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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.
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.
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.
Ahead of its anticipated IPO, Instacart has been hiring talent from Facebook and luring brands with the promise of granular sales data. But, with competition increasing as new delivery startups emerge, its growth now rests on its ability to monetize more inventory and to deliver incremental sales revenue for advertisers, according to e-commerce ad automation platforms.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that NCAA athletes could profit off of their name and image for the first time. Ever since, brands and platforms like GoPuff, Shopify and more have rushed to court college athletes to engage in endorsement deals and to launch their own products.
Last week, Elvie launched Stride – an insurance-covered, hands-free, no-noise breast pump – across a variety of DME distributors in the U.S. As Elvie seeks to become a larger player in women's health care going forward, its playbook involves investing in traditional retail partnerships and splashy marketing campaigns, while also balancing partnerships with medical suppliers.
In less than two years, Whatnot has become the most valuable independent livestream shopping company in the U.S. The platform for collectible trading cards, comic books and toys just raised $150M in a Series C round from venture capital firms, valuing it at $1.5 billion. Whatnot co-founder Grant Lafontaine spoke with Modern Retail about the future of livestream e-commerce, what draws investors to the space, and how his company plans to preserve its identity even as it plots its live video takeover.
The home decor category saw a major boom during the pandemic, but has gone through ebbs and flows in recent months. To sustain their growth, young furniture startups are looking for more ways to keep their new and existing customers coming back for their future furniture needs.
Big CPG has been aggressively pushing into plant-based grocery products the past year. Many of these efforts are increasingly coming from partnerships with the likes of Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Hungry Planet.
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