Aptly named D2C brand Brandless, an online purveyor of minimalist grocery, wellness and home goods, has oriented its brand around the rise of digital-first shoppers who prefer products that include fewer, more natural ingredients. These shoppers have an evolving view of brands and don’t harbor any particular affinity for household names they grew up with.

Donahoe noted that Nike had used its ecosystem of fitness and commerce apps “to directly engage with consumers in their homes as they focus on health and wellness.”. Nike’s SNKRS app surpassed $1 billion in global sales for the fiscal year.

Next was health/fitness/nutrition (up 115.8%), followed by home improvement (up 84.8%), and consumer electronics/major appliances (up 70.6%). “The outstanding category … was sporting goods,” Grant said, citing the popularity of home fitness equipment like dumbbells and stationary bikes in helping the category surge 127%, according to Salesforce data.

As the use of smart-home technology increases, brands are experimenting with ways to use these connected IoT devices and systems—and the massive amounts of data that flows from them—in their marketing activities.

And its recently acquired Mirror digital home fitness screen will be in stores for the first time during Q4. Other retailers will not be so lucky. A key headwind facing several large retailers is US consumers’ reticence to get back to malls.

Most mobile time is in the five categories we detailed above, but a variety of other areas attract significant attention, including shopping, dating, finance, travel, fitness, navigation, and so on—the list is long. During the pandemic, a few of these categories contracted, such as travel, while others boomed, like ecommerce, fitness, and home finance.