It’s a strange time for e-commerce startups. While most of the retail world is trying to figure out how to make the shift from brick and mortar to online, most e-commerce startups are trying to do the opposite and find a way to let people discover and test out products in person without breaking the bank on a retail lease. So one unlikely player is trying to help them out –… Read More
Category: retail
Cyber Monday sales break records yet again—including $1 billion spent via smartphones
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It seems Black Friday’s record online sales haven’t managed to steal Cyber Monday’s thunder.
The sales holiday was on track to beat last year’s total revenue by nearly 17 percent as of Monday night, according to Adobe. If the final hours of the day hold the same pace, sales will have grown at nearly exactly the same rate as the online portion of the retail industry’s Black Friday haul.
Shoppers spent around $3.4 billion in the first half of the day, and sales remained on track to match Adobe’s forecasted total of $6.6 billion as of 10 p.m. eastern time on Monday. For comparison, Black Friday’s total online sales were pegged at around $5 billion. Read more…
More about Retail, E Commerce, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Business
View More Cyber Monday sales break records yet again—including $1 billion spent via smartphonesMacy’s credit card processors stop working on Black Friday
It’s one of the biggest shopping days of the year, but retail giant Macy’s can’t get its credit card processors to work.
Customers have been waiting in lines across the United States to buy discounted items, only to find out that the machines won’t take credit cards or gift cards. Some Bloomingdale’s stores, which are owned by Macy’s, may have also been… Read More
This real-time Black Friday tracker shows just how much we shop online
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Shopping season is upon us — even if Thanksgiving is just getting started.
To really see how much everyone’s dropping on deals, online shopping platform Shopify has a real-time dashboard showing how much and what (and from where) people are buying online.
SEE ALSO: Black Friday 2017 deals from all over the internet, compiled just for you in one handy spreadsheet
With over 500,000 online merchants, Shopify’s dashboard this year will track shopping habits as the purchases happen. Based on feedback from last year’s visualizer, the company is including more data about shopping trends. They’ll show what categories are most popular, like fashion and apparel, health and beauty products, and toys and electronics. Read more…
More about Shopping, Retail, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Culture
This real-time Black Friday tracker shows just how much we shop online
Shopping season is upon us — even if Thanksgiving is just getting started.
To really see how much everyone’s dropping on deals, online shopping platform Shopify has a real-time dashboard showing how much and what (and from where) people are buying online.
SEE ALSO: Black Friday 2017 deals from all over the internet, compiled just for you in one handy spreadsheet
With over 500,000 online merchants, Shopify’s dashboard this year will track shopping habits as the purchases happen. Based on feedback from last year’s visualizer, the company is including more data about shopping trends. They’ll show what categories are most popular, like fashion and apparel, health and beauty products, and toys and electronics. Read more…
More about Shopping, Retail, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Culture
Forever 21 tells customers that some credit card numbers may have been stolen
This week, the clothing retailer Forever 21 disclosed to customers that it was hacked earlier in 2017. While the company has not yet offered many details about the intrusion, we know that it is looking into a portion of credit card transactions between March 2017 and October 2017 that were conducted over machines that appear to have been insecure. “Because of the encryption and… Read More
Walmart’s robotics partner just raised $17.5 million to fund more store automation
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Get ready to see more robots cruising the aisles at stores.
Bossa Nova Robotics just raised $17.5 million to help it build out its line of inventory-scanning retail robots. The funding round comes fresh off of a deal the startup inked with Walmart last month that will put Bossa Nova’s automated store clerks in 50 of the big-box chain’s stores.
Investors behind the round include Intel Capital, WRV Capital, and Lucas Venture Group. The news brings Bossa Nova’s total funding to date to $41.7 million.
The company says the money will go towards building out its engineering team to scale its robotics operation and grow its data service. Read more…
More about Robots, Retail, Walmart, Bossa Nova, and Business
Online reviews are a mess
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Yelp doesn’t get the best reviews these days.
Check the company’s own business page on its website, and you’ll find a laundry list of single-star reasons why people have come to mistrust the reviews hub: high-profile scandals, accusations of censorship, conspiracy theories.
“They suppress real customer reviews that don’t fit into their utopian view of what a review should be,” said one representative user. “Stop trying to social engineer and steer consumers by picking the winners and losers.”
SEE ALSO: In the wake of the Equifax hack, consumers have a new take on their online security: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Read more…
More about Marketing, Amazon, Retail, Yelp, and E Commerce
View More Online reviews are a messTarget store staff can now create online orders for customers when local merchandise is unavailable
Amazon and Walmart aren’t the only major U.S. retailers looking to better merge online with brick-and-mortar operations. Today, Target announced a new app called “myCheckout” for its store staff that will allow them to process online transactions on the customer’s behalf, including taking payments, right from the store’s floor when merchandise is unavailable… Read More
Target store staff can now create online orders for customers when local merchandise is unavailable
Amazon and Walmart aren’t the only major U.S. retailers looking to better merge online with brick-and-mortar operations. Today, Target announced a new app called “myCheckout” for its store staff that will allow them to process online transactions on the customer’s behalf, including taking payments, right from the store’s floor when merchandise is unavailable… Read More