E-Commerce

After several years of altered consumer behavior and often-conflicting news about the economy throughout 2023, retailers have sometimes found it challenging to understand what’s normal customer behavior now. Regardless of the trends and pre-holiday forecasts, assessing how your store actually performed is the key to preparing for a stronger holiday season performance in 2024 —…

Regardless of how clever today’s e-commerce storefronts are, their digital interfaces lack one particular quality: the ability to mimic human expression — and research indicates it’s more than just a makeover. E-commerce and the “digital storefront” have existed for a little more than two decades. In that time, online shopping has come a long way…

There's just one problem: consumers might not like artificial intelligence, at least not in an e-commerce context. Recently, we conducted a survey of 2,000 consumers, and its results on this front were unambiguous: 85 percent of shoppers reported that they were not interested in using AI to help make purchasing decisions, and 60 percent said…

In the relentless world of e-commerce, speed stands as the linchpin to success. Modern times are defined by the “need-it-now” attitude, shorter attention spans, and a surge in TikTok and Instagram shopping experiences. As consumers demand faster interactions, the urgency for swift e-commerce transactions has never been clearer. A core challenge for e-commerce merchants is…

In 2023, the e-commerce industry was largely focused on strengthening brand equity, enhancing the customer experience, and keeping up with the evolution fueled by new platforms and artificial intelligence-based technologies. Notably, the adoption of composable commerce, which refers to building a modular, component-based, cloud-native tech stack, empowered companies to build the agility required to remain…

Valentine’s Day spending on significant others is expected to reach a record $14.2 billion this year, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Overall, consumers plan to spend $25.8 billion to celebrate Valentine’s Day, on par with last year’s spending and the third highest in the…

In the aftermath of the pandemic and the global economic strain, Gen Z and millennials have become the integral cogs who account for the mass consumer base. Together, these cohorts represent around $350 billion of spending power in the United States alone. Paired with the enhancements in digital transformation and consumers preference for e-commerce, retailers…

While at NRF 2024: Retail's Big Show in New York City last week, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviewed Barbara Hagen, vice president of sales and marketing at ThriftBooks, an independent online used book seller, to discuss the company's use of artificial intelligence. Hagen provides a brief overview of the company and discusses its growth over its…

As we begin 2024, the e-commerce landscape is on the brink of a significant transformation. Technological advancements like artificial intelligence/generative AI coupled with evolving consumer behaviors and a global shift towards sustainability are converging to redefine the way we shop online — from the way we search for products and make payments, to the authenticity…

As retailers gear up for 2024, they find themselves in an ever-changing market ... yet again. They understand shoppers and offer them value in a world where customer privacy is coveted, third-party cookies aren’t an option, and anonymous shoppers reign, representing a bulk of transactions. The technologies powering e-commerce platforms continue to evolve, but now…