Stay in Touch
Reports of PayPal's interest in acquiring Pinterest presents an opportunity for two tech giants to keep up with consumer trends. For PayPal, tapping into a user community to market its digital checkout services. Pinterest, on the other hand, gets the opportunity to further invest in e-commerce tools that lure brands away from competitors like Facebook and TikTok.
In 2020, according to the postage technology company Pitney Bowes, the U.S. shipped 20.2 billion parcels, up a whopping 37% from 2019. That growth is radiating out to all companies within the parcel carrier ecosystem -- including not just household names like FedEx, UPS and the Postal Service, but also regional carriers like LaserShip, OnTrac and others.
On Wednesday, Shopify announced a new partnership with music streaming platform Spotify, allowing musicians connect their Shopify storefronts to their Spotify artist pages. Shopify’s director of product Amir Kabbara talked to Modern Retail about Shopify's streaming and entertainment ambitions, the differences between its Spotify and Netflix partnerships and building a creator economy online.
Faced with acute product shortages, retailers are incorporating the humble gift card into their outsized holiday rescue efforts. As part of their revamped strategies, retailers increasingly rethinking when to push gift cards on their websites, as well as how they can offer personalization.
A small group of startups are creating digital marketplaces that feature an assortment of potential manufacturers -- either custom manufacturers or professional private labelers -- in order to help small businesses speed up the process of designing and launching a new line of products.
Ocado is bolstering its robotic and self-driving technologies, both in-house and through startup investments, in order to fully automate its fulfillment platform. And, it is increasingly looking to offer those fulfillment services on a white-label basis to other grocers.
As e-commerce begins to leave its mark on the buying and selling of vehicles, a small group of startups are betting that consumers will soon demand the same of other aspects of the vehicle world -- namely, vehicle repair, fueling and other services.
On Wednesday, Home Depot announced that it would be the first retailer to join Walmart’s delivery as a service business, Walmart GoLocal. Home Depot's entry into same-day delivery is another way for the retailer to increase digital sales as well as sales from contractors. For Walmart, the partnership highlights the retailer's plan to become a multi-service provider.
Pinterest is betting on creators and international retailers to fuel the next phase of its shopping strategy, and has rolled out new features and services to target them. Pinterest announced two new ad products yesterday -- one of which allows advertisers to work more closely with creators. The company also announced that it is expanding its verified merchant program to more countries in Europe and Latin America,
BigCommerce, an e-commerce software provider, is accelerating its international rollout. After launching in France, Italy and the Netherlands this summer, the Austin-based company is taking its service to Germany, Spain and Mexico in January 2022. In the long-term, the company hopes to reach a 50-50 mix of U.S. to non-U.S. merchants, according to CFO Robert Alvarez.
The U.S. Postal Service announced it will begin "slowing down" mail and parcel to offset costs. The move comes as the holiday season ramps up, along with long delivery windows and peak package rates. Here's how brands are responding to these changes.
In just a few months, quick-delivery grocery companies like Gorillas, Jokr, Fridge No More and others have moved from a relatively niche curiosity to some of the best-funded startups in the grocery industry. As they race to expand, they are also, more subtly, changing the face of retail real estate in major cities.
Google continues attempting to regain the top spot as a product search platform, which has been overtaken by Amazon in recent years. This week Google, the world's overall largest search engine, has released its latest Shopping update to make the browsing experience more visual for users.
This past year, Shopify made a big change to its terms for app developers. The e-commerce platform previously took a 20% cut on revenue generated annually by apps. Starting in August, it allowed developers to pocket 100% of the first $1 million they make on its platform. This change, according to insiders, is giving app developers a much-needed boost.
Ebay says refurbished and recycled products have been big pandemic winners. Together, refurbished and recycled products helped drive a 400% increase in used consumer product sales on eBay since 2018, eBay U.K. chief Murray Lambell said in a keynote at an industry event.
Individual brands are copying the Amazon aggregator model and trying to scoop up their own marketplace sellers. The addition of CBD brand Grove underscores that interest in the Amazon aggregator business model is spreading -- but that doesn’t mean established companies are rushing to acquire marketplace products quite yet.
Read MoreAt the Modern Retail Summit, retail marketers will discuss everything from the Amazon effect to new infrastructure to the shift in the direct-to-consumer world.
Book Passes
