WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

Instacart: The firm will be working with JPMorgan Chase to issue a credit card that will reportedly let customers earn 5% cash back on Instacart purchases. The card is said to launch next year.
DoorDash: The company is rumored to have several bidders lined up for its rewards credit card, including JPMorgan Chase, but is reviewing its options before making a decision in the next few weeks. DoorDash is also in the process of recruiting restaurant partners and stores to offer cardholders rewards and discounts on a rotating or permanent basis.

It makes sense that home improvement retailers leaned the heaviest on click and collect, given the size and weight of many of their products, and the fact that buyers—including small businesses, contractors, and repair service providers—often need these products immediately.
The big-box retailers came in just behind the home improvement retailers, followed by department stores like Macy’s and Nordstrom, which saw the least dramatic transitions to click and collect.
The lower figures for department stores can partially be attributed to the complete closure of certain locations during the height of the pandemic, thus precluding click and collect and forcing customers into traditional ecommerce delivery. Additionally, demand for apparel was low last year when compared with other product categories. But the lower click-and-collect share figures for department stores probably comes down to consumers still preferring home delivery for lower-priority, less time-sensitive items like clothing and accessories.

Enterprise marketplaces provide many tangible benefits to both B2C and B2B companies. Application leaders can use this Market Guide to understand the complexities of operating a marketplace, which vendors can help them develop a marketplace and what features they should consider.

Google Shopping has gone through quite the metamorphosis over the years. Back in 2002, it was called Froogle upon launching - a pun on the term frugal - and was later renamed to Google Product Search in 2007. Then, it was renamed yet again to Google Shopping in 2012 and went through several iterations even within itself relating to how information was presented to users. 

Is this what our world is going to be like post the Covid-19 pandemic?

A comprehensive survey designed to surface consumer comfort levels with new and emerging technologies.

Enquête NETendances 2020 - Le commerce électronique au Québec. Les achats en ligne au Québec ont connu une croissance de 15 % en un an.

The pandemic has boosted adoption of livestreaming technologies among brands and retailers looking to engage more directly with customers. The addition of commerce features is now transforming livestreaming into a growth engine for e-commerce globally.

1. Niche assortment: Niche assortment companies focus on a narrow product assortment and gain a following among fanatics.  
2. Distinctive convenience: Distinctive convenience companies strive to deliver ease and speed as a service. 
3. Social connection: Social connection companies home in on the community and social aspects to promote product discovery, connection, and sales. 
4. Personalization: Personalization companies focus on merchandising (product recommendations and search) and product customization (tailor a product specifically to a customer).
5. Sustainability: Sustainability companies strive to reduce material waste, add more efficient products and services, and incorporate more transparent messaging. 
6. Amazon market jockeys: Amazon market jockeys are companies that buy and scale up third-party marketplace brands on Amazon. Rather than Amazon-proofing, these companies are riding the wave of Amazon’s success.

A ranking of the largest and fastest-growing consumer-facing marketplace startups and private companies. From food delivery to outdoor travel, the Marketplace 100 reflects the imprint of a year like no other. The Marketplace 100 is based on data from Bloomberg Second Measure, a consumer data analytics company that analyzes billions of purchases to track real-time consumer behavior and relative sales across over 5,200 merchants. The startups and private companies on the Marketplace 100 are then ranked using a common industry metric, Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), which is extrapolated from the total dollars consumers are spending against each company.

Today, around $4.3T worth of global commerce happens online. Stripe is intent on growing that number.

RetailNext, the leader in comprehensive in-store analytics, is pleased to announce that the latest Retail Performance Pulse is currently available for download. This monthly report aggregates millions of retail performance data points to give you a pulse on the industry and enable: Store performance benchmarking Financial forecasting Trend analysis across traffic, sales, and conversion metrics […]

Internal company documents from March 2020 obtained by Insider reveal the retailer’s initiative—dubbed “Project Glass”—to strengthen its business and take on Amazon head-on.

Cloud Customer Architecture for e-Commerce describes how to support e-Commerce solutions using cloud computing. The reference architecture contains a detailed view of the components, subcomponents and relationships for a cloud-based e-Commerce solution.

The Retail Tech 100 is CB Insights' annual ranking of the 100 most promising B2B retail tech companies in the world. This year's winning companies include startups working on e-commerce infrastructure, supply chain automation, cashierless checkout, and more.

Why choose commercetools for your new eCommerce platform? Find out in our comprehensive eBook. 

Covid brought shock and a lot of broken habits to tech, but mostly, it accelerates everything that was already changing.

L’enquête de la firme SOTI révèle que la Covid-19 a radicalement changé les attentes des consommateurs à l’égard des détaillants et du commerce en ligne. Selon leur étude (From Bricks to Clicks, State of Mobility in Retail 2021 Report) réalisée à l’échelle du globe, les consommateurs ne cliquent pas sur «acheter» si les retours ne sont pas faciles, si l'expédition et la livraison ne sont pas traçables, par contre la sécurité des données ne semble pas être une priorité absolue.

Key Takeaways: Forrester's research uncovered a market in which Adobe and Salesforce are Leaders; commercetools, Oracle, Intershop Communications, Insite, BigCommerce, SAP, and Sana Commerce are Strong Performers; and Apttus, Elastic Path Software, Unilog Content Solutions, and Episerver are Contenders.

Integration Capability And Business User Experience Are Key Differentiators: As monolithic technology becomes outdated and less effective, the providers that lead the pack demonstrate deep, prebuilt integrations and strong business user tooling. Vendors that deliver this value position themselves to successfully help their clients grow revenue, deepen customer loyalty, and expand into new markets.

Key Takeaways: Forrester's research uncovered a market in which Adobe, Salesforce, and commercetools are Leaders; SAP, BigCommerce, Kibo Commerce, and Oracle are Strong Performers; Episerver and Elastic Path Software are Contenders; and Sitecore is a Challenger.

Business User Experience Drives Key Differentiators

As monolithic technology becomes outdated and less appealing to merchants, the providers that lead the pack will demonstrate deep integrations with both owned and competitive solutions, as well as business user tooling that unifies controls across those solutions and streamlines workflows. Vendors that deliver this value position themselves to successfully help their clients grow revenue, deepen customer loyalty, and expand into new markets.

Major technology trends are converging to change how retail works, and malls, grocery stores, and airports may all begin to look quite different very soon.

Covid brought shock and a lot of broken habits to tech, but mostly, it accelerates everything that was already changing. 20 trillion dollars of retail, brands, TV and advertising is being overturned, and software is remaking everything from cars to pharma. Meanwhile, China has more smartphone users than Europe and the USA combined, and India is close behind - technology and innovation will be much more widely spread. For that and lots of other reason, tech is becoming a regulated industry, but if we step over the slogans, what does that actually mean? Tech is entering its second 50 years.

I tested more than 200 apps myself, and here are my comments. On this list you will find Amazon product research tools, ppc software, ranking tools, review software, etc.

This report goes beyond mapping technology startups and focuses in on how those technologies address retailers' and consumer brands' needs today.