The retail divide among top performers and the rest of the market has been amplified by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a tumultuous year for advertising, every market we cover except China will experience a decline in ad spending, and Google will see its first ever contraction in digital ad revenues.

If the coronavirus pandemic has produced any winners in the retail sector, digital merchants are among that number.

China is the largest digital market in the world, leading all countries in terms of ecommerce, mcommerce and social commerce. It’s also home to many of the largest ecommerce conglomerates, including Alibaba and JD.com, who are generating sales at a scale that far exceeds that of companies in the US—including Amazon.

For the first time since we began estimating ad revenues at Google, the company’s net US digital ad revenues will decline in absolute terms. Facebook and Amazon will continue to grow but at severely depressed rates compared with earlier expectations.

The coronavirus pandemic is putting a major dent in US digital ad spending growth. Outlays will increase by just 1.7% this year—read on to learn what that means for major ad channels and platforms.

Global retail ecommerce sales will decelerate to a 16.5% growth rate in 2020. Even as consumers transitioned en masse to ecommerce during the pandemic, the drag caused by multiple recessions internationally has reduced the overall outlook.

As lockdowns slowly lift in the US, retailers face a changed shopping landscape. With lingering fears over renewed outbreaks, many consumers are wary of returning to stores.

The coronavirus pandemic has been disastrous for the vast majority of Europe’s retailers. Digital retail has benefitted, though. In Germany, we expect retail ecommerce sales to rise 16.2% this year, and total $92.33 billion.

Retail sales in France have taken a body blow during the coronavirus crisis, but digital retail is seeing gains. We expect retail ecommerce sales in France to total $77.27 billion (€69.01 billion) this year, compared with $66.00 billion (€58.94 billion) in 2019.

Confined to their homes, consumers now have more than the impetus of convenience to shop online. It’s become necessity for many people—a condition that will likely boost ecommerce habits for years to come. Nearly four in five adults (79%) in Canada spent 20% or less of their total shopping budget online prior to COVID-19, according to a Forum Research poll in April 2020.

Ecommerce’s share of total retail in Canada is higher than we previously expected, as brick-and-mortar outlets are forced to shutter and online shopping becomes a necessity.

Coronavirus effects have radically altered the US retail and ecommerce landscape, with surprising changes in consumer behavior and category and retailer performance.

The US retail sector could take years to recover from the impact of the coronavirus, and the hit could be worse than that of the Great Recession. According to eMarketer’s latest forecast on US retail sales (which includes auto and fuel), total retail sales will drop by 10.5% this year, steeper than the 8.2% drop in 2009. Ecommerce is the only bright spot, jumping 18.0% this year, as Americans rely on Amazon and other online retailers for necessities.

Smart-home devices are on the verge of mainstream adoption, and with that comes the opportunity for marketers to gain deeper insights about their audiences though user data. In our “Smart Homes 2020” report, we looked at how marketers use smart-home technology to integrate brands with the internet of things (IoT) universe and how consumers may react to hyperpersonalized advertising inside the home.

eMarketer research analyst Daniel Keyes, principal analyst Andrew Lipsman and senior forecasting analyst Cindy Liu at Insider Intelligence discuss what happened when Amazon eased up for a few months and what will happen when it hits the gas. They then talk about some new Google features, Amazon looking to buy a driverless car company and some maybe permanent grocery store foot traffic trends.

Clothing and apparel retailers will see steep declines in 2020 as spending on discretionary items comes to a near halt amid the ongoing pandemic. We forecast a drop of nearly 22% in 2020 for total sales of apparel and accessories, which equates to a year-over-year loss of over $100 billion.

COVID-19 has altered the relationship between TV viewership supply and advertising demand.

Frictionless commerce, a trend permeating many facets of the customer journey today, leverages technology to improve the retail experience by saving people time and hassle. And arguably the most competitive battleground in frictionless commerce is in fast and free ecommerce delivery.

Walmart's US ecommerce sales are expected to rise 44.2% to $41.01 billion this year, a significant bump from 2019’s stellar 36.8% growth—and an increase from our January 2020 estimate of 27.0%.