Retail & Ecommerce

Primed for Prime Day: The sales event is underway, and new research points to healthy sales as more Prime members look for deals than did last year.

Livestreaming ecommerce—a market-like online shopping experience that feels like an amalgamation of the Home Shopping Network (HSN), game shows, talk shows, and auctions—has taken China by storm. The phenomenon was in part fueled by the pandemic, as brick-and-mortar stores temporarily closed down and consumers sheltered in place. Yet, a year later, livestream shopping is still going strong in the country.

On today's episode, we discuss how productivity is being reimagined in the WFH era, the implications of physical stores closing again this Thanksgiving, which companies have had recent turnaround performances, whether Netflix opening an online store makes sense, what the Olympics going ahead could mean for everyone, how to trick yourself into eating less, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analysts Nicole Perrin and Paul Verna and analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch.

For our recent “Ecommerce and Retail Customer Experience 2021” report, we spoke with Sasha Siddhartha, co-founder and CTO of Thrive Market, about how the company uses first-party data to improve personalization and, in turn, drive customer loyalty.

Robots for fulfillment: Alibaba and Amazon are investing in a robot-based automated future as ecommerce continues to soar and consumer expectations for instantaneous delivery rise.

Amazon has been moving its shopping holiday around, and now it's next week. Melissa Burdick, co-founder and president at retail media buying technology firm Pacvue, joins eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin to discuss what Amazon gets out of having Prime Day in Q2 and the latest in the retail media war.

Following nearly 10 years of double-digit growth, ecommerce sales in Canada surpassed 10% of total retail sales for the first time last year, reaching 12.7%. Since 2019, ecommerce sales have nearly doubled their share, reaching $64.51 billion this year.

On today's episode, we discuss how many Americans have adopted telehealth, how people are using it, and what's both driving it forward and holding it back. We then talk about the popularity of buy now, pay later services, why some retailers are now starting to expand their brick and mortar presence, and what adding prescription discounts might do for Amazon and Walmart's membership programs. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst Lisa Phillips and director of forecasting at Insider Intelligence Cindy Liu.

Spending was boosted in part by stimulus payments and jobs growth—but going forward, issuers may want to target opportunities like back-to-school shopping and pent-up spending by older adults.