Amazon will offer grocery delivery to non-Prime members nationwide: The retail giant also plans to resume opening Amazon Fresh stores next year.

As the top two retailers in the US, Walmart and Amazon are battling for holiday success by rolling out the best deals, the fastest delivery, and the best in-store experience. Here’s who we expect will come out on top in each of those areas, plus a post-holiday outlook.

Amazon merchants could give it a leg up in the AVOD race: The company has offered to fund ad production for brands that buy at least $15,000 in video commitments.

Amazon and Walmart build out their delivery infrastructure: Both companies look to boost the speed and efficiency with which they fulfill shoppers’ online orders.

Consumers look for deals, flexible payment options this holiday season: Over three-quarters of shoppers plan to hunt for discounts, while BNPL use is set to soar amid financial constraints.

Amazon explores standalone subscriptions as Prime user growth slows: The retailer could roll out separate grocery and healthcare membership services as early as this year.

Walmart expands third-party seller features as it tries to take on Amazon: The retailer is seeing early results from its marketplace initiatives, but its share of the market will remain at just 2.2% this year compared with Amazon’s 72.4%.

Amazon and Disney could team up on ESPN: Thursday Night Football could make Amazon a desirable partner for ESPN’s uncertain streaming future.

Amazon’s cost-cutting initiatives are beginning to pay off: The company’s North America business returned to profitability in Q2, buoyed by advertising and improvements in fulfillment.

Faster is better when it comes to ecommerce delivery times: Amazon and Walmart leverage automation, limiting the distance items travel to quickly get online orders to shoppers’ doors.

Prime Day advertising had a higher ROI than last year: Amazon worked out kinks from 2022’s event that will help it secure relationships with sellers.

Amazon Prime will make up 53.1% of US paid retail membership fee revenues this year, according to our estimates.

Many retailers launched paid memberships over the past three years. For the most part, they were intended to increase revenues and build loyalty during the pandemic-driven ecommerce boom. But the slowdown in revenue growth indicates that consumers are only willing to spend so much on retail subscriptions, particularly amid economic uncertainty.

Walmart lags behind Amazon in total ecommerce sales, retail media ad dollars, and retail subscriptions. But there may be ways for it to minimize the gap in certain areas, namely search and AI capabilities.

Amazon is doing everything it can to keep growing: The retailer has a dizzying array of initiatives in the pipeline, from in-game merchandise shops to generative AI advertising tools to incentives for shoppers to retrieve orders in person.

Amazon, Costco Wholesale, and other retailers now face an uphill battle to win recurring revenues in the era of subscription fatigue.

Amazon’s ad business powered the retailer to a better-than-expected Q1: A 21% increase in ad revenues helped offset flat sales growth in its ecommerce business.

Netflix may have had an optimistic start to the year, but it still faces a series of threats and opportunities abroad if it wants to maintain its worldwide dominance. Here’s an overview of what the company can expect to face.

A year in, Buy with Prime is struggling to attract retailers: Opposition from Shopify and UX limitations are keeping merchants away, despite the opportunity to reach Amazon Prime users.

Amazon can stake a claim as one of Canada’s top mass merchants, even without having physical stores. It has reached this milestone after more than three years of accelerated retail ecommerce in the country.