US retail and food service sales jumped after last month’s stimulus: In January, sales were up 5.3% over the prior month, to the highest they’ve been since September. The stimulus in March could boost sales again—but they may stall if we don’t see another package after that.
The 2020 US holiday season posted better-than-expected retail sales growth, as huge ecommerce gains added to a surprisingly positive performance for brick-and-mortar retail. The early outlook for the 2021 holiday season is solid despite major economic uncertainty ahead.
Walmart's changing workforce: The retailer has doubled its personal shopper numbers as it works to meet rising demand for online fulfillment services.
BuzzFeed wants you to window shop digitally: The publisher is working on a "digital mall" where consumers can comb through commerce-related content and brands can rep their products, continuing its push for revenue diversification.
The convergence of media and commerce is inching closer. Nearly a year after adding a direct checkout feature to its platform, NBCUniversal is investing further in the commerce space.
Retail ecommerce was thrust forward in 2020, mostly due to periodic stay-at-home measures enacted across the country. During mandated quarantines in the first wave of the pandemic and a second wave in the fall that coincided with the holiday shopping season, consumers shopped online to a degree they never had before. Retailers in Canada quickly adapted to these new conditions, setting them up for continued high volumes of online ordering in 2021.
Cat's out of the bag: Several non-pet-focused retailers have announced plans to start carrying pet products, as digital sales in the category boom amid record-high adoption rates.