No More Toys: Toys, similar to books, are a specialty retail category that is increasingly becoming extinct in the physical world. The last of the big-box toy stores, Toys "R" Us, announced Thursday that it would be liquidating and closing all of its 735 US locations. The demise of Toys "R" Us has been blamed on Amazon, and that's likely true in part. Edison Trends data shows that between January 2017 and March 2018, Amazon had exponentially higher sales order volume than Toys "R" Us, though the latter consistently had higher monthly average order values—occasionally three times as much.
Dialing for Pizza: Pizza chains have always been on the forefront of digital ordering (Pizza Hut sold its first online order in 1994), and yet according to a March 2018 CivicScience survey, 42% of US consumers prefer ordering pizza the old fashioned way: by talking on the phone. Website orders were the method of choice for 22% of respondents, while 8% liked to order via apps. Gen Xers made up close to half (48%) of those who preferred online ordering, more than both millennials (35%) and boomers (17%).
Amazon Fashion: Coresight Research took a deep dive into the clothing sold on Amazon Fashion and found that third-party sellers dominate the listings (86.3%), and Amazon's private labels only account for a tiny amount of total apparel inventory on the site (0.1%). The top 30 brands, ranked by number of listings, only make up roughly 30% of apparel on Amazon Fashion, demonstrating the vastness of this product category. Nike is the most-listed brand.