For some time now, consumers have been moving toward demanding more frictionless payment methods across online and offline channels. The social distancing and sanitizing practices brought on by the pandemic proved to be the push that encouraged many consumers to try proximity mobile payments (paying for goods using a mobile phone as a physical POS) for the first time. Ecommerce retailers, not to be outdone, are finding ways to improve their transactions as well.

On today's episode, we discuss Twitter's major initiatives and figure out what the platform will look like after it reinvents itself. We then talk about Facebook's cost-per-thousand (CPM) recovery, TikTok's ecommerce efforts, and a recent study about COVID-19 news on Facebook. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Jasmine Enberg.

As lockdowns slowly lift in the US, retailers face a changed shopping landscape. With lingering fears over renewed outbreaks, many consumers are wary of returning to stores.

Ecommerce has been a bright spot among retail channels during the coronavirus, as consumers became reliant on digital transactions amid physical store closures and fear of infection.

eMarketer principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Debra Aho Williamson, Andrew Lipsman, Nicole Perrin, and Jillian Ryan discuss the biggest challenges facing marketers today, and how to tackle them. They then talk about Apple delaying its major privacy update, Snapchat running ads inside "Minis," ecommerce marketers' reliance on Facebook ads, and a new job title that came out of the pandemic.

Amazon will account for 39.5% of all US retail ecommerce sales in 2022, or nearly $2 in $5 spent online. Altogether, the next 14 biggest digital retailers will make up just 31.0%, with the remaining 29.5% of the ecommerce pie going to everybody else.

Across many countries where the newest strain of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has made an impact, isolation and social-distancing measures have been put in place. Workers in some infected countries have been asked to work from home, cities have been placed under lockdown and schools have been shut down. People in those countries have also begun avoiding public, crowded places.

The pandemic has pushed many consumers to shift their shopping behaviors, with many now turning to their mobile device for their shopping needs.

Life is different during a pandemic, and that includes shopping. Retail businesses are closed in most states, and the ones that are open are doing business differently with social distancing practices like curbside pickup. And consumers are shifting more to ecommerce out of necessity.

After eMarketer's February 2020 forecast projected modest growth of 2.8% to $5.621 trillion in total US retail sales, the coronavirus pandemic then took the US economy by storm, causing closures, stay-at-home orders, and a decline in the demand of non-essential goods.

Walmart, Target, and Best Buy executives look ahead: Their comments at a retail industry conference offer insight into where and how they expect consumers to shop.

Sellers have more freedom to customize their online stores with new design and payment tools, which can help Shopify maintain its seller base after the pandemic subsides and ecommerce growth normalizes.

The pandemic accelerated mobile trends by years, and these changes should stick even as the pandemic wanes. Many people were forced to use apps for food delivery, finance, fitness, and shopping, and they’ve become accustomed to these new behaviors. Even app categories that were hurt during the pandemic, such as travel or dating apps, have been resilient. People have acclimated to new forms of mobile shopping and activities, and they’ll be more willing to try mobile interfaces for other activities going forward.

Even before the pandemic, ecommerce channel advertising was attracting a lot of attention from advertisers—especially in verticals like consumer packaged goods (CPG)—as well as retailers, which hoped to add new higher-margin revenue streams to their businesses after seeing Amazon’s success in the area. Amazon had become the No. 3 digital ad seller in the US thanks primarily to placements on its ecommerce property, and companies including Walmart, Target, and eBay had been growing similar businesses.

Retail ecommerce sales in Western Europe rose by 26.3% in 2020, to €481.54 billion ($539.18 billion). The pandemic is fueling other shifts in the retail landscape, too, such as a greater focus on buying local.

On today's episode, we discuss why Uber is trying to be a one-stop shop and how DoorDash outperformed Uber during the pandemic. We then talk about The New York Times' Q1 subscriber and revenue performance, NBCUniversal's thoughts on regional sports, and what stood out at this year's NewFronts. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom.

The pandemic has accelerated ecommerce growth in the US this year, with online sales reaching a level not previously expected until 2022. In our Q3 US retail forecast, the top 10 retailers by ecommerce sales will tighten their grip on the retail market.