Retail & Ecommerce

We look back at the year’s most disruptive Big Tech payment stories and how the Big Four have expanded in the space.

Inflation causes shoppers to change how they shop for groceries: Consumers are cutting costs by buying items such as alcohol, snacks, and desserts less often.

Mobile commerce is driving a growing share of retail ecommerce orders: That puts the onus on retailers to create well-designed, easy-to-use experiences for their mobile websites and apps

Retailers’ return rates are rising: That’s a significant challenge to merchants’ bottom lines, but it also presents an opportunity for those that offer a straightforward process.

November ad spend shows the pandemic boom is over: The typically lucrative period declined 8% year over year as the market finally stabilized after the pandemic.

We plot the trajectories of three US policy initiatives we tracked this year to forecast how they’ll fare in the 118th Congress.

Retailers couldn’t get enough of retail media networks in 2022: But the challenge going into 2023 is to make those networks sophisticated and effective enough to draw ad dollars away from Amazon.

There are more ways than ever for shoppers to buy secondhand: That’s one reason why 62% consumers have browsed, or bought, a secondhand item in the past year.

Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens ramped up warehouse automation in 2022 to compete with Amazon: We forecast that nearly half of retailers with major centers will use fulfillment robots by 2024 to fulfill consumers’ desire for faster delivery.

Walmart looks to bag more digital ad market share: The largest retailer’s trove of first-party data positions it for bigger and better results in advertising.

Today’s consumers expect brands to recognize them and anticipate their needs, all while respecting their privacy.

US retail sales grew 7.6% over the holiday season: Consumers diversified their spending due to inflation and a desire to return to pre-pandemic activities such as eating out.

2022 brings a dramatic change in fortunes for some social networks: Contracting ad spending growth prompts big downgrade in our forecast.