Just before we begin Holiday Season 2018, we wanted to look back over last year to help set expectations for the months ahead. We’ve cherry-picked the most interesting ecommerce stats from 2017 to see how well the industry performed, how it’s affected by the holiday season and try to determine who will be the winners and losers of this years season.
The new Walmart/Microsoft deal was the most important event in retail last month, consequently stealing the show from Amazon Prime Day. While Amazon started as a tech company and then grew into a hybrid online/brick & mortar store model, Walmart had everything to catch up on when it came to technology, digital transformation, and innovation. Microsoft is the strongest partner to close these gaps and lead the way to Walmart’s ecommerce innovation projects.
One of the biggest challenges for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies, is how to tap into impulse buying in an e-commerce environment. In traditional retail, this has been a key driver of CPG sales, and brands invest significant amounts into merchandising product placement, especially next to the cashier to grab on the way out.
Toys ‘R Us has come crashing down, as irresistible – and arguably inevitable – forces brought the household name to the edge of oblivion. What caused this? How can companies guard against this? What impact does this have on companies both online and off?
The fashion sneaker market is booming with Nike and Adidas competition rises to new levels. In a recent article by Richard Weiss and Thomas Muiler on Bloomberg Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted says “focusing on fast-fashion and stripping away non-core businesses like golf and hockey will increase profit more than expected, lifting the shares to a record” …
Amazon’s Black Friday sales hit a record high of $2.4B across its three major sites in the US, UK and Germany. The US market dominated, as could be expected, hitting $1.8bn in sales; at peak hour, which was 1pm EST, there were 2m transactions taking place.
“Sears is dead”. Such is the impression of retail bloggers such as Retail Archaeology, who have chronicled the fall of the legendary retailer. Business Insider predicts that “failure is a near certainty, according to industry watchers. Analysts are expecting Sears to file for bankruptcy within the next two years, and perhaps much sooner.”
What are consumer journeys, and why is it important to understand them? To answer this question, let’s look at a typical consumer looking for a good digital camera on your website. You’ve run a great digital campaign, and the consumer has just found the camera they want on your site. Just before they complete the purchase however, they check Amazon, and compare the product details.
