The department store has 34 shops left nationwide, having closed 16 of them after the pandemic greatly reduced foot traffic on high streets. But even though the UK has come out of lockdown, the pandemic’s legacy will carry on: Insider Intelligence expects further store closures as customers continue to make more purchases online, just as they’ve grown used to doing over the past 18 months.

A record 12,200 stores closed in the US in 2020. Many of those were in pivotal mall locations, hastening the demise of those malls. These moves are another indicator that major industry players believe frictionless and contactless service are worth spending on.

In addition to overcoming barriers to online shopping that once existed, consumers are more uncomfortable visiting brick-and-mortar stores during the pandemic. A September 2020 survey conducted by Google Canada found that 30% of respondents indicated they were nervous to shop in-store, and 35% said social distancing measures made it harder to shop.

Already, retail store closures are on record pace this year, with Coresight Research reporting 7,990 closings vs. just 3,354 openings through September 18, 2020. Those shuttering the most stores include mid-tier mall retailers like Ascena Retail and Victoria’s Secret, while those opening stores are predominantly discount retailers like Dollar General and Dollar Tree.

According to data from SimilarWeb cited by Campaign Middle East, TikTok ranked third in the Apple App Store and fifth in the Google Play Store in Saudi Arabia. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it was sixth in the Apple store and third in the Google store. In Oman, it was fourth in the Apple store and third again in the Google store.

H&M, which operated 520 stores in China by the end of 2019, saw year-over-year sales plummet 89% during the week ending on January 30, when 64% of its stores were closed, according to GlobalData cited by Inside Retail.

June retail sales jumped 15.6% YoY in the US, with many of these sales occurring in-person as vaccinated consumers returned to stores following a drop in COVID-19 cases. Both Afterpay and Klarna let customers add virtual cards to mobile wallets for in-store purchases. What’s next?

The glasses feature twin 5-megapixel front cameras that can capture and store about three dozen 30-second videos and roughly 500 photos, per the Verge. They also have two built-in speakers to play audio over Bluetooth. What Ray-Ban Stories are not, though, are augmented reality glasses. They’re more like glorified GoPros—a stepping stone on Facebook’s path toward AR glasses.

The card could bolster GMV by providing customers easier access to Affirm’s pay later products—and giving Affirm a direct pathway to in-store retail. Affirm recently scored a key partnership with Amazon as the etailer’s first direct BNPL partner.

Consumers have higher expectations now, and they’re demanding a digital shopping experience that matches—or goes above and beyond—an in-store one. With effective testing, personalized product recommendations, and hyper-relevant search, brands will drive significant revenue returns this holiday season.

Mobile apps have been pulled from app stores for flouting these rules even before November 1. The law will spare no one in the tech sector, including auto. The government recently published new rules governing data collection, and automakers will not be able to gather data by default. So, marketers will have to scramble for new ways to plug the potential data deficit.

According to an October 2019 study from Capgemini, after checkout lines (60%), the most pressing in-store pain points were out-of-stock products (48%), difficulties locating products (40%) and flagging a store associate for assistance (26%). Enter in-store wayfinding.

Brands that are part of Snapchat’s Brand Profile beta program can build a store that lives in the profile, Snap said. Creators can also connect their own stores natively to their public profile page. YouTube Shorts. Our Take: After launching in beta in India last year, YouTube began testing its short-video format in the US in March.

However, two weeks after its debut in mid-February, the app disappeared from China’s Apple App Store. Parent Inke, a video livestreaming company, cited the app being incomplete as the reason for its removal. Feichuan: Currently under development, this Clubhouse-inspired invite-only app from leading short-video company Kuaishou is in its beta version.