E-Commerce

Retail is going through difficult times and is suffering the consequences of both the economic crisis and the digitization of society. But fundamentally there's a bigger problem: stores often cannot keep up with the changing behavior of customers who are connected 24/7. However, there is hope for retailers that are willing to transform and embrace…

Sam's Club, a division of Walmart, is partnering with Instacart to offer same-day delivery, adding yet another major grocer to Instacart's arsenal as it tries to compete with Amazon.com. In a joint press release, Sam’s Club and Instacart said the service will be available to shoppers in Austin and Dallas-Forth Worth in Texas, and St. Louis,…

Identifying everything that affects your e-commerce sales is a daunting task that just might be impossible. However, here are two uncommon factors you probably haven’t considered:

This week, Walmart introduced a new e-commerce site focused on home goods. TechCrunch reports the big-box retailer is launching a redesigned home shopping experience online which better highlights home products, like furniture, decorative accessories and other items. The site's homepage features curated collections across nine style categories, including modern, mid-century, traditional, glam, bohemian, farmhouse, transitional…

Stockings over the fireplace weren’t the only things being filled to the top this holiday season — so were the pockets of retailers all over the country. First Data’s recent analysis of retail spending showed that consumers were out shopping in full force as overall holiday spending grew 6.2 percent year-over-year, the largest increase in…

Shoppimon's Q4 2017 Online Health & Usability Index — OSHU Index — provides the e-commerce industry once again with benchmark rankings based on how easy it is to shop and make purchases from online stores. Shoppimon’s data suggests that leading up to the holiday shopping season, online retailers invested heavily in preparation for their sites most lucrative time of the year through updates and upgrades to improve performance. The investment seems to have paid off, as between September and October 2017 e-commerce sites on the OSHU Index saw average interactive load times drop by over 10 percent. However, data from Shoppimon also reveals that while speed optimization helped online stores, technical issues could have cost sites up to $11.8B.

Luxury brands have been reticent in the past to sell their products online, fearing they will lose the appeal of the high-end in-store shopping experience that's unique to their category. However, as the behaviors and demographics of luxury customers change, brands are starting to re-evaluate their decisions about selling online. One such brand is Christian…

French luxury house Chanel has teamed up with global e-commerce platform Farfetch to develop digital initiatives, including a branded app to help create a personalized in-store experiences for Chanel shoppers, according to Reuters. Farfetch connects buyers to luxury fashion items from more 700 boutiques worldwide. Under the new deal, Chanel will not sell its products through…

Driven by continuous changes in technology and consumer behavior, retail’s survival is dependent on the industry’s ability to adapt to the customer journey and accommodate the blurred lines of shopping. However, with Amazon.com disrupting the industry, store closures being announced regularly, and the phrase "retail apocalypse" continuing to permeate the headlines, it's unlikely consumers will…

The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts retail industry sales will grow between 3.8 and 4.4 percent year-over-year, according to its 2018 economic forecast. Online and other nonstore sales, which are included in the overall number, are expected to increase between 10 percent and 12 percent. The numbers exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants. Retail sales grew…