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The days of heady growth are over for rapid grocery startups: The once-frothy sector is now down to a handful of players and facing steep competition from Uber and Doordash.

Instacart rolled out several updates to its Instacart Storefront platform: It added AI-powered conversational search and an in-store mode to its omnichannel digital commerce platform.

Bad weather drove more shoppers to Instacart in Q1: The company expects the positive trend to continue in Q2 as it prepares to add Uber Eats to its platform.

DoorDash and Uber Eats deliver solid results: That’s thanks to their strong customer retention, which will prove important if the economy worsens.

Ecommerce will account for 35% of all back-to-school shopping this year: That’s a massive shift from the 23% share it accounted for prior to the pandemic as consumers embrace convenience.

How shoppers buy groceries online is changing: As consumers grow more cost-conscious, pickup’s share of digital grocery orders rises.

Meta introduces Broadcast Channels to Facebook and Messenger: The goal is to improve user engagement—but subscribers could get notification fatigue.

Frictionless online checkouts allow consumers to click, pay, and complete purchases for exactly what they were looking for—but less so for what they weren’t necessarily expecting to find. For retailers, encouraging impulse purchases online requires a different strategy than at brick-and-mortar stores that capitalize on physical displays to prompt low-consideration additions to shoppers’ carts.

Digital grocery will become the largest ecommerce category by 2026, according to our US Digital Grocery 2024 report. To grow their share of digital grocery sales, brands need to understand what motivates consumers to buy groceries online, how the digital grocery experience can be improved, and where growth opportunities lie.

Total US retail return volume will reach $627.34 billion this year, a 2.2% increase YoY, according to our forecast. Some retailers are turning to return fees to make up for increased costs, but that’s a risky move that may end up alienating customers. Here are three alternatives to return fees, ranging from the short term (building out product descriptions and customer reviews) to the long term (creating a returns as a service offering).

Nike and Hoka battle it out over young consumers and runners; Shein and Temu are caught up in controversies and litigation; and DoorDash and Instacart take different approaches to the same problem.

What trends will we be talking about this year? Consumer behaviors will be shaped by continued uncertainty and cultural trends spilling over into commerce.

Walmart looks to improve its online shopping experience: The retail giant cut down clutter on its revamped website and app to entice shoppers to browse and buy.

Over three-quarters (77%) of US parents plan to visit mass merchant retailers for their back-to-school shopping, per a May 2024 survey from Deloitte.

Retail media provides a significant boost to Instacart’s bottom line: The company’s advertising business reportedly grew 30% last year to $740 million.

Our forecast has 71.3% of US households holding a Prime membership, and it's really incumbent upon sellers to use fulfillment by Amazon to access those consumers to get that badge that what they're selling is Prime eligible. Because if you have Prime membership, you're probably not buying something that isn't prime eligible.

Prime Big Deal Days exceeded Amazon’s expectations: While shoppers focused on cheaper essentials, the retailer showcased its supply chain capabilities.

Embracing mobile gives consumers access to a branded experience both online and in-store, while in-store technologies bring the digital world into the physical. To cater to shoppers no matter where or how they shop, brands should also make sure they’re balancing in-store and online rewards as well as D2C and wholesale commerce.

Target announced it will launch a paid membership program April 7, following Amazon and Walmart’s lead.The move comes asTarget struggles to keep up with competitors.

Returns are a challenge for all retailers, including Amazon: That’s why the retail giant reportedly discussed a deal that would enable its customers to return items at FedEx stores.

Retail ecommerce sales include the sale of products and related services ordered using the internet, regardless of fulfillment method. We exclude the following consumer categories from our definition of retail ecommerce sales:.