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Category: RetailRevolution

RetailRevolution

  • Reddit 1-800 Flowers Ad Goes Viral

    Reddit 1-800 Flowers Ad Goes Viral

    “Our ads on Reddit have gotten a lot of traction and puts a big smile on people’s faces,” says 1-800 Flowers CEO Chris McCann. “That’s what we’re trying to do is just make sure we’re relevant and create that cognitive speed bump when people think about our company. They see something different and I’m thrilled with the creative team for coming up with something like that.”

    Reddit Ad That Went Viral for 1-800-Flowers.com

    As usual, some opinionated Redditers expressed their thoughts on the ads:

    1-800 Flowers CEO discusses the company’s growth that was accelerated by the pandemic:

    Ecommerce Growth Accelerated During Pandemic

    What we’ve seen is an acceleration of growth in our company that began back in 2018 and really then accelerated even further in 2020 with the pandemic. It’s driven by the need for us as people to connect and express ourselves. As a company whose vision is to inspire more human expression, connection, and celebration, and as an ecommerce leader, we’re well-positioned in the trends that we see coming out of this pandemic. We think these trends are sustainable going forward.

    We started out as one flower shop many years ago. What we’ve done is created this e-commerce platform for growth, a platform for expression, connection, and celebration. It starts with this all-star family of brands that we have led by Harry & David, 1-800-Flowers, Cheryl’s Cookies, Shari’s Berries, and our recent acquisition just this past August of Personalization Mall. You see us now as a company in the expression and connection business with a leadership position in floral, a leadership position in gourmet food gifting, and certainly now leadership and position in expressions and personalized items which is a fast-growing market.

    You’ll continue to continue to see us grow by organic product development of products that help customers express and connect. And as we’ve done through acquisition, adding to that platform and leveraging that platform that we’ve built.

    Need To Express and Connect Is a Lasting Trend

    Hopefully, the vaccines accelerate and we turn to some sense of normalcy sooner rather than later. As we look at our business, the momentum we saw began in 2018 and 2019 and then accelerated with the pandemic. We’ve been on a good momentum growth even before the pandemic and we really see ourselves now as a bigger stronger company than we were prior to it. We’ve acquired Personalization Mall just this past August and by putting it on our platform and leveraging our digital marketing expertise we accelerated the growth of that company. It grew by 50 percent this last quarter.

    A year ago August we acquired Shari’s Berries and took a business that was stagnant and losing money to now one that’s got a nice growth rate and is generating a nice contribution margin as well. If we just keep our focus on what the consumer is looking for to help express and connect then we’ll be continuing to see double-digit growth for some time to come. That trend that we’ve all learned from being isolated, our need to express and connect is a lasting trend coming out of this pandemic along with the shift from offline to online.

    1-800 Flowers Ecommerce Growth Accelerated During Pandemic

  • Google Cloud Retail Search to Address $300 Billion E-Commerce Search Abandonment

    Google Cloud Retail Search to Address $300 Billion E-Commerce Search Abandonment

    Google is trying to help the e-commerce industry address a $300 billion abandonment issue with Google Cloud Retail Search.

    According to Inc. search abandonment — where a user searches for a product but doesn’t click through to the results — costs the e-commerce industry a whopping $300 billion a year. Google is working to address that with its new tool, which has been in private preview, but is now available to all.

    “Search abandonment is a costly industry-wide issue, but for startup founders and small business owners, it can be devastating,” Carrie Tharp, Google Cloud’s vice president of retail and consumer, told Inc. “With Retail Search, we’re able to help convert site traffic to sales and keep startups and small businesses from leaving money on the table.”

    The tool brings the power of Google Search to a company’s own sites.

    Retailers now have the ability to provide Google-quality search and recommendations on their own digital properties, helping to increase conversions and reduce search abandonment. 

    Cloud Retail Search should help Google as it continues to fight for cloud market share against its larger rivals, AWS and Microsoft Azure.

  • Ecommerce Nearing $1 Trillion

    Ecommerce Nearing $1 Trillion

    “We’re forecasting that ecommerce spending this year will be somewhere between $850 billion and $930 billion,” says John Copeland, Vice President of Marketing Science and Customer Insights at Adobe. This would be a 14 percent increase over last year. That would be more typical of what we see year over year in the ecommerce channel.”

    John Copeland of Adobe, predicts that ecommerce spending could be $930 billion, or just under $1 trillion, in 2021:

    COVID was a catalyst to the ecommerce channel last year. What we saw when you look at the full calendar year of 2020 was $813 billion dollars in ecommerce spending, 42 percent growth over 2019. That’s like combining two years’ worth of growth into a single year. Consumers have really embraced the online channel to meet their needs during these challenging times.

    We’re all kind of wondering what (the vaccine rollout) is going to do in terms of ecommerce. We’re forecasting this year somewhere between $850 billion, only a 5 percent over last year, and up to $930 billion, which would be a 14 percent increase over last year. The 5 percent increase would be if everybody gets vaccinated and rushes out and we see kind of a slowdown. The $930 billion, 14 percent increase, would be more typical of what we see year over year in the ecommerce channel.

    Buy Now Pay Later Up 215 Percent Over Last Year

    Buy Now Pay Later is very much good for retailers. In fact, what we’ve seen in February this year relative to February 2020, which is kind of on the cusp of the pandemic, is a 215 percent increase year over year in buy now pay later orders. In terms of retailers, it comes along with larger average order values. What we’re seeing is 18 percent larger orders when customers are using that service. Unlike layaway, with buy now pay later you actually get the goods upfront, you don’t have to wait until the payment’s done.

    Another trend is Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store, also known as BOPUS. In February of this year, we’re already seeing it growing 67 percent year on year. It’s always been huge and growing during the holiday season but now people are clearly working it in as part of their fulfillment options. Picking up in the store gives consumers the ability to schedule it according to their availability and knowing that stock will be there for them when they want to pick it up.

    Ecommerce Nearing $1 Trillion, Says John Copeland of Adobe
  • Amazon Will Hire More Than 40,000 Corporate and Tech Roles

    Amazon Will Hire More Than 40,000 Corporate and Tech Roles

    During Amazon’s Career Day 2021, to be held on September 15, the company plans to hire more than 40,000 corporate and tech roles.

    Amazon has experienced significant growth as a result of the pandemic. During lockdowns and quarantines, the company’s e-commerce platform was the lifeline for many consumers. The company has already went through multiple hiring sprees.

    Amazon has now announced it will hire more than 40,000 tech and corporate roles during Career Day 2021, along with tens of thousands of hourly positions in its Operations network.

    “We’re working hard every day to be the best place for people to have satisfying and fulfilling long-term careers,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. “Amazon continues to grow quickly and relentlessly invent across many areas, and we’re hoping that Career Day gives both job seekers and current Amazon employees the support they need to learn new skills or reimagine their careers at Amazon or elsewhere.”

    Amazon says it is the biggest job creator in the US right now, and has hired a whopping 450,000 individuals since the pandemic started. It appears the company isn’t slowing down yet.

  • Amazon Partners With Affirm to Offer Buy Now, Pay Later

    Amazon Partners With Affirm to Offer Buy Now, Pay Later

    Amazon is partnering with Affirm to offer its customers the option to buy now, pay later.

    Buy now, pay later is becoming an increasingly popular option, even in e-commerce. Square recently inked a deal to purchase Afterpay Limited in an effort to offer buy now, pay later.

    Amazon is now getting in on the action, partnering with Affirm to offers its customers the convenience.

    As a result of Amazon and Affirm’s partnership, select Amazon customers now have the option to split the total cost of purchases of $50 or more into simple monthly payments by using Affirm. Approved customers are shown the total cost of their purchase upfront and will never pay more than what they agree to at checkout. As always, when choosing Affirm, consumers will not be charged any late or hidden fees. 

    The two companies are testing the service with select customers, but intend on bringing it to Amazon’s wider customer base as soon as possible.

    “By partnering with Amazon we’re bringing the transparency, predictability and affordability that Affirm provides today to the millions of people who shop on Amazon.com in the U.S.,” said Eric Morse, Senior Vice President of Sales at Affirm. “Offering Affirm’s alternative to credit cards also delivers more of the payment choice and flexibility consumers on Amazon want.”

  • Amazon Expands A-to-z Guarantee to Cover Personal/Property Damage

    Amazon Expands A-to-z Guarantee to Cover Personal/Property Damage

    Amazon has unveiled a major upgrade to its A-to-z Guarantee, vowing to cover personal or property damage caused by defective products.

    A-to-z Guarantee was initially rolled out 20 years ago and provided no-hassle returns for products sold by third-party sellers on Amazon’s store. The company is now expanding that to cover damage caused by defective products sold via Amazon, including products that are sold by third-parties.

    The program will automatically cover up to $1,000, at no cost to the seller, although Amazon reserves the right to cover more expensive claims if it feels the seller is not properly addressing the issue.

    Amazon announced the program in a blog post:

    Now, in the unlikely event a defective product sold through Amazon.com causes property damage or personal injury, Amazon will directly pay customers for claims under $1,000—which account for more than 80% of cases—at no cost to sellers, and may step in to pay claims for higher amounts if the seller is unresponsive or rejects a claim we believe to be valid. We are also launching Amazon Insurance Accelerator to help sellers buy insurance at competitive rates from trusted providers. We’re excited that these innovations create a more trustworthy shopping and selling experience for customers and sellers in our store.

    The new policy is good news for customers and sellers alike.

  • Walmart Launching Delivery as a Service

    Walmart Launching Delivery as a Service

    Walmart is launching Walmart GoLocal, its delivery as a service aimed at helping businesses deliver to their customers.

    Walmart already has a delivery service for its own customers, but the company sees an opportunity to help other companies do the same. The company has launched Walmart GoLocal to address the delivery needs of a variety of companies.

    “In an era where customers have come to expect speed and reliability, it’s more important than ever for businesses to work with a service provider that understands a merchant’s needs,” said John Furner, president and CEO, Walmart U.S. “Walmart has spent years building and scaling commerce capabilities that support our network of more than 4,700 stores and we look forward to helping other businesses have access to the same reliable, quality and low-cost services.”

    “We’ve worked hard to develop a reliable last mile delivery program for our customers,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president, last mile, Walmart U.S. “Now, we’re pleased to be able to use these capabilities to serve another set of customers, local merchants. Be it delivering goods from a local bakery to auto supplies from a national retailer, we’ve designed Walmart GoLocal to be customizable for merchants of all sizes and categories so they can focus on doing what they do best, leaving delivery speed and efficiency to us.”

    Walmart is often accused of killing off small businesses, but this latest service will certainly help.

  • Amazon Poised to Open Department Stores

    Amazon Poised to Open Department Stores

    Amazon may dominate e-commerce, but reports show it now plans to take on traditional retail with its own debarment-style stores.

    Department stores were once a staple of American life and the go-to place to shop for everything from clothes to household items. In recent years, however, e-commerce has taken a toll on the industry, with many going into bankruptcy or making major changes to how they do business.

    Now Amazon, arguably one of the biggest factors in the demise of the industry, is now preparing to open its own department-style retail stores in California and Ohio, according to The Wall Street Journal.Amazon already has some retail locations, such as bookstores and the Whole Foods chain it purchased 2017. The company also has its 4-star stores, although those primarily sell gadgets.

    According to WSJ, Amazon’s new retail stores will be roughly 30,000 square feet, quite a bit smaller than a traditional department store, which usually comes in around 100,000. Even so, the new stores will be much larger than the company’s other retail efforts and will offer the full range of products from top brands, much like a traditional department store.

    While nothing is a sure bet, Amazon’s chances of success are pretty good. Having its own stores would give users the ability to try on clothes before buying them, eliminating one of the more frustrating aspects of online shopping.

  • Microsoft Announces Microsoft Cloud for Retail

    Microsoft Announces Microsoft Cloud for Retail

    Microsoft has announced a new vertical cloud, Microsoft Cloud for Retail, aiming to be an end-to-end retail solution.

    Microsoft Azure has been gaining ground in the cloud market, with a recent report showing it one of the biggest winners during the current digital transformation. Microsoft Azure is increasingly seen as a viable alternative to AWS, especially among retailers who are leery of relying on a cloud offering from their biggest rival.

    Microsoft is capitalizing on this by offering a vertical cloud solution tailored to the specific needs of the retail market.

    The unmatched performance of Microsoft Azure allows our customers to intelligently manage secure workloads across multiple sites and domains, scale those workloads to process millions of requests per second, and improve the logistics to manage each order. Azure Data and AI services help retailers respond to market forces, improve decision-making, and put customers first by breaking down their data silos to manage, merge, shape, and analyze the data and, as a result, uncover actionable insights.

    With Azure, retailers get the best of at-scale cloud, data, and AI workloads including industry data models that enable data management, governance, and domain excellence in one cloud platform from a provider that does not compete with them. As a result, retailers can build better digital feedback loops—the connections between their customers, their people, their stores, their data, and the insights at the heart of each—on a platform from a trusted partner.

    Microsoft’s announcement does not include pricing. The company is confident, however, that its latest vertical cloud will help the retail industry deal with the challenges and opportunities it is currently facing.

  • Amazon Sellers Trade Positive Reviews for Massive Refunds

    Amazon Sellers Trade Positive Reviews for Massive Refunds

    Amazon sellers are encouraging users to delete negative reviews, even offering refunds above and beyond the sale price in exchange.

    Amazon has long-struggled with fake reviews, with an entire industrysprouting up to game the system. The problem has even received the attention of regulators, with Britain’s Competition and Market Authority investigating whether the company is doing enough to combat the issue.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, via Business Insider, some resellers on the platform are contacting individuals who have left negative reviews to offer refunds, in some cases more than double the initial price, in exchange for removing the negative reviews. In some cases, resellers have repeatedly contacted individuals until they get a response.

    Amazon’s policy prohibits sellers from contacting buyers outside of the company’s own platform, but that hasn’t stopped sellers from doing just that. The company has reiterated these types of interactions shouldn’t occur, and that it takes action against those responsible.

    “Amazon provides a great deal of help content, proactive coaching, warnings and other assistance to sellers to ensure they remain compliant with our clearly stated policies,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Journal. “We have clear policies for both reviewers and selling partners that prohibit abuse of our community features, and we suspend, ban and take legal action against those who violate these policies.” 

    In the meantime, as The Journal points out, customers leaving a review should be careful not to leave personal details in their reviews, thereby making it more difficult for sellers to contact them outside of Amazon’s system.

  • Inflation Only Expected to Last Six Months

    Inflation Only Expected to Last Six Months

    Consumers and businesses struggling with inflation received some positive news, with one expert saying it will only last six months.

    Recent months have seen the fastest-growing inflation rates in a decade, with prices soaring for common items and goods. Many families and businesses have been struggling to keep up with rising prices, with many wondering if/when prices will level out.

    Former Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner has weighed in, saying he believes the current inflation is largely the result of a perfect storm of circumstances, including pent-up demand, large savings people had built up, stimulus-fueled spending and supply bottlenecks, such as the semiconductor shortage.

    Kroszner does not, however, believe the increased prices will be a sustained trend.

    “We’re going to see a lot of price increases in the short-run,” Kroszner said in an interview with Bloomberg. ”The key question is: Are those transitory or are those sustained? I think we’re going to see them transitory for a while. I don’t think they’re necessarily going to be sustained over the year-to-two-year horizon. But over a six-month horizon? I think certainly.”

  • Amazon Tackling Waste After Reports It Destroys Millions of Items

    Amazon Tackling Waste After Reports It Destroys Millions of Items

    Amazon is looking to reinvent how it handles unsold or returned inventory, following negative reports about it destroying millions of items.

    An investigation by Britain’s ITV News reported on Amazon’s practice of destroying millions of items a year that go unsold or are returned. The revelation prompted quick and severe backlash, with many using it as the poster child for greed and waste. As ITV News reported, many of the items are perfectly fine and could have been donated instead of ending up in a landfill.

    Amazon appears to be trying to address the problem, with two new “Fulfilment by Amazon” (FBA) programs.

    “Customer returns are a fact of life for all retailers, and what to do with those products is an industry-wide challenge,” said Libby Johnson McKee, director, Amazon WW Returns, ReCommerce and Sustainability. “These new programmes are examples of the steps we’re taking to ensure that products sold on Amazon—whether by us or our small business partners—go to good use and don’t become waste. Along with existing programmes like FBA Donations, we hope these help build a circular economy and reduce our impact on the planet. And we’re excited that these programmes will also help the businesses selling on Amazon reduce costs and grow their businesses—it’s a win for our partners, customers, and communities.”

    “FBA Grade and Resell” gives sellers the option to resell returned items as “used,” while the “FBA Liquidations” program helps sellers recoup some of their loss via Amazon’s wholesale resale channel.

    The company also touted its “FBA Donations” program, which has donated some 67 million goods since its launch in 2019. The company did not, however, touch on why millions of products per year were being destroyed, instead of making their way into FBA Donations.

  • Former Walmart U.S. CEO Sees Virtual Reality As Future Of Retail

    Former Walmart U.S. CEO Sees Virtual Reality As Future Of Retail

    Former Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon sees technology, such as virtual reality, having a big impact on traditional brick-and-mortar retail, according to CNBC.

    Simon served as President and CEO of Walmart U.S. from 2010 to 2014, giving him a unique perspective on the retail industry. Rather than predicting doom-and-gloom for traditional retail, Simon believe technology has the ability to transform the industry and open all new possibilities.

    Even something as simple as trying on clothes may be revolutionized by technology, such as virtual reality.

    “Could we have virtual changing rooms so that you can just scan an item in a store with your phone and try it on yourself without actually having to go try it on?” Simon said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

    Simon believes successful retailers will combine online sales with a brick-and-mortar presence, and cites Target and Amazon as two examples of companies that are making it work.

  • Walmart Ecommerce Business Is Humming

    Walmart Ecommerce Business Is Humming

    “With Walmart’s e-commerce business humming the way it is and the way the company’s been able to integrate it with the store base, with curbside and everything else, this is a tough one,” says Moody’s retail analyst Charlie O’Shea. “This is really setting a high bar for brick and mortar retail and it’s giving Amazon something to really think about.”

    Charlie O’Shea, retail analyst at Moody’s, and Bill Simon, former president and CEO of Walmart, discussed Walmart’s blowout quarterly results:

    Walmart Is Going To Be Tough To Stop

    This is just a phenomenal quarter for Walmart. It’s good on all fronts. It really is an indicator that the consumer is still there. Once we sort through all this COVID stuff the consumer is willing to spend. I’m particularly impressed by Walmart’s operating income. I’ve been watching that for several years and it’s been challenged as they move their business to digital and to e-commerce. Big growth and operating income have been under pressure.

    Walmart grew its operating income by almost nine percent. Even adjusted for currency it is in the mid-teens. That’s phenomenal. Brett Biggs is one of the best CFOs in the country in my view and they manage the company very well. It looks like they’ve been able to get the e-commerce growth under control in a way that can deliver some pathway to profitability. If they can do that they’re just going to be tough to stop.

    Walmart Ecommerce Business Is Humming

    Every quarter it looks like they’re running on all cylinders and now the engine just keeps getting bigger. We’ve gone from an eight-cylinder engine to a 12-cylinder engine. With the e-commerce business humming the way it is and the way the company’s been able to integrate it with the store base, with curbside and everything else, this is a tough one. This is really setting a high bar for brick and mortar retail and it’s giving Amazon something to really think about.

    It’s how does Amazon compete with Walmart not how does Walmart compete with Amazon? With an almost doubling of online revenue for this quarter we’re starting to see this battle really escalate. If you were open you obviously had advantages. That’s not exactly a lightning bolt coming out of the sky. But I think what we’re seeing with the consumer is they have money they’re willing to spend and they weren’t able to spend it for a while because a lot of places weren’t open. Now that things are starting to reopen there’s a lot of pent-up demand here.

    Consumers Are Shifting Spending And Walmart’s Benefitting

    During the early days of the pandemic during lockdowns no one’s buying pants, no one’s buying blouses, and no one’s buying tops because you can’t eat those and you also can’t use them to clean your house. So people had kind of shifted their demand towards the essentials and the consumables. Now they’re moving in another direction and Walmart’s benefiting. They benefited from the early blast of spending and now they’re benefiting as it expands. The margins going up indicates they’re selling a lot of other non-consumable stuff because those margins are lower.

    I also cover the auto retailers and the auto retailers showed an awful lot of resilience so far this year. Q2 numbers for my rated universe were much better than we expected and we didn’t expect them to be that bad. The consumer clearly has money and the stimulus obviously helps the folks that are still employed are out there and still spending. That portends well for Target tomorrow and Best Buy next week. Home Depot also popped a big number today. The essential type retailers are still going to be benefiting.

    Walmart Ecommerce Business Is Humming
  • Is Amazon Destroying Retail?

    Is Amazon Destroying Retail?

    “A set of facts could be put forward that would support that (they are destroying the retail landscape),” says former Walmart CEO Bill Simon. “They’re going through another cycle of it where their CFO in the (earnings) call said we’re reinvesting to drive one-day Prime shipping. That’s going to put more pressure on retailers and give them this Sophie’s Choice. Do I want to go out of business because I’ve lost my sales by not matching them on price? Or, do I want to go out of business because I’ve matched them on price?”

    Bill Simon, former CEO of Walmart, discusses how Amazon uses profits from AWS to prop up operating losses in online retail while in the process, destroying competing retail businesses, in an interview on CNBC: 

    Is Amazon Destroying the Retail Landscape?

    They’re running their business model and they’re just doing a fantastic job of it. Who doesn’t like stuff shipped to their house for free? It’s an awesome business model. It’s going to be increasingly challenging for them though because nearly 70 percent of their operating income came from Web Services. If you filter out the operating income from web services and if you take out the operating income for advertising, then there’s a chunk of it that is made in brick and mortar through Whole Foods, or at least there was because they don’t report that anymore, their worldwide retail business is operating break-even or at a loss. 

    Their international business loses money on $16 billion this quarter in sales. It’s really no wonder that regulators internationally are starting to look at them. A set of facts could be put forward that would support that (they are destroying the retail landscape). Think about it, in North America, they priced at or below cost for many years and didn’t make money. It’s arguable today whether their online business makes money in North America. 

    This Quarter Is the Poster child For Anti-Competitive Behavior

    All the while, Circuit City went out of business, Linens N Things went out of business, Toys R Us went out of business, and then Prime is the driver of it. It went from $79 to $99 to $119. That’s sort of the definition of anti-competitive behavior and anti-competitive pricing. Price below the market and when your competitors start to go out of business you ratchet up your price. This quarter is really a poster child for that. Their North American business grew $6 billion and lost money. Their operating income went down in North America. 

    They’re going through another cycle of it where their CFO in the (earnings) call said we’re reinvesting to drive one-day Prime shipping. That’s going to put more pressure on retailers and give them this Sophie’s Choice. Do I want to go out of business because I’ve lost my sales by not matching them on price? Or, do I want to go out of business because I’ve matched them on price? I’ve not been able to make any profit because they support their retail business with web services. It’s tough to compete with them when they’re not making money and pricing below cost with online retail.

    It’s Not Possible To Do One-Hour Shipping and Make Money

    Who doesn’t love stuff free shipping to your house in two days or one day or in an hour? That’s awesome. I use it all the time. Everybody does. But there are consequences to it. As the expenses go up and the price goes up, eventually, Prime has been going up in price sequentially and has to continue to go up. It’s not possible to ship things to your house in one hour and do it at the same price or cost that can make money in retail. It’s just not possible. The packaging alone, the delivery person walking from the street to your front door, start adding up the cost of all that and you can’t make money on a $3 box of breakfast cereal. 

    So it’s going to be tough. I don’t know that regulators will take that on given the consumers love for it. But if the retail landscape keeps getting impacted and the weaker keep dropping out and it gets down to this battle between the behemoth on the online side and Walmart on the physical side, it gets to be a complicating factor. I think then regulators have to look at it. When that happens it’s hard to tell but this quarter has really kind of the poster child for that.

    Is Amazon Destroying Retail? – Bill Simon
  • COVID Has Had Lasting Impacts on the Consumer World

    COVID Has Had Lasting Impacts on the Consumer World

    A new report shows just how widespread the impacts from COVID have been as consumers look toward a post-COVID world.

    Brooks Bell conducted a survey of 700 consumers on a variety of topics, and the results show just how much the pandemic has altered consumer views and habits. The “New Normals in Retail, Travel and Financial Services: Consumer Sentiment Beyond 2020” report offers a number of insights businesses should pay attention to.

    • The report is good news for brick and mortar stores, with 76% of respondents planning to buy in-store post-COVID restrictions. At the same time, curbside pickup is here to stay, with 34% planning to continue using the service.
    • Travel is also looking to rebound, with 70% of Americans eager to travel. Millennials, in particular, are the most eager to do so. Interesting, 20% said safety will be a travel consideration indefinitely, while the single biggest consideration remains price.
    • Banking is another industry set to experience a revival, with in-person banking set to almost double from pre-pandemic levels. In-person banking doesn’t equate to face-to-face banking, however, as a preference for interacting with a human teller dropped 8 points to 38%. Even more telling, online communication in banking was the top choice among 56-74 and the over-74 age groups, dispelling the myth that older consumers are opposed to online banking.

    The full report is well-worth a read and can be found here.

  • Amazon Launches Amazon Scout Development Center in Helsinki

    Amazon Launches Amazon Scout Development Center in Helsinki

    Amazon is launching a development center in Helsinki, Finland, in an effort to boost its autonomous delivery.

    Amazon Scout is the company’s autonomous delivery robot. The size of a small cooler, the robot traverses sidewalks, delivering packages in four US locations. Like many companies, Amazon is looking to expand this further and widen Scout’s usage.

    The company is launching a new development center aimed at supporting Scout and continuing its research and development. The new team will initially consist of two dozen engineers, although Amazon says the team will grow over time.

  • Teamsters May Set Their Sights on Amazon

    Teamsters May Set Their Sights on Amazon

    The International Brotherhood of Teamsters may take on Amazon at a time when the company is aggressively combating unionization efforts.

    The Teamsters are the most well-known union in the US, with a long and storied history. The group also boasts some 1.4 million delivery drivers, putting it on a collision course with Amazon.

    Amazon has drawn significant criticism in recent years for its treatment of its workers, including delivery drivers. As recently as February, the company settled with the FTC for some $62 million dollars over its practice of illegally withholding tips from its drivers.

    The company has aggressively fought unionization efforts by its employees, however, successfully defeating an effort by warehouse workers in Alabama. The Teamsters have already come out swinging against the e-commerce giant, urging the House Judiciary to pass antitrust legislation that would target Amazon.

    On Thursday, the union will vote on whether to make unionizing Amazon drivers its top priority, according to The Seattle Times.

    “There is no clearer example of how America is failing the working class than Amazon,” says the resolution that will be voted on.

  • Amazon Touts Best Two-Day Prime Day Sales Period for Third-Parties

    Amazon Touts Best Two-Day Prime Day Sales Period for Third-Parties

    Amazon is touting its most recent Prime Day as the “two biggest days ever for small & medium-sized businesses.”

    Prime Day is the company’s answer to Black Friday, a sales event where prices are slashed and deals abound. The company says this year’s Prime Day was the best two-day period for its third-party sellers.

    The company says customers spend more than $1.9 billion on some 70 million small business products, representing more than a 100% increase from the previous year.

    “A huge thank you to all of the Amazon teams who made this Prime Day possible for members worldwide and to Prime members who supported small businesses in big ways,” said Dave Clark, CEO of Worldwide Consumer. “Prime members are an important part of our Amazon family, and we love to celebrate them during Prime Day with incredible deals and entertainment, including this year’s Prime Day Show.”

    Some of the most popular categories were tools, electronics, beauty, nutrition, baby care, household products and apparel.

  • Walmart Gearing Up for Nationwide Drone Delivery

    Walmart Gearing Up for Nationwide Drone Delivery

    Walmart is gearing up for nationwide drone delivery, following a successful pilot program that showcased the possibilities.

    Drone deliveries are seen as one of the next major steps for retail, with Amazon, Walmart and others exploring the technology. Last year, Walmart partnered with DroneUp to test the viability of drone deliveries, and the results were promising. In fact, the company discovered it could cut delivery time from hours to mere minutes.

    In view of the success of the pilot program, Walmart is doubling down on drone deliveries with an investment in DroneUp.

    Now, after safely completing hundreds of drone deliveries from Walmart stores, we’re making an investment in DroneUp to continue our work toward developing a scalable last-mile delivery solution.

    The company is touting its infrastructure, thanks to its thousands of stores around the US, as a major asset to successful drone operations.

    Walmart already has a significant part of the infrastructure in place – 4,700 stores stocked with more than 100,000 of the most-purchased items, located within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population. This makes us uniquely positioned to execute drone deliveries, which is why our investment in DroneUp won’t just apply to the skies but also the ground. In the coming months we’ll be beginning our first operation at a store in Bentonville, Arkansas.

    Walmart has been looking for ways to take on Amazon, and drones that deliver products in minutes is a big step in that direction.

  • The Divorce is Final: eBay Sellers Can No Longer Use PayPal

    The Divorce is Final: eBay Sellers Can No Longer Use PayPal

    The end of an era has arrived as eBay is ending its support for PayPal for sellers.

    eBay first bought PayPal in 2002 before splitting the company off in 2015. The two companies continued to work together, but that appears to be coming to an end, at least for eBay sellers.

    According to The BBC, eBay has updated its terms to exclude sellers from receiving funds via their PayPal accounts. While buyers can use PayPal to purchase goods, sellers will need to link their account to an actual bank account.

    In terms of fees, the move has pros and cons for users. On the one hand, sellers will not have to pay PayPal fees. On the other hand, eBay will increase its fees slightly. As a result, the fees will likely be a wash for most sellers.

    One of the biggest tangible impacts will be the time it takes for payments to clear. Most payments will now take two business days to make their way into a bank account, as opposed to same day for PayPal. In addition, many sellers are not happy about being required to link their bank accounts with eBay.

    It remains to be seen if there will be any major fallout from the decision, or if the uproar will blow over. In the meantime, some users will be required to make the change as of June 1, while others will be notified in the coming weeks and months.