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More shipping providers are teaming up with brick-and-mortar retailers to turn their stores into package pickup centers, as Amazon's grip on e-commerce threatens to upend both of their businesses. This week, UPS announced that it's partnering with CVS, Michael's and Advance Auto Parts to allow customers to retrieve packages, print labels and drop off returns.
Over the past seven years, licensed sports apparel retailer Fanatics has rebuilt its business to become a more vertically integrated company. And as the Fanatics business model has evolved, so too has its loyalty program.
Last week, Google released a redesigned version of Google Shopping, in its latest attempt to build a marketplace that can compete with Amazon. But that's not the only move Google has made over the past year to encourage more shoppers to stay on Google to discover products, instead of going to Amazon or Instagram.
As subscription startups grow up, they're finding that they constantly have to add more flexibility and variety to their offerings in order to grow their customer base. Startups like Bark, Stitch Fix and Rent the Runway built their value proposition on the fact that they offered more flexible terms than traditional subscription services that arrived like clockwork on the first of the month, and required 30 days notice to cancel.
Uber is turning to e-commerce to keep both its riders and drivers happy as it faces stiffer competition in the ridesharing market. The company announced today that it's launched a shopping app in conjunction with Cargo, a startup that signed a deal to become Uber's exclusive "in-car commerce provider" a year ago.
Big-box retailers like Target and Walmart increasingly want their stores to double as fulfillment centers. They see their existing store footprints as one of the biggest advantages they have over Amazon, which has had to build more than 100 fulfillment centers in order to enable next-day delivery on millions of products for Amazon Prime members. But, there are limitations on just how much the store can do.
As Amazon continues to set shipping expectations, competing marketplaces and platforms are racing to ensure their sellers don't fall behind. This week, Etsy became the latest marketplace to go all-in on free shipping, with an announcement that at the end of July, it will start ranking sellers who offer free shipping higher in search results.
As Rent the Runway has established itself in the rental apparel market, the business is growing on the back of word-of-mouth, user-generated content and other organic marketing means. According to Anushka Salinas, Rent the Runway’s chief revenue officer, 94% of the company’s customers are acquired organically, while the rest come through paid marketing initiatives.
TikTok is the app du jour for the younger generation, and advertisers are just beginning to dabble with it. But does it have the ability to become a social commerce leader? While TikTok's parent company has seen e-commerce success in other territories, a few obstacles remain in the way in the United States.
As Boxed continues to add to products to its private label brand, Prince & Spring, it's looking for more ways for the brand to stand out outside of Boxed, and continues to experiment with which promotion type will drive up average order value. Boxed launched Prince & Spring four years ago. Now, approximately 100 of the 1,800 SKUs that Boxed carries are Prince & Spring products, and Prince & Spring accounts for about 15% of Boxed's sales.
Companies like The RealReal, which is now public, StockX and Poshmark have been garnering increased attention and shining a light on the business of reselling goods. This kind of commerce has been around for years, but these startups believe they're part of a burgeoning and soon-to-be dominant retail industry.
Instacart chief business officer Nilam Ganenthiran explained how Instacart is plotting its roadmap for grocery’s online turning point, the influence of the delivery wars being fought by Amazon and Walmart on the business, and why the company won’t open its own grocery store.
Scott Cutler, the new CEO of StockX, has experience getting brands to work with, not against, resale marketplaces. As the former president of StubHub, Cutler was responsible for signing partnerships with entertainment companies and sports teams to bring a greater air of legitimacy to the resale ticket marketplace. Now, Cutler is looking to convince more brands to join forces with StockX as the sneaker resale landscape gets more crowded.
Live today, Made For You is a razor brand for men and women made by Bic and selling exclusively on Amazon. As subscription razor companies have flooded the DTC market, Bic is using Amazon’s platform and existing operations – fulfillment, fast delivery, an existing membership base with Prime – to compete.
Ebay is pushing ahead on making its marketplace more personalized as customers shop not just by selection, but convenience. On Thursday, the company announced it was releasing 10 new features that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to learn and then adapt to customer preferences in search, product suggestions and ads, as well as on the homepage and through customer service.
Great storytelling adds value to a brand. In a new video, hear from Triad's Garrett Albanese about why marketers should be investing in visual search, augmented reality and creative site experiences.
Hotel rooms and lobbies are becoming and increasingly attractive area for retailers to acquire new customers. Last week, Rent the Runway announced that it was partnering with Marriott-owned W Hotels. Visitors at four W Hotels will have the option to rent four pieces of clothing from Rent the Runway when they book their rooms, which will be placed in the closets of their rooms when they arrive. And department stores including Nordstrom, Macy's and Bloomingdale's are currently hosting pop-ups in time for the holidays at a handful of New York City hotels, in order to draw more business from tourists.
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