Consumers Returning to Stores; Walmart’s Special Bonuses; ’21 Growth on Amazon
Our consumer research suggests delivery to home has continued to decline for the past month for groceries but has remained relatively consistent for general merchandise purchases. For groceries, the peak appears to have occurred in May with 31% of consumers reporting they received deliveries to the home vs. 17% in…
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Instacart’s National Reporting; New Amazon Warehouse Rules; Return to Normal
In our most recent research, Instacart has been called out as offering a range of good activations including search advertising, national coupons, and free shipping programs. The one downside to participating in these programs is that Instacart only reports the national results, rather than illustrating performance/results at the individual retailer…
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Digital Activation; Changes to Amazon Seller Profiles; China’s Shopping Holidays
Our most recent report on commerce marketing highlighted steady, but perhaps, slow progress from Amazon’s key omnichannel rivals. In our research, brands are continuing to look for more advanced analytics and activation options across Walmart, Target, and Kroger in particular. While these retailers are eager to build a robust advertising business…
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Costly eCommerce Growth, COVID-19 Bonus Pay, China Retail Slow to Recover
COVID-19 created an unprecedented shift to eCommerce, representing a significant change in eCommerce acceleration. While many brands have seen tremendous growth since the start of the crisis, eCommerce represents a headwind to profitability for omnichannel retailers. According to our research, 29% of manufacturers have already seen key omnichannel customers looking…
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Amazon Activations Recovering; Counterfeit Crimes Unit; Highest Outperformance in Two Years
Our research throughout the COVID-19 crisis has suggested manufacturers tended to invest more deeply into AMS so long as they were able to stay in stock. The most recent benchmark suggests that principle remains, as we now see a net positive number of both essential and non-essential manufacturers investing more,…
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Rising 2020 Forecasts; Instacart Expands; US Ranks Second for Relief Packages
Forecasting the remainder of the year is challenging considering the duration of the COVID-19 crisis seems to stretch out further each month. In addition, it remains uncertain the degree to which new shoppers now prefer online channels to B&M channels. That said, many manufacturers have increased their 2020 growth plans…
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Return to “Normal”; Antitrust Charge in Europe; Income Breakdown
While the COVID-19 crisis will leave us with a “new normal,” we have been gauging when consumers expect to resume behaviors that were considered commonplace prior to the crisis, such as going out to eat and shopping at an indoor mall. In comparing the results from our study last month,…
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Renewed Focus on Drop Shipping; Amazon Summer Sale; Walmart Digital Mix
Our research indicates a significant uptick in drop shipping as eTailer capacity constraints and inefficiencies have limited the ability to fulfill demand. Many vendors are proactively increasing their drop ship activity to minimize supply chain issues and better serve demand. In addition, Walmart and Costco have more recently been approaching…
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Bankruptcies; Instagram Checkout and Retailers; Online Grocery Demand
Last month's bankruptcy filing by Tuesday Morning follows a number of retail and brand bankruptcies that we have been tracking since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, including Pier 1 Imports, J.C. Penney, and others. These retailers were pushed over the proverbial financial edge by a combination of forced closures from COVID-19…
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