蘑菇AV

Generous returns policies have encouraged shoppers to buy online, but an unsustainable wave of returned goods is forcing retailers to rethink their strategies.

Our annual report on ecommerce in Canada highlights our most recent forecasts for all flavors of retail, including brick-and-mortar, digital buying, and mobile commerce.

YouTube has expanded its affiliate shopping capabilities and eligibility for the YouTube Partner Program in order to maintain the strength of its creator relationships. But livestream commerce may factor more into YouTube鈥檚 future.

Commerce media is an underused channel. The biggest channels for targeting SMBs are social media (59.6%) and email (59.1%), the 蘑菇AV and Intuit study found. Commerce/retail media networks are less used (17.2%). Commerce media networks can help marketers overcome their biggest hindrance to reaching SMBs: the size and diversity of the market.

Instagram is shutting down its livestream shopping business: The move is the latest sign of US shoppers' disinterest in livestream commerce.

There鈥檚 more: Nearly half of US adults have made purchases via shoppable commerce on social media, but growing partnerships between brands and CTV platforms, especially during live events, may shift this trend toward TV.

While social commerce is on the rise in the US, livestream commerce has yet to take off. In addition, advances in technology (like ChatGPT) may help jumpstart voice commerce adoption. Here鈥檚 what marketers need to know to take advantage of the increase in physical and digital shopping channels.

The blurring line between virtual and physical goods creates opportunities but also raises questions about data privacy and digital consumption's environmental impact.

Nearly half of US adults who have made a purchase via shoppable commerce have done so on social media, according to our February 2024 survey conducted by Bizrate Insights. But budding partnerships between brands and streamers may shift more commerce toward connected TV (CTV) platforms, especially around live events. For example, Paramount piloted a shoppable experience during the CMT Music Awards, NBCUniversal launched a new shoppable ad format ahead of this Summer鈥檚 Olympics, and Amazon added shoppable ads to its Amazon Prime platform.

But only 40% of the top 100 US retailers give low-price guarantees to all consumers, per Digital Commerce 360. This created incentives for consumers to shop early then make returns if they found lower prices later.

Mobile wallet integration makes checking out more convenient, while composable commerce gives brands the ability to customize and alter their tech stacks to fit their specific needs. Generative AI helps to enhance personalization and product recommendations, and one-click checkout buttons speed up the payment process.

Consumer behaviors will be shaped by continued uncertainty, heightened in an election year, and cultural trends spilling over into commerce (think Krispy Kreme and Ozempic). Retailers that lean into tech advancements and get back to basics will win.

Mobile apps are vital for commerce. In fact, among US smartphone users, 65.8% will use retail apps in 2024, putting the category behind only maps/navigation apps (72.8%) and weather apps (71.1%) in terms of adoption, according to our July 2023 forecasts.

Mobile proximity payments鈥攖hose made in-store via mobile wallets鈥攚ill grow as they continue building a feature ecosystem that binds payments to users鈥� daily commerce.

More than half (52%) of US adults have either used shoppable commerce (buying a product by clicking a link directly within or next to a video) before or are interested in it, according to an Insider Intelligence survey conducted by Bizrate Insights. The majority of those who have used it, however often, identify as male (23%) and are between ages 18 to 34 (31%).

When Chase Media Network launched last month, it revealed the potential for more payments and financial service companies to get in on the commerce media game, leveraging consumer payments data to sell ads. One unexpected out-of-home implementation could be ATMs, said Stuart Mackinnon, COO of NCR Atleos, on our 鈥淏ehind the Numbers: The Baking & Payments Show鈥� podcast.

鈥淲e used to talk about 鈥榦mnichannel鈥� and we should just be talking about 鈥榗辞尘尘别谤肠别.鈥欌赌� That鈥檚 according to our analyst Suzy Davidkhanian, speaking on our 鈥淏ehind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail鈥� podcast.

Weakness No. 2鈥擜nalytical Thinking: Even if AI is working with high-quality data, users are still at risk of misinterpreting data, said Todd Hassenfelt, global digital commerce senior director at Colgate-Palmolive. Hassenfelt emphasized the tech鈥檚 ability to summarize things like earnings calls across quarters, years, categories, and countries. But marketers need to interpret that analysis correctly.

Meta, TikTok, and YouTube are focused on video commerce. All three platforms have rolled out shoppable video ad formats, which have been shown to boost conversion rates by as much as 30%, per Net Solutions.

鈥淭he restaurant industry is still reeling from the impact of the pandemic,鈥� our content director Becky Schilling said on an episode of 鈥淏ehind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail鈥� podcast. On top of that, inflation and economic uncertainty has made for a tough four years. In face of these persisting challenges, restaurants are turning to AI and unified commerce solutions to improve the customer experience, build loyalty, and supercharge personalization.