Prime Day 2024 shatters records yet again as consumers stock up on essentials: Shoppers spent $14.2 billion online, spurred by significant discounts and the chance to get a head start on back-to-school needs.

Search is undergoing a seismic shift. Google is still the go-to for most inquiries, but generative AI is changing how people search, and leading people to explore alternative search engines. Meanwhile, paid search dollars are moving to retail media networks as shoppers begin their searches on Amazon and other retailer sites. And Gen Z’s search habits look different from older generations, with the cohort flocking to social media sites like TikTok and using visual search and chatbots.

Amazon’s ad portal crashes during Prime Day: Though sales are unlikely to be impacted, the outage highlighted tensions between Amazon and sellers.

Consumers take a cautious approach to back-to-school shopping: To drive shoppers to spend, Macy’s revamped its Epic Threads brand, Kohl’s added Limited Too, and Old Navy offered cash back.

Amazon’s pricing and returns policies draw complaints from sellers: Merchants flag lost revenues, higher fees, and inadequate seller support as reasons for their discontent.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what Amazon has planned for its thirties, the all-AI ad that sparked a debate about the future of marketing, why customer experience is historically low, the most impactful AR feature in retail, what animal can fly backwards, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Sara Marzano and Carina Perkins.

Walmart’s retail media network generated 11 billion impressions in Q1: The retailer is chipping away at Amazon’s dominance, despite the latter’s moves to boost non-endemic spend.

Ecommerce will account for 35% of all back-to-school shopping this year: That’s a massive shift from the 23% share it accounted for prior to the pandemic as consumers embrace convenience.

During Prime Day 2024, US shoppers will spend nearly $14 billion—a 5.9% increase over last year. But the dynamics of the shopping event are shifting as competitors chip away at Amazon’s market share.

Walmart bets on AR: The retailer experiments with several use cases for the technology that it hopes can make shopping online as immersive, interactive, and social as in-person experience.

Marketplaces will continue to expand their share of US retail ecommerce as new players with roots in China vie for prominence.

TikTok Shop joins Amazon in holding a July sale: The marketplace hopes exclusive discounts on brands like L’Oréal and live-shopping events will boost GMV.

“In the digital era, each step along the path to purchase has become significantly more complex,” our analyst Blake Droesch said on a recent EMARKETER webinar. “The store remains a vital centerpiece, but the number of digital channels that consumers are using to discover and evaluate brands continues to grow at a rapid pace.” Brands and retailers need to stay on top of evolving purchasing behavior to meet their customers where they are. Here are three trends and opportunities that can help.

Albertsons, Costco, and Instacart are enhancing their retail media offerings. TikTok Shop reached a $1 million livestream. And three-time consecutive first place winner Walmart is developing immersive ways to shop and catering product lines to younger shoppers. Here’s our Unofficial Most Interesting Retailers List for June 2024.

As the share of US ecommerce sales on marketplaces continues to expand, our latest survey examines consumer buying habits and expectations across leading platforms.

Amazon to launch budget marketplace to compete with Temu, Shein: The retailer is copying their playbook—complete with cheap products and longer delivery times—to stay ahead in the ecommerce race.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of June. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Becky Schilling and Sara Lebow will defend their list against vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

Netflix with ads is trailing streaming rivals: The service is struggling to compete with recent entrant Amazon and has lowered CPMs.

Amazon will pull in over 80% of US retail media search dollars this year, per our forecast. But Walmart will continue growing its share of non-Amazon retail media search ad spending over the next two years.

Retailers are racing to implement genAI-powered virtual assistants capable of creating human-like responses and handling complex queries. But there are challenges to overcome.