Analyst Insight: The titans of business, Amazon and Walmart, are doing an awesome job of growing their companies and transforming the way the marketplace functions. They're innovating supply chain operations and how they are responding to the needs of the customer. They're creating tremendous disruptions that are forcing everyone to play catch up. Lastly, they are on the offensive. They are creating benefits for their customers at such a rate that all other companies are playing at a disadvantage. - Jim Tompkins, CEO, Tompkins International
UPS and other carriers raised their shipping rates in January, much to the chagrin of U.S. e-commerce retailers. Now, some industry observers believe Amazon may be the cause of the price hikes.
Macy's Inc. says it will build a major direct-to-consumer fulfillment center near Owasso, in Tulsa County, Okla., to support continued sales growth driven by the company's omnichannel strategy.
As populous countries such as Brazil, China and India develop increasingly acquisitive middle classes, opportunities for online sales to these countries are growing. Except for small mom-and-pop outlets, the brick-and-mortar retail sectors are poorly developed outside of major cities. Consumers in these and many other developing countries are looking online for more choices in apparel, electronics, and luxury goods.
Despite the high expectations of wholesale buyers, nearly 40 percent of the top wholesale companies have extremely basic or nonexistent websites, missing an opportunity to enhance the buyer experience through e-commerce, according to a report from hybris, a commerce platform.
E-commerce sales in B2C soared to new heights in 2012. According to eMarketer.com, e-commerce sales topped $1tr for the first time. The B2C sales grew from 21.1 percent last year to $1tr. This year, sales are expected to grow from 18.3 percent to $1.2tr worldwide. According to eMarketer, it is estimated that Asia-Pacific has surpassed North America to become the No. 1 market for B2C e-commerce sales.
