On today's episode, we discuss how stores will likely shape-shift, what happens to curbside pickup going forward, and how "virtual" shopping experiences are about to get. We then talk about whether "buy now, pay later" is sticking around, Amazon's emerging national grocery chain, and how Walmart+ is doing six months after launch. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer director of forecasting Cindy Liu and analyst at Insider Intelligence Daniel Keyes.

On today's episode, we discuss Pinterest's unique advertising challenges, how its user growth compares with the other digital advertising giants, and the balance between shopping and buying on the platform. We then talk about what is most important to customers using curbside pickup, how Target capped off an exceptional 2020, and how to fairly measure in-store retail's performance going forward as stores reopen with limited capacity. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer analyst at Insider Intelligence Daniel Keyes.

Walmart’s popular curbside pickup service contributes as well, and we expect it will continue to represent a larger portion of the company's sales. Walmart is already looking at making this service more seamless for future shopping needs. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Walmart was phasing out its automated in-store pickup towers to focus more on curbside.

Curbside pickup is another service that’s been a major driver of growth. As a share of digital sales, curbside pickup sales increased by more than 600% in Q1 compared with the same quarter in 2019, according to the earnings call. The company said it would continue to invest and expand on this service.

Similarly, 29% had previously used curbside pickup, and another 19% planned to try it. Smaller shares said they’d give home delivery of cooked meals, meal kits, and fresh ingredients a first try.

When polled by Tinuiti in March this year, 30.3% of US parents said they were already planning to shop online for their BTS needs, with another 8.1% planning to take advantage of curbside pickup. With the uncertainty around the Delta variant, we believe that the number of in-person shoppers may decline slightly as increases in weekly coronavirus cases continue.

Target’s same-day services like in-store and curbside pickup drove digital sales and surged 55% YoY, but also reflect a significant deceleration from Q2 2020, when the metric exploded 273% YoY. How we got here: Industry tailwinds propelled Target’s performance in the quarter, with consumers ramping up overall spending post-vaccine.

Pickup locations can include secured lockers, curbside pickup and in-store collection points; we exclude orders picked up at a post office. Click-and-collect buyers are internet users ages 14 and older who have made at least one purchase online within the past year for pickup in a store or a locker in a retail or pickup hub location.

This platform, along with real-time inventory visibility, helped dealers, who were limited to offering curbside pickup at the height of the pandemic, to serve customers in the rapidly changing digital environment. The company uses Movable Ink’s contextual marketing capabilities to serve subscribers with recommended products and customize email content based on triggers like the weather.

Target’s in-store click and collect—the more mature of its two pickup options—also boomed by more than 60% in Q2 2020 and by more than 50% in Q3, despite the massive shift to curbside service. Momentum accelerated as consumers got used to these options.

Business Insider Intelligence research analyst Daniel Keyes and eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Andrew Lipsman discuss how Amazon's Prime Day went and what to expect from holiday shopping this season. They then talk about miniature Ulta Beauty shops inside Target stores, the health of retail in 2021, and whether in-garage delivery can rival curbside pickup.

According to McKinsey consumer data published in September 2020, 18% of respondents in Canada said they used store curbside pickup for the first time during the pandemic, and 11% stated they bought online and picked up in-store for the first time. The growth is being met with retailers building out click-and-collect logistics.

Curbside pickup—another form of click and collect—is also an option that boosts delivery efficiency. European rollout is rather minimal to date, though. In the UK, fewer than 6,500 brands offered curbside pickup during the pandemic, per Shopify; in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, fewer than 1,000 did so.

Pandemic conditions also improved during this period compared with last year, which may account for the deceleration in Target’s same-day digital services (order pickup, Shipt, and curbside pickup): The metric grew 90% YoY in Q1 2021, down from the 278% surge it posted last year.

eMarketer principal analysts Andrew Lipsman and Nicole Perrin discuss the most fortunate and unfortunate D2C companies during this coronavirus pandemic, and what they are doing to survive it. They then talk about Google helping retailers highlight curbside pickup, Uber's offer to buy GrubHub, the Media Ratings Council maybe taking Facebook's advertising badge of approval and what to make of some major retailers filing for bankruptcy.

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.

According to GlobalData, when asked which behaviors consumers expect to do more often once things have returned to normal, 68.2% of US adults said curbside pickup and 59.6% said in-store pickup. Grocery is the original and best use case for curbside pickup, and it’s where the behavior is most likely to carry forward into the future.

Yet, the pandemic accelerated this fragmentation with rapid growth in a number of pick up experiences, including curbside pickup, trunk delivery, and even locker pickup, all known collectively as click and collect. These collection experiences had to mature quickly to match rising consumer expectations. What’s New.

Consumers have shown a willingness to adopt new services (like curbside pickup) and technologies (like QR codes) quickly out of necessity and to help make their lives easier. Retailers should continue to innovate to create a seamless all-channel experience. One of the biggest hurdles to that goal will be data and personalization.