WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

Here are five important trends that will affect the American online grocery market in the next five years. From in-store mobile to personalized real-time offers and contactless payment, the future of grocery is all about convenience and options.

Customers expect a personalized, seamless brand experience across digital and physical commerce touch points and unified commerce is key to delivering this experience. This is the new mantra in retail, according to the 2015 E-Commerce Survey, 43% of the respondents indicated that a consistent brand experience across channels is one of their top commerce priorities.

“Retailers realize that that they can no longer operate from within silos, and the convergence of digital and physical commerce is now a retail imperative,” said Brian Brunk, principal, Boston Retail Partners.

Boston Retail Partners’ 2015 E-Commerce Survey of top North American retailers offers insights into retailers’ current e-commerce initiatives, priorities, and future trends as the retail industry continues its transformation into the digital world.

Key findings in the 2015 E-Commerce Benchmark Survey include:

> Improving the customer experience is the top priority – 43% of retailers indicating that a consistent brand experience across channels is essential

> A unified commerce platform is critical – 78% of retailers will have a unified commerce platform implemented within 5 years

> Mobilizing commerce remains a high priority – 45% of retailers indicated that mobile websites are their most important e-commerce capability

> Payment options and security are essential – 63% of retailers plan to accept Apple Pay within 2 years

> E-commerce continues to expand – 85% of retailers expect an increase in 2016 e-commerce website revenue

The post office’s new parcel centres put it on the front lines of the battle to compete in a digital age

After Good Eggs scaled back to just one city, how many other food-delivery startups might be overextended as they try to "land and expand"?

‘Dark stores’ are the massive facilities behind online commerce – but members of the public aren’t allowed in. How do they work? Chris Baraniuk finds out on a behind-the-scenes tour.

Retail ecommerce sales in Canada will reach C$29.63 billion ($26.83 billion) this year, eMarketer estimates, an increase of 16.8% over 2014 spending levels. Double-digit sales increases are expected through at least 2019. That year, ecommerce sales in the country will near C$50 billion ($45.28 billion).

Google is adding a feature that lets you purchase items through search results.

Nothing is universal. But there are certain things that work more often than not in a/b testing.

It all started with a challenge – build an ecommerce business from scratch and see how many sales we could generate in three days.
And that's exactly what we did. 
In this case study you’ll learn step-by-step, exactly how we decided on a product to sell, sourced a supplier, and sold nearly a $1,000 worth of product in just a few short days.

WIN THIS BUSINESS: Click through to read the blog post for your chance to win this business plus 6 months free of Shopify Professional Plan. 

For the most part, our conversion rates are in the low single digits … but that doesn’t mean that the experience for the other 96 percent wasn’t hugely important in terms of driving that sale in the store. No question, dot-com has been a successful sales vehicle — it grew over 50 percent in 2013 and it’s been growing at roughly a 40 percent clip in 2014. Still, the value extends beyond the sales numbers because it enables a lot of other activity that ultimately takes place in the stores.

A blog about ecommerce marketing, running an online business and updates to Shopify's ecommerce community.

Domino's, which has had a history of smart tech innovation, has launched ordering through many different platforms, from smartphones to smartwatches to smart TVs. More than a third of its employees now work in tech and IT, the biggest department at the company's world HQ in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And just like a tech company, Domino's isn't afraid to fail. “We’re starting to think of ourselves as an e-commerce company that sells pizza. So we can take a few more risks and lean forward a little more

Amazon’s Subscribe & Save

Amazon's Dash Button is the first step in automating how, when and where you shop online.

European telecom company merges physical and digital selling.

Around 25% of millennials said they would pay a premium for same-day delivery.

The new year kicked off with over $525 million pouring into the food tech and media sector through four acquisitions and twelve capital raises

Retailers are catching on to the 'reverse showrooming' trend.

Most people are familiar with the way that hotel and airline pricing models work, in that during times of higher travel the costs increase due to demand. This is one type of variable payment model, known as time-based pricing, which has been successfully used for years. But with so much success in the travel industry, why hasn’t this variable pricing model been applied to other industries like technology? The answer is that is has, but you may have not even noticed it because it is used in a number of different ways. Dropbox is known for their leading edge pricing models that have propelled their success, but are these variable pricing models the new norm for technology companies?