Starbucks is reportedly considering cashierless cafes using Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech, and Instacart will acquire smart cart provider Caper AI.

In a survey, 60% of consumers said they will not give their business to merchants who fail to offer digital payment options.

Starbucks invests in more frictionless customer experiences: More fast-food brands are building up their drive-thru and on-the-go ordering capabilities, meeting changing consumer behavior in the process.

Mobile proximity and peer-to-peer (P2P) payments have hit the mainstream, thanks to a pandemic-driven upswing in digital payments that is set to last. This trend is leading providers to diversify their offerings and compete for share of the market.

Amid the carnage of bankruptcies, store closures, and massive layoffs in 2020, some retail companies actually fared very well. Adjustments to supply chains, product and service bundles, stocking and inventory, and customer service have been the keys to success for big-box retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. Others, such as Apple, lululemon athletica, Nike, and Starbucks, are focusing on innovating and modifying store experiences through digital integration, frictionless shopping, and atmospherics modified for a “new normal” of social distancing and sanitization.

The coffee chain leading the mobile payments game

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch and senior forecasting analyst Oscar Orozco discuss whether ride-hailing apps can whether the storm, how much power will Facebook's oversight board actually have, Starbucks reducing its reliance on cash, Amazon possibly buying AMC Theatres, the next wave of sports programming, updated cookie consent, what does yawning tell you about yourself and more.

As the coronavirus continues to spread, China's status as the epicenter of major supply chains is causing significant changes to businesses and consumer behavior. This is not only putting a strain on multiple industries within the country, but multinationals operating out of and doing business in China are feeling the effects as well.

Less than 13% of smartphone users in Germany will use proximity mobile payments this year—one of the lowest rates in Europe. User numbers will increase slowly, but privacy concerns and the popularity of cash and card payments will curtail adoption.

Mobile payments—both proximity payments and P2P transfers—continue to grow rapidly in volume. User growth is slowing, and increased spending will primarily come from existing users spending more often via mobile phones.

For the first time, a generic mobile payment app is more popular than the Starbucks mobile app, which had long led the category despite being specific to one retailer. Apple Pay became the market leader last year, when 27.7 million Americans used the app to make a purchase.

eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman talks with Scott Silverman, co-founder of retail conference CommerceNext, about how D2C brands and retailers are earmarking their digital investment dollars. Lipsman also weighs in on Brandless’s new CEO, Nordstrom being a “no-growth” retailer and Starbucks’s new tie-dye Frappuccino.

Growth of retail sales in China is declining, due to economic and geopolitical challenges, and will not overtake the US until 2021. But retail ecommerce has continued to flourish in some surprising ways under these current circumstances.

Earlier this month, Philadelphia passed a bill rendering cashless stores like Amazon Go and Sweetgreen illegal and banning future establishments from completely abandoning cash. By July 2019, most retailers in the city will be required to offer consumers a cash payment option.

Mobile payments have been thought to be on the cusp of widespread adoption for several years now. But most consumers have responded to the technology with a noncommittal shrug.

Of the 938.2 million proximity mobile payment users worldwide, over two-thirds reside in China and India. Consumer adoption is still in its early days for most markets, but there will be fast growth in retailer support and usage over the next few years.

China’s fast-paced retail ecommerce growth hasn’t spelled doom for physical stores. Rather, brick-and-mortar is undergoing a transformation of its own, underlined by an infusion of technology and the growing integration between online and offline.

Mobile has become integral to the shopping experience, yet when it comes to transacting—especially in store—US consumers still aren't fully on-board.

If you think consumers want brands to be neutral on social issues, you would be wrong. Belief-driven buyers—consumers who choose, switch, avoid or boycott a brand based on its stand on societal issues—are the majority in 2018.

Impersonal or practical, gift cards are integral to the holiday season. Purchases of gift cards also keep rising every year. In 2017, US internet users purchased an average of 6.5 gift cards and 6.1 digital cards, up from 5.9 and 4.0 in 2016, according to First Data.