Alibaba’s quarterly earnings: The ecommerce giant posted strong growth in its retail and global businesses, even though we expect its share of China’s total ecommerce sales to dip slightly this year.

Alibaba’s quarterly earnings: The ecommerce giant posted strong growth in its retail and global businesses, even though we expect its share of China’s total ecommerce sales to dip slightly this year.

The installment lending solution helps Amazon boost ecommerce sales and break further into India’s payment space—and it may also help the etailer capitalize on the global buy now, pay later market.

Adobe Analytics estimates that total US ecommerce sales on Prime Day surpassed $11 billion, and Amazon said that its global customers bought more than 250 million items during the coveted two-day shopping event.

Following a major shift to online retail in 2020, retail ecommerce sales will continue to grow by double digits through 2023 and make up an increasing share of total retail sales worldwide.

Noticing gaps in accessibility, SmileDirectClub went to market to offer affordable, wide scale orthodontic care in the US before going global. Watch Industry Voices: Spotlight on D2C with SmileDirectClub CMO John Sheldon to hear how the brand’s goals were achieved by focusing on customer relationship management and a retention strategy rooted in telehealth.

/Deloitte survey, 74% of worldwide at-home AR users had used AR to communicate, and 52% had done so for media/entertainment. According to an October 2021 survey by Wool & Water, 47% of US shoppers had used an AR filter on social media in the past 30 days. “The mass-scale behavior already exists,” said Carolina Arguelles Navas, head of global AR product strategy and product marketing at Snap.

The pandemic sparked greater global awareness of environmental issues and a renewed commitment to finding solutions. Climate change ranked as the top personal concern of Gen Z adults worldwide, ahead of both unemployment and disease prevention (amid a global pandemic), per Deloitte in February 2021.

The For You page and trending videos were among the top places TikTok users worldwide discovered products in the food and beverage, luxury, and automotive categories, per an August 2021 Warc survey. The #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag is a perfect example of this phenomenon.

Retail media advertising had a banner year in 2021—one that will be hard to top. Although growth is expected to taper this year, there are several reasons why retailers looking to build their own media networks should take notice.

By 2024, we expect US digital ad spend to be about $65 billion higher than what we expected before the pandemic. The biggest drivers behind these larger-than-expected increases are retail media networks and connected TV.

We estimate that digital ad spending by consumer product good (CPG) brands will hit $30.56 billion this year. What's more is that the CPG sector is one of five industries to devote more than 70% of their total ad budgets to mobile.

Find out how retail marketers can improve conversions through customer experience and marketing

We expect retail media advertising to be one of the fastest-growing segments of digital advertising in the US at over 31%. But this is just one of the five key trends that we predict will most shape the retail landscape in the year ahead.

Social commerce has shortened the path to purchase, allowing consumers to move through the purchase journey from discovery to checkout within one app.

The pandemic was disastrous for many retailers; we estimate that total retail sales worldwide plunged 2.8% in 2020. Though, while many physical stores were shuttered, digital retail sales soared by over 25% in a single year.

As sales increase and scale across multiple channels, and business operations become more complex, automation is key to driving growth and keeping up with the pace of change.

According to eMarketer’s forecast, US direct-to-consumer (D2C) ecommerce sales will reach $151.20 billion in 2022, an increase of 16.9% compared to this year. And while D2C purchasing will only account for 2.5% of total retail sales in the year ahead, these brands have challenged and successfully disrupted the retail industry by diversifying consumer experience.

Buying new bedding is often triggered by necessity or a life event, and when that sale happens online, creating a sensorial experience is critical. Watch Industry Voices: Spotlight on D2C with Boll & Branch CMO Jonathan Bottomley to hear why great customer service paired with inspirational and educational content helps retain existing customers and prompt future sales.