During the pandemic-induced lockdowns in 2020, many UK-based shoppers confined to their homes saw little need to shop for apparel, and even now, as restrictions ease, apparel will still not be a consumer focus.

Following mixed effects of the pandemic in 2020, the US retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and entertainment industries are rebounding in 2021.

Nonstore retailers like Amazon and Wayfair, which operate solely online, are dominating the US ecommerce market.

The pandemic supercharged ecommerce sales in the US, accelerating the digital market about two years into the future in terms of its penetration of total retail sales.

Aussies love their social commerce! Or so it would seem, based on eMarketer’s inaugural forecast for social buying in Australia.

Where are people buying into social buying?

We expect US social commerce sales to rise by 35.8% in 2021 to $36.62 billion. That’s only a slight deceleration in growth from 2020, when sales surged by 38.9% thanks to the pandemic-driven boom in ecommerce, increased social media consumption, and brands continuing to leverage these platforms to sell directly to consumers.

At Facebook, the social network is now a shopping network

US ecommerce sales are projected to continue double digit growth.

As brick-and-mortar stores remained shuttered, ecommerce quickly became the channel of choice for many consumers in Latin America. In turn, retailers quickly shifted their attention toward online sales channels to keep pace with consumers’ growing appetite for online shopping.

China’s second-largest annual shopping festival broke records last month, generating more sales and attracting more brands than ever before. Held each year around June 18, the 618 promotional event is still smaller than Singles’ Day, but its rising scale reflects a growing appetite for a midyear alternative to the November ecommerce extravaganza.

China’s $315 billion social commerce lead

Back to class: US back-to-school ecommerce sales will grow more than 13% this year, even after last year’s spike, increasing their share of total back-to-school sales this season.

Top 10 countries for ecommerce growth

eMarketer was pleased to moderate a Tech-Talk Webinar featuring Vihan Sharma, managing director, Europe, and senior vice president of Safe Haven at LiveRamp and Alexis Marcombe, managing director of Carrefour Links. They talked about how data collaboration fits into Carrefour’s business strategy.

US consumers are stocking up on apparel

In this Meet the Analyst Webinar, Jeremy Goldman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, discussed how brand and retail marketers can navigate these trends, and win the hearts, minds, and wallets of today’s consumers.