ECOMMERCE

More customers are making pet product purchases at Amazon — a practice that has increased category sales by 40%.   This was according to “U.S. Pet Market Focus: The Amazon Pet Food and Supplies Shopper,” a study from Packaged Facts.   

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.  

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.  

Pacific Sunwear of California is stepping up its game to better connect with its mobile-savvy customers.   Through a partnership with PredictSpring, the teen apparel chain has launched a new mobile app experience — one that is faster and more and visually rich. For example, the new app links to Instagram Shop-the-Look, a service that allows customers to browse and purchase directly from the PacSun Instagram feed.  

An upscale department store retailer has a new way to bridge the gap between its online and offline shopping experiences.    Nordstrom is rolling out its Reserve Online & Try In-store service to approximately 40 stores across the country. As the program’s name implies, the service allows customers to select items online and try them on in person at their nearest Nordstrom store.  

A wellness retailer is making is easier for its Chinese shoppers to make online purchases.   By partnering with Alipay, GNC Holdings is enabling all registered users of the payment platform in China to purchase vitamins, supplements, minerals, herbs, sports nutrition, diet, and energy products on its e-commerce site. Besides being a leading online payment provider in China, Alipay has 520 million registered users that access the platform to make online and mobile payments.  

Expect an Amazon-dominated holiday retail season among U.S. consumers this year, with the e-commerce giant being the top destination for shoppers.