US retail ecommerce sales will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year as the flexibility and convenience customers found during the pandemic sticks.

Chime was the most downloaded US mobile banking app in 2021, with 12.8 million downloads, up 16% from 2020. Other neobanks had a huge year as well: Current posted 67% growth in downloads, and Varo skyrocketed to 10th place with a 529% increase. That said, traditional banks took the rest of the top five positions.

Walmart is the most popular online alternative to Amazon, with nearly 63% of US Amazon buyers picking up products there when not doing so on Amazon.

US ecommerce sales will surpass $1 trillion annually in 2022, up 15.9% from this year.

When it comes to Christmas shopping, the biggest priority among UK consumers is avoiding crowds, cited by 32% of those 18 and older.

As the lines continue to blur between digital and physical channels, retailers will need to master both to entice consumers to continue to return to their brand. Here are five trends they should keep an eye on.

See the latest holiday shopping stories from Insider Intelligence

More US adults plan to make digital purchases on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday, at 38.6% and 35.5%, respectively.

Internet users worldwide plan on shopping both in-store and online this season.

Apple and Chewy will see the fastest ecommerce sales growth of the top 15 online retailers in the US this year, at 25.7% and 25.0% over 2020, respectively.

See where US consumers want to earn rewards

US grocery delivery ecommerce sales will grow by 11.4% this year to reach $79.71 billion. This marks a deceleration from 2020, which saw a 41.7% increase in online sales of grocery products fulfilled via delivery.

When Amazon starts a new business, competitors scrap business plans and markets shudder. We examined 19 of Amazon’s divisions to help parse how the company fuels its flywheel to keep driving the virtuous cycle.

Instacart's growth exploded in 2020, with sales increasing by 229.7% over 2019, for a total of $23.42 billion. But by the end of 2021, the grocery delivery company's sales will grow by a comparatively small 11.3%, which is in line with market norms.

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.

In 2021, Amazon will account for 41.4% of all US retail ecommerce sales. The tech giant will contribute more than 50% of US growth in online sales from 2019 to 2021. We estimate Amazon’s ecommerce sales will rise by $168.53 billion in that time frame, to reach a staggering $386.40 billion by the end of this year.

Retail loyalty programs—the most prevalent type in consumers’ wallets—help brands develop lasting customer relationships through easy, accessible, and appealing incentives. Co-brand credit cards—issued as partnerships between major brands, banks, and card networks— have long been a key piece of that puzzle.

As retailers explore new strategies in H2 2021 and beyond, they will need to gain greater understanding of which consumer behaviors have shifted permanently, which will revert to those of pre-pandemic times, and which will settle somewhere in the middle.

When Blink Fitness had to temporarily close its doors at the height of the pandemic, the company quickly shifted its focus to where consumers were: online.

US adults want digital content that costs less