E-Commerce

The challenges retailers are facing in 2021 aren't simply regional anomalies. From the economic instability and demand volatility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to sustainability concerns from rising levels of waste, these obstacles exist on a global scale and will only continue to evolve in the years to come. Finding the right answers requires an…

Amazon.com's recent acquisition of Australia-based Shopify competitor Selz is starting to drum up speculation, coincidentally just as Shopify released strong financial results last month. The purchase occurred in January without any publicity, which sparks questions around the intent of the acquisition and what it means for the future of commerce. CPG firms should pay close…

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is anticipating that retail sales will grow between 6.5 percent and 8.2 percent in 2021, the trade group announced yesterday. This would bring the total sales to more than $4.33 trillion. “Despite the continuing health and economic challenges COVID-19 presents, we're very optimistic that healthy consumer fundamentals, pent-up demand, and widespread…

All too often, the human side of e-commerce marketing is overlooked. It’s tempting to focus on new technologies that shape e-commerce marketing, but equally important are the marketing professionals who implement those tools. There's a gap in the industry’s understanding of e-commerce marketing teams and how they've evolved alongside technology. That is why the team…

Many omnichannel brands are still looking at e-commerce as one of many priorities for retail. In reality, it should be the priority. In a post-pandemic landscape, lack of commitment to a digital-first approach forces various sales channels to compete against each other to the detriment of a brand. A battle erupts over investment, inventory, marketing efforts and…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss forecasted consumer spending this Valentine's Day. We break down the National Retail Federation’s annual Valentine's Day consumer spending survey, including the trade association's forecast for how COVID-19 will impact Americans’ holiday plans. To see more findings from the NRF's annual…

The consumer experience has never been more vital for the success of your brand. If you’ve mastered selling through your channel partners, now you have a new challenge ahead: shifting to direct-to-consumer (D-to-C), with the global pandemic accelerating this transformation. Product-based marketing doesn’t work anymore. Consumers are no longer thinking in terms of just buying…

Many companies are now wondering about the long-term impact of coronavirus on the retail and e-commerce industry, and what lasting changes it may leave. Despite the doom mongering, many brick-and-mortar stores are doing very nicely online, and so are smaller e-commerce players, with average e-commerce businesses reporting a 15 percent increase in annual revenue since…

As we begin a new year, it's a good time to take a look at what lies ahead for retailers and online merchants. While COVID-19 brought many retailers to the breaking point in 2020, it also accelerated retail technology trends that had already been infiltrating the industry over the years. Here are some of the…

The current rollout of vaccines gives hope that the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel is possibly near; however, this won’t slow the explosive growth in e-commerce that 2020’s lockdowns dramatically accelerated. eMarketer projects that U.S. e-commerce sales will reach $843.15 billion — 15 percent of total retail sales in 2021 — up from $794.5…