Research Topic

Brick-and-mortar stores are crucial to supporting a retailer's e-commerce growth.  

Amazon isn't as dominant as is widely believed — at least not according to a new report from Moody's Investor Services.   

Based on its recent bold expansion into the grocery segment, Amazon is primed to give food and beverage e-commerce a shot of adrenaline.   This was according to “U.S. Grocery Market Focus: The Amazon Food Shopper,” a report from Packaged Goods.    According to the firm’s estimates, Amazon's 2016 online food and beverages sales, including AmazonFresh, is at $1.5 billion. This volume is expected to rise to $2.3 billion in 2017, giving the company a 19% share of the online market.

Simon Property Group raised eyebrows in the real estate and retail communities this week with the filing a suit that challenged Starbucks’ decision to close 78 Teavana stores in Simon malls. All retailer 379 of the tea shops are slated for closure through next year.  

Don't believe the hype — physical retail is still growing, particularly in three key segments.   Retailers are opening 4,080 more stores in 2017 than they are closing, according to a new research report from IHL Group, and they plan to open over 5,500 more in 2018. Mass-merchandisers, including off-pricers and value chains, are the fastest-growing retail segment (+1,905 stores), followed by convenience stores (+1,700 stores) and grocery retailers (+674 stores).  

Brands that are not thinking about how to leverage artificial intelligence are already falling behind.   This was according to the Retail Revolution study from OMD EMEA, and Goldsmiths, University of London. It is based on 15,000 consumers across 13 European countries.  

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and Shoptalk, organizer of the annual conference for retail/ecommerce innovation, announced a partnership focused on creating a global community and conversation for retail and e-commerce innovation.    The partnership will include Shoptalk Europe, which will be held on October 9-11, 2017 at the Bella Center in Copenhagen. It will also include Shoptalk 2018, which will take place on March 18-21, 2018 at the Venetian in Las Vegas.  

Domino's Pizza may be adding a new item to its take-out menu — driverless deliveries.   The pizza giant is teaming up with Ford Motor Co. to test how well self-driving vehicles can make pizza deliveries. The partners will evaluate how customers react to interacting with a self-driving vehicle within their delivery experience — data that is paramount to understanding how customers perceive the future of food delivery with self-driving vehicles.