It's been one year since Germany-based retailer Lidl debuted in the US, but the deep discounter hasn't quite taken the grocery industry by storm. Still, a study by Oliver Wyman found the company is popular with younger consumers. Those under 45 shop there more often and spend more per visit than older consumers.

A recent study by NPR and The Marist Poll found that many US digital buyers rarely send unwanted items back. The decision to keep an online purchase instead of returning it comes down to time and cost.

Shopping and buying online is now a routine activity in Austria, according to eMarketer’s latest ecommerce forecast. In 2018, more than 72% of the population, equating to 5.5 million people, will shop for products online.

Emerging technologies like augmented reality and visual search offer new promise for retail apps as they evolve beyond simply reducing friction toward surprising and delighting their users.

In a recent study from Walker Sands, respondents were nearly twice as likely to say that the ecommerce giant always meets their speedy delivery expectations compared with other digital retailers.

More than a year after Amazon debuted the Echo Look, a $199 Alexa-fueled, freestanding camera to take photos of a user's outfits, the device has moved from the invite-only stage to full US availability. Coupled with Amazon's push into private-label apparel, Echo Look is just one more attempt to penetrate the competitive fashion category.

Understanding the customer journey has always been paramount for marketers—especially in the retail industry—and the ability to assign attribution is becoming more fine-tuned. But shoppers aren’t making it easy.

Every interaction with a consumer is an opportunity for a company to build and develop a long-lasting connection. Personalization and digital experiences hold sway, but traits like integrity and effort are also respected.

Mobile checkout is shaping up to be a big theme in 2018, but some restaurants are implementing digital kiosks in addition to offering mobile ordering apps. It's just one more option for customers to choose from in an increasingly consumer-focused world.

If it seems like Amazon dominates most online retail categories, that’s because it does. But despite the online retailer's push into many private-label categories, it is still viewed as a source of staples rather than style.

Not many consumers have used augmented reality for shopping, but plenty are interested and some say they would be just as happy to avoid clothing retailers altogether if the technology made that possible.

Walmart unveiled a new, highly personalized service that comes with a distinctly non-Walmart touch—a high price. And the service is aimed at a distinctly nontraditional Walmart audience: upper income New Yorkers.

For retailers, top pricing pressures involve keeping up with the competition and reducing markdowns to remain profitable. More niche—but also important—are issues around dynamic pricing, the practice of lowering or raising prices on the fly.

Along with visual search, chatbots, and augmented and virtual reality, voice commerce has been on retailers' radar as the next big thing. None of those emerging technologies—despite varying degrees of consumer adoption—has pulled ahead of the pack, though.

The latest jobs report came just a day after Dollar Tree and Dollar General reported earnings that fell below Wall Street's expectations, leading some to question whether consumers will continue to favor low-price options in times of plenty.

Fewer people say offerings like online ordering and digital menus influence where they’re going to eat, according to a recent study from consulting firm AlixPartners.

Brands like Everlane and Reformation have promised transparency in the supply chain, labor practices, textile sourcing and more. Shoppers seem to be on board, but other factors may have greater importance.

Consumers have a wide range of customer service channels available to them—they can hop on the phone to help resolve an issue, or take to Facebook to air out any problems. And while this works for some people, others aren't so sure.

A comparison of the financial situation of millennials and Gen Xers finds that debt is higher for the new generation, and the makeup of that debt could have implications for spending habits.

According to a recent NetElixir survey, roughly 40% of US voice assistant users would welcome sponsored content or product suggestions if they were relevant to them.