E-Commerce

Amazon Announces 2026 Prime Day Dates
June 2, 2026 at 7:05 pm

Amazon.com announced Monday that its annual Prime Day event will return June 23–26, bringing millions of exclusive deals to Prime members across more than 35 categories. The four-day shopping event kicks off at 12:01 a.m. PDT on June 23, with deals available on the Prime page and the Amazon Shopping app. Members can save on…

Why Your Future Top Customer May Never Actually Visit Your Homepage
May 26, 2026 at 6:03 pm

For years, retailers have optimized for a single moment: the website visit. How do we drive more traffic to our site? How do we increase time on page? How do we move shoppers from homepage to product detail to checkout? That model, however, is breaking down. Right now, a meaningful and rapidly growing segment of…

Cart Abandonment Isn't What Retailers Think It Is
May 25, 2026 at 10:07 am

For a decade now, retail organizations have viewed cart abandonment as a "funnel leak," to be solved by urgency emails, exit-intent pop-ups, and discount triggers. New research suggests that approach has cost retailers more than it has recovered. According to a recent CouponFollow survey of 1,016 American adults, there's been a fundamental shift in how…

How Whatnot is Driving the Growth of Live Commerce
April 13, 2026 at 5:30 pm

At Shoptalk in Las Vegas last month, Total Retail Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviewed Tom Verrilli, chief product officer at Whatnot, the largest livestream shopping platform in the U.S., UK, and Europe. They explore the rise of live commerce and the customer experience within the Whatnot platform that combines the ease of e-commerce with the personal…

NRF Forecasts 4.4% Annual Retail Sales Growth in 2026
March 23, 2026 at 9:57 am

The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts that retail sales in 2026 will grow by 4.4 percent over 2025 to $5.6 trillion, based on a newly enhanced forecasting approach developed in partnership with Oxford Economics, one of the world’s leading independent economic advisory firms. The announcement was made last week during NRF’s sixth annual State of…

Retail Sales Dipped Slightly in January
March 9, 2026 at 11:48 am

The Advance Retail Sales Report from the Census Bureau showed consumer spending was down less than feared in January. Headline sales declined 0.2 percent, a step down from December's flat reading but better than the projected 0.3 percent decline. However, better days may be on the horizon for retailers. Economists widely expect bigger tax returns this…

Unlocking Global Growth: A Practical Road Map for Cross-Border E-Commerce Success
March 3, 2026 at 3:21 pm

As domestic markets mature and competition intensifies, retailers are increasingly looking beyond their home borders for growth. Cross-border e-commerce is no longer reserved for enterprise brands with unlimited budgets. It has become a viable and strategic expansion path for retailers of all sizes. In fact, global retail e-commerce sales are forecast to reach $6.8 trillion…

Bath & Body Works Launches First Brand Storefront on Amazon
February 24, 2026 at 5:15 pm

Bath & Body Works launched an authorized storefront on Amazon.com in its latest effort to sell products outside its stores, reports CNBC. The mall-favorite brand is making some of its best-selling fragrances, bodywashes, hand soaps and candles available for Amazon’s U.S. shoppers. The selection is also eligible for Prime shipping. The Amazon launch signals Bath…

Inside Ashley's Plan to Launch AI Home Shopping
February 16, 2026 at 5:59 pm

In episode 501 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Nick Lezin, senior vice president of e-commerce and marketing at Ashley, an American home furnishings manufacturer and retailer. Lezin expands on Ashley's strategy for launching a fully transactional shopping experience through artificial intelligence platform Perplexity (1:20), along with the unmet customer needs that its…