WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

Amazon has 147 million Prime members in the United States, according to estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

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.

Companies should explore seven specific drivers to assess where the value lies in cloud. As companies assess the opportunities enabled by cloud, a detailed review of the sources of value can pinpoint where they need to focus their attention, people, and resources. Across the three dimensions, seven drivers of value can collectively generate more than $1 trillion in value.

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. 

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.

We looked into how traffic trends and user behavior on mobile stack up against desktop, and also analyzed mobile vs. desktop SERP discrepancies.

This report offers an inside look at how DevOps practitioners around the world tackle the same challenges you face. With a mix of hard data and real stories, we hope you’ll find wisdom and encouragement. No one ever said DevOps was easy — not even GitLab. But it is clear that a mix of the right tools, culture, collaboration, and a willingness to try and fail will move software development teams forward.

TL;DR: In today’s post — the first in a series exploring the future of human-computer interaction (HCI) — we’ll begin to unpack the 10-year vision of a contextually-aware, AI-powered interface for augmented reality (AR) glasses that can use the information you choose to share, to infer what you want to do, when you want to do it.

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 […]

The definition of self-service is shifting in this field as augmented capabilities pervade platforms. At the same time, cloud ecosystems and alignment with productivity tools have become key selection factors. This Magic Quadrant will help data and analytics leaders plan an analytics and BI roadmap.

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.

New numbers show 2020 was the first year that Chromebooks outsold Macs, posting impressive market share gains at the expense of Windows. Computers powered by Google's Chrome OS have outsold Apple'

Algorithms using artificial intelligence are discovering unexpected tricks to solve problems that astonish their developers. But it is also raising concerns about our ability to control them.

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.

Better simulators are helping companies to use deep reinforcement learning to improve operations. Sometimes the results are surprising.

In one of the most popular trends reports in the industry, we take a journey through the important email marketing and automation trends for 2021. 8 leading email marketing experts join forces to bring you the latest trends essential for business success this year.

We surveyed more than 3,000 CEOs around the world to learn how they are positioning their organizations for success after COVID-19. Five key factors set outperforming CEOs apart.

Newfound “edge AI” applications for device that integrates memory and computing, has randomness built in, sips battery power