Which devices will benefit most from the growth in ecommerce sales? We don’t necessarily expect the shift to mcommerce (from desktop/laptop commerce) to change much from our previous forecast. However, mobile’s continued importance will become apparent through 2024, by which time mcommerce will account for one-fifth of total retail sales. WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT?

As of 2019, of the countries we tracked, only China had a higher proportion of ecommerce sales as a proportion of total retail sales (34.1% vs. 21.8%). Even with UK consumers’ spending power under pressure—the divisive issue of Brexit, for example, has been a cause for concern—the discussion has been not about a decline in spend, but rather a reallocation of spend.

Many digital shoppers in the region use social networking sites to research products and make purchase decisions, but engagement with social commerce is lower in Europe than in most places worldwide. Some consumers in Europe fear that offers on social media may be fraudulent; also, many shoppers don’t want to share personal financial data with social sites.

In contrast, even pre-pandemic, Amazon accounted for a large portion of total US ecommerce sales, and its dominance has only continued to grow stateside. Have any other factors impacted D2C trading? As expected, Brexit has had an impact on companies selling via direct channels from Europe into the UK and on UK companies selling into the EU.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for traveling dropped off significantly, especially in the US and UK, two of the hardest hit countries. The situation is exacerbated by a halt in business traveling and cruise ships worldwide.

“Having worked closely with the ICO and other data protection authorities throughout Europe, we are confident the Transparency and Consent Framework is the best way for companies within the digital advertising ecosystem to ensure they have a GDPR legal basis for processing personal data and providing users the necessary transparency and control,” said Townsend Feehan, CEO at IAB Europe.

Amazon’s AR push: The ecommerce giant has opened an in-person hair salon to show off its new augmented reality (AR) tools. Were Amazon to integrate AR into its site, it could make this experimental mode of shopping commonplace.

Reviews have always been a key aspect of a consumer’s shopping journey. But nowadays—particularly as more consumers lean on ecommerce—additional information in the form of user-generated visuals is becoming just as critical.

We estimate that US shoppers spent $72.46 billion via click and collect last year, accounting for 9.1% of all ecommerce sales. This year, those figures will increase to $83.47 billion and 9.9%. The coronavirus pandemic led to outsized increases in click-and-collect sales and user adoption in 2020.

The food delivery service, which mainly operates in Europe, is kicking off IPO procedures in London, with an expected valuation of $10 billion, per The Wall Street Journal. In 2020, the company’s net revenues grew 54% annually to GBP1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) as on-demand delivery surged due to the pandemic. US-based Olo is set to begin IPO preparations.

If North America, Europe and Japan do not recover quickly, it may not be possible for China to pull out of recession either. Not sure if your company subscribes? Find out here.

Business Insider Intelligence research analyst Daniel Keyes, eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman, and senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Cindy Liu discuss the overachieving retailers of Q3—Peloton, Etsy, and Wayfair. They then talk about the EU's antitrust charges filed against Amazon, VF Corp.'s acquisition of Supreme, and Verishop launching a social network within its app.

During the pandemic-induced lockdowns in 2020, many UK-based shoppers confined to their homes saw little need to shop for apparel, and even now, as restrictions ease, apparel will still not be a consumer focus.