Category: E-commerce

March 1, 2024

More local governments are restricting or outright banning new warehouses that may be required to support the next stage of e-commerce growth. Among the recent local uprisings, the Board of Trustees of the city of Deerfield, Illinois, in early February […]

February 5, 2024

Amazon is launching its first AI-powered shopping assistant to empower mobile shoppers to search by query with answers delivered in a conversational context. Called “Rufus” after the dog of two early employees, the chatbot is based on a large language […]

January 5, 2024

Supply chains have always been critically important. When retailers invest correctly, logistics presents the opportunity for not only hard cost savings but long-term value creation as organizations find innovative ways to deliver products into the hands of consumers. Logistics operations […]

December 29, 2023

The humble sneaker has long been a staple item in closets everywhere for consumers of all ages. The consistent appeal of sneakers and sportswear has grown in recent times with customers, particularly from the Gen Z demographic, continuing to favor […]

December 19, 2023

Despite tight budgets and wariness about the economy, U.S. consumers have come through for retailers in 2023, and that has continued into the all-important fourth quarter. Even with some holiday promotions moving into October, Black Friday and Cyber Monday helped […]

December 5, 2023

The Bank of America survey respondents signal their intention to continue spending more online next year following a rise in e-commerce spending this year. In July, FTI Consulting released a report predicting that American consumers will drive online retail sales […]

November 13, 2023

August’s overall retail sales in the U.S. showed continuing resilience, with actual growth of 0.6% after economists polled by Reuters had predicted just 0.2% growth. However, the overall data masks some key data points that may be of concern to […]

November 2, 2023

With many retailers no longer offering free online returns, in-store returns promise to see an uptick. Are stores ready? A study led by researchers at the University of Portsmouth supported by the ECR Community Shrinkage and On-Shelf Availability Group concluded […]

October 3, 2023

As it marks its 28th year in business, Ebay finds itself in a vastly different world than the one where it started. Back in 1995, “online marketplaces” weren’t a thing, Amazon was still just a bookseller, Google didn’t even exist […]

September 29, 2023

One of the best courses I took back in college (I won’t say how long ago that was, but it was before smartphones and even faxes, so you do the math) was on labor history: unions, strikes, the Industrial Workers […]

September 20, 2023

The retail industry typically hires hundreds of thousands of people to support holiday operations. But it appears that some companies have pulled back on seasonal hiring so far this year, with plans at their lowest since 2008, CNN reported. But […]

September 11, 2023

Sellers on any online marketplace know that the key to success is a well-constructed product detail page (PDP). But putting together a good PDP can be time-consuming, which is why many marketplaces are now rolling out AI-powered tools to help […]

September 8, 2023

Walmart added fuel to the expansion of its digital marketplace with an in-person event for third-party sellers. The Walmart Marketplace summit, which started on August 30, invited merchants of all sizes to participate to help Walmart further develop its digital […]

September 7, 2023

The proliferation of e-commerce and the imperative for an omnichannel fulfillment experience has culminated in the advancement of an additional facet within the realm of transportation – namely, the final or last mile. Historically, the transportation framework consisted of a […]

August 22, 2023

Long before the recent peak in generative AI interest, emerging technology had to prove its business value. Leaders weigh the cost of launching new tech against the advantages it can produce. Gartner expects AI deployments to have an immaterial impact […]

August 10, 2023

With the help of ChatGPT and Bard, the hype around generative AI has soared over the past few months, with experts shouting daily from the mountaintops about its potential to revolutionize the retail industry. From generating product descriptions and dynamic […]

August 10, 2023

Insider Intelligence predicts that mobile commerce sales will account for 43.4% of total U.S. retail ecommerce sales — and 6.5% of all U.S. retail sales — in 2023. Although standard m-commerce sites offer ease and convenience, more consumers are spending […]

August 10, 2023

The new norm for the modern-day consumer includes access to multiple, convenient channels when interacting with a business. By combining your company’s touchpoints and contact channels to create an omnichannel customer experience, this will significantly enhance a consumer’s brand journey. […]

August 7, 2023

Cart abandonment is one of the top challenges plaguing e-commerce, as executives are well aware. More than 84% of retailers had tracked cart abandonment on their website in the past six months as of September 2022, according to a survey […]

July 26, 2023

You know why retailers’ efforts to reduce returns have been backfiring, but what about brands that have been making returns even easier and more accessible for customers? These retailers are making a good name for themselves at a time when […]