Retail & Ecommerce

2020 was a tumultuous year to say the least, but as the adage goes, in crisis there is opportunity. This idea is literally embedded in the Chinese word for “crisis” (危机): Its second character means opportunity. China’s populace appeared to have embodied that spirit. In a challenging year, entrepreneurs and regulators alike worked together to steady the ship and found ways to restore some normalcy through resilience, digital innovations, and timely policies.

eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman, research analyst Daniel Keyes, and senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Cindy Liu discuss what they're paying attention to in 2021 and why: same-day delivery, what's next for consumer packaged goods and grocery ecommerce, autonomous checkout, reimagining brick-and-mortar, and the convergence of media and commerce.

The combination of growing inventory, brands pulling back ad spend, and the overall rising tide of ecommerce growth has reopened opportunities for many D2Cs.