Retail & Ecommerce

It’s hoping new tools will make its POS tech more competitive as verticalization heats up

Republicans want to revoke the CFPB’s fee cap. Their resolution has slim chances of passing—but that could all change after November

Discounts are the leading reason consumers currently participate in a loyalty or reward program, cited by 48% of US adults, according to October 2023 data from Merkle.

Sales growth for cosmetics and beauty will increase at more than twice the rate online than through physical retail channels this year, according to our February 2024 forecast. While ecommerce is stealing market share, its sales only tell a portion of the buying story. Physical stores are still key to discovering beauty products and brands, finding the right shades, and testing formulations—and Walmart is making use of its omnichannel footprint to take advantage. Here’s how.

BNPL is still a small retail payments player. While 73% of US consumers said they’d heard of BNPL in 2022, just 5.8% said they’d used it at least once over a 30-day period. US BNPL value will hit $80.77 billion in 2024, per our forecast—just 1.1% of total US retail sales.

JPMorgan Chase launched its Chase Media Solutions ad unit earlier this month. The venture looks a lot like a retail media network (RMN), with one important distinction—Chase is not a retailer. But because it’s monetizing purchase data, Chase Media Solutions operates a lot like an RMN.

A quarter of US shoppers are influenced to buy products via ads on retailers’ websites, according to new research from Intellias, as reported by Search Engine Land. This is compared with just 13% of consumers who are influenced by ads on third-party marketplaces and 14% who buy after seeing social media ads.

Retail sales keep outpacing expectations: A sizable segment of consumers shrugged off inflation as retail sales rose 4.0% YoY in March.

Nike shifts gears: Recognizing that its D2C push failed to deliver the desired results, the company is now “investing heavily” in its wholesale partners.

Brand loyalty is waning: Half of consumers say deals have become a much more important factor when choosing where to buy retail or grocery items.

Gopuff looks to diversify its revenue streams: The company launched a platform to allow brands to fulfill ecommerce orders on their own websites.

Online retailers are struggling to live up to shoppers’ expectations: Consumers are turned off by high shipping costs, late delivery, and products that don’t match descriptions.

OpenTable aims to ensure the credibility of its review program: The restaurant reservation platform will begin showing members’ profile pictures and first names in reviews.

Consolidation is ramping up as the higher-rate environment proves difficult for some business models

Store card revenues fell throughout 2023, and the CFPB’s late fee cap won’t help. We look at how retailers like Target are coping

Delinquencies reached a record high in Q4 2023. Issuers’ Q1 results could indicate in how consumers will fare the rest of the year

Self-reported spending is down 6% among US teens (which includes Gen Alpha and Gen Z consumers), but they are still shelling out on beauty, according to Piper Sandler’s latest Taking Stock with Teens survey.

There’s no shortage of brands highlighting their eco-friendly initiatives: But cost-conscious consumers are unlikely to splurge on goods that aren’t reasonably priced and clearly greener.

Consumers worldwide prefer searching for select non-food retail products online than in-store, according to November 2023 data from Auctane and Retail Economics.

Nearly half of retail CFOs plan to leverage automation and AI to optimize costs in 2024. Online resale may have the most to gain in the short term, thanks to the opportunity to address key operational challenges and customer pain points involved with selling secondhand goods online.