Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will open offices in three European countries and expand further in the U.S. as it seeks to revive growth and reassure jittery investors.
Sixty percent of Americans created or used an online account with a retailer in the last 12 months, which suggests convenience ranks top-of-mind for U.S. shoppers, according to Worldpay, a global payments company. In fact, 47 percent said they create online accounts because it is quicker and easier to shop.
The growth of e-commerce increases consumer choice and flexibility, but it also challenges distribution centers to keep pace with consumers' higher expectations for faster and more accurate delivery. Nearly nine in 10 distribution center operators expect to adopt new mobile devices and voice-direction technology in the next five years to meet that need, according to a survey by Honeywell and YouGov.
A growing number of consumers go to Amazon first when shopping for online products. According to a Survata study, commissioned by BloomReach, 44 percent of shoppers go straight to Amazon, beating out the 34 percent who go direct to search engines and 21 percent who go directly to a retailer's e-commerce site.
Target is testing the online grocery delivery waters. The Minneapolis-based discounter has teamed with Instacart, the online grocery delivery service that started in 2012, to let shoppers in the Minneapolis area order fruits and other perishables, as well as household, pet and baby products, and have them delivered to their homes in as little as an hour.
Target's supply chain woes are coming to a boil. Out-of-stocks and sometimes entirely empty shelves have become all too common, and have come to the attention of the national media.
Google Inc. will start testing a delivery service for fresh food and groceries in two U.S. cities later this year, stepping up competition with online retailer Amazon.com Inc. and start-up Instacart Inc.
For consumers, in-store pickup combines the ease of shopping online with the promptness of purchasing from a local retailer. But while it's been revealed that this method isn't any more efficient than just buying in-store, that hasn't stopped brick-and-mortar shops from adopting and promoting this service - nor has it dissuaded customers from using it.
The grand golden doors of 500 Pearl Street, in Manhattan, have welcomed such glamorous names as Hermès, Tiffany & Co., and Kering, a French conglomerate whose treasures include Gucci and Bottega Veneta. The building is not a posh hotel or department store. It is the federal court for the Southern District of New York, a favored battleground for the decidedly unglamorous war against counterfeit goods.
