Retail & Ecommerce

UK inflation increased unexpectedly in February: Consumers continue to be under strain as food prices reach their highest levels in over 45 years.

Shoppers are expected to spend a record $24 billion on Easter purchases this year: But inflation will remain top of mind as consumers look for deals and consolidate spending at mass merchants.

Panera Bread becomes the first restaurant chain to adopt Amazon’s contactless payment technology: But cost and privacy concerns could limit the retailer’s ability to scale its checkout solutions.

The rise of in-store retail media—through the digitization of surfaces in physical retail—will transform the store experience, the financial fortunes of retailers, and the advertising opportunities for brands.

TikTok sister app Douyin is a livestream behemoth in China, where nearly 40% of internet users also engage in livestream shopping, according to our forecast. But in the US, the format hasn’t caught on in the same way.

ROAS is a widely used metric for advertisers to understand the effectiveness of their campaigns, and newly added data to Industry KPIs shows YoY changes in ROAS by industry. We recently added several important metric benchmarks to Industry KPIs, including cost per click (CPC) and ecommerce ad spend.

It’s testing a browser-based crypto wallet despite the industry’s tumultuous year.

This year, the payments industry will face its first major test following pandemic-driven digitization as economic uncertainty pressures customer habits. This is the data you need to understand the major changes facing the payments ecosystem in 2023—and how to navigate them.

This year, we forecast US off-premise alcohol retail sales (i.e., alcohol purchased for at-home consumption) will grow by a modest 3.5% to $178.20 billion. This growth will accelerate slightly through 2027, driven by three areas of opportunity within the industry: ecommerce, customers willing to splurge on premium beverages, and at-home consumption trends.

It can be challenging to earn customer loyalty as consumers often favor the least expensive, most convenient options. Caleb Pearson, Vice President, Media and Digital for US Marketing, McDonald’s, shares how McDonald’s uses customer data to keep consumers coming back.

Sam’s Club rolls out closed-loop attribution: Connecting the dots between ads and cross-channel sales should help advertisers be far more efficient with their retail media ad spending.

Tesco is making its rewards program less rewarding: While Boots and Sainsbury’s have recently made similar moves, the change could drive shoppers to its competitors.

The retail space is changing rapidly as marketers experiment with things like retail media, generative AI, and social commerce. In this discussion, Zia Daniell Wigder, Chief Content Officer, Insider Intelligence, talks about the trends on her radar and what she learned at Shoptalk.

Next year, ecommerce will make up 75% of total US resale volume and reach $90 billion, according to our forecast. US resale is also growing faster than overall retail sales, and retailers want in on the market. Whether you’re launching a resale program or examining the opportunity, here are five charts to help.

Working with the country’s leading super app can help Western Union compete more aggressively against digital challengers.