make faster operational decisions.

"At this year's summit, we're introducing a different approach to AI in commerce, one that moves beyond today's collection of disconnected AI tools,"said Jeff Li, Founder and CEO of Shoplazza. "Athena unifies key AI capabilities in a single commerce agent, helping merchants transition to a more autonomous way of operating their businesses. Every capability we're showcasing at the summit reflects merchants' needs today and where we believe commerce is headed."

About Shoplazza

Shoplazza is a global AI-native commerce operating system that enables brands to build, launch, and scale their online businesses. Built on an AI agent-native framework, Shoplazza integrates storefronts, marketing, payments, and operational workflows into a unified system designed to support scalable, long-term growth across global markets. Learn more at https://www.shoplazza.com/.

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Shoplazza Spotlights Athena, Its AI Commerce Agent, at DTC Summit 2026

KUNSHAN, China, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Arctech, a global leader in solar tracking and mounting solutions, has secured 425 MW of new utility-scale projects across Central Asia, including a 325 MW SkyLine II project in Kyrgyzstan and a 100 MW SkyLine II project in Kazakhstan. These new projects further strengthen Arctech's presence in the region and build on its track record in one of the world's fastest-growing renewable energy markets.

From frost-heave soils and gravel areas to challenging terrain and varying geological conditions, the region presents demanding requirements for solar project design and execution.

In Kyrgyzstan, the 325 MW project faces frost-heave soils, gravel areas and complex terrain, creating challenges for both foundation design and on-site construction. Arctech developed a customized foundation solution tailored to the local ground conditions, while SkyLine II's terrain adaptability helped accommodate the complex terrain. Extensive pre-assembly and optimized construction planning further streamlined on-site installation and improved efficiency.

In Kazakhstan, the 100 MW project is situated in an environment characterized by frost-heave soils and varying geological conditions. Arctech applied site-specific engineering optimization and foundation verification to ensure the tracking system and foundations were well matched to the local ground conditions, while tailored delivery planning supported efficient project execution.

Together, these projects demonstrate Arctech's ability to combine terrain-adaptive tracking technology with site-specific engineering solutions, enabling reliable solar deployment across diverse and challenging environments.

The latest awards add to Arctech's growing track record in Central Asia. To date, the company has delivered more than 3.5 GW of solar tracking and mounting systems across the region, including more than 700 MW in Kyrgyzstan and more than 900 MW in Kazakhstan. Backed by its Eurasia team, deep localized engineering expertise and long-standing partnerships, Arctech continues to build strong capabilities to serve the region's evolving solar market.

As Central Asia accelerates its renewable energy transition, demand for reliable and adaptable utility-scale solar solutions is expected to continue growing. Moving forward, Arctech remains committed to deepening its regional expertise and collaborating closely with customers and partners to support the region's long-term clean energy goals.

About Arctech

Arctech is a leading provider of solar tracking systems, smart mounting solutions, and integrated energy solutions. For more information about Arctech, visit: https://en.arctechsolar.com/

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Arctech Strengthens Central Asia Presence with 425 MW of New Solar Projects