E-Commerce

November retail sales grew at a faster pace than Wall Street analysts had expected, reflecting continued resilience in the American consumer and indicating that the holiday shopping season in the U.S. is off to a strong start, reports Yahoo Finance. Retail sales rose 0.7 percent in November. Economists had expected a 0.6 percent rise in…

The importance of maintaining high-quality, bug-free websites has never been more critical. A 2024 Chubb survey found that e-commerce sites had a trust rating of 48 percent vs. physical stores, which had a leading 70 percent. Much of this was due to financial fraud (75 percent) or lost payments resulting from glitches in the purchasing…

As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time for e-commerce strategists and marketers to think about how e-commerce will likely change in the year ahead. From new ways to use artificial intelligence for customer experience to the acceleration of social commerce, and from hot e-commerce growth markets to strategies for protecting e-commerce brands and customers,…

Small businesses are an essential part of the global economy. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, they employ almost half of America’s workforce, representing 43.5 percent of the country’s GDP. Their role is just as important as that of a big enterprise when it comes to driving customer satisfaction and keeping local economies afloat.…

Embedded finance refers to the integration of financial services into non-financial platforms, enabling businesses such as retailers to offer banking, lending, insurance and payment services directly within their existing products. This can improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and open new revenue streams. In fact, one study predicts that embedded finance revenue will increase 148 percent from…

About 197 million Americans shopped over the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday this year, data from the National Retail Federation (NRF) showed on Tuesday. The number of shoppers exceeded the retail trade association's forecast of 183.4 million, but was still lower than the 200 million shoppers in 2023. During the long weekend, consumers…

According to insights from Mastercard SpendingPulse™, U.S. retail sales excluding automotive were up 3.4 percent on Black Friday (Nov. 29) compared to Black Friday 2023. Mastercard SpendingPulse measures in-store and online retail sales, representing all payment types, and is not adjusted for inflation. Other Black Friday data included the following: Online retail sales increased 14.6…

Consumers spent a record $6.1 billion online on Thanksgiving, up  8.8 percent year-over-year (YoY). Growth outpaced last year (Thanksgiving 2023: $5.6 billion, up 5.5% YoY), driven by big discounts across the board. Mobile shopping hit an all-time high on Thanksgiving, with 59.5 percent of online sales coming through a mobile device. This represents $3.6 billion in online spend via mobile, up…

In an era when artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming e-commerce, retailers are facing new challenges, including malicious price-scraping bots and rising privacy concerns. AI has created a number of opportunities for the e-commerce landscape, but it isn’t without risks. Consumers are increasingly cautious when considering how their data is used and shared online. Trust is…

Consumers provided a positive start to the 2024 holiday season, boosting October online sales over last year. This is despite shoppers leaning on discounts and trading down for more affordable items to stretch their gift-giving budgets, according to holiday data from commerce protection provider Signifyd. The October figures matched Signifyd’s earlier projection of a 5…