News Briefs

Instacart is making it easier for participants in the Instacart+ paid subscription plan to obtain free delivery during the holiday season.

The grocery technology company is rolling out a new temporary perk for members of the Instacart+ program. Instacart+ typically offers unlimited free delivery frees for orders more than $35, among other benefits, at a standard flat cost of $99 per year or $9.99 per month.

[READ MORE: Instacart revamps subscription offering]

However, during the 2024 holiday season, Instacart will offer Instacart+ members a new feature called Express Lane providing $0 delivery minimums on grocery and retail orders of only $10, instead of $35. 

Express Lane has launched in the Instacart app and on the Instacart website for all Instacart+ members and will be available for a limited time. According to Instacart purchasing data from the 2023 holiday season, the share of $10-$20 basket size orders were up to three times higher around Thanksgiving and Christmas compared to the yearly average.

"Happy Holidays from Instacart, where we’re delivering more joy, one or two items at a time," said Instacart.

Based in San Francisco, Instacart partners with more than 1,500 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 85,000 stores across North America.

Sweaty Betty is in expansion mode.

The London-based women's activewear brand has opened stores in Chicago's Southport neighborhood and in Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown area. Both feature Sweaty Betty's collection of premium activewear that combine feminine-focused design and style with technical performance.

In 2021, Sweaty Betty was acquired by Wolverine World Wide, whose portfolio also includes Merrell, Stride Rite, Saucony, Wolverine and more. 

"We are thrilled to open these new locations in Chicago and D.C., which mark an exciting opportunity to connect with new communities and deepen our presence in key markets," said Melissa Mullen, global brand president of Sweaty Betty. "We look forward to being part of these vibrant cities, supporting our consumers' active lifestyles, and continuing to grow our global sisterhood."

The company is also expanding its footprint in the United Kingdom with a new store in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, and also in Westfield London, as part of its growing presence across the country. Sweaty Betty now a total of 85 U.K. stores.

In addition to its own stores, the Sweaty Betty brand is sold at Nordstrom stores across the U.S.

Ahead of the holiday season, the majority of Americans have reported receiving damaged goods from online retailers this year.

According to an online survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of sustainable fiber-based packaging manufacturer DS Smith, 60% of Americans have received damaged goods when ordering products online in 2024. Among those receiving damaged goods, about one third said the package was crushed (34%), torn (34%) or the product was smashed within the packaging (32%).

In the United States, an estimated 700 million packages are delivered damaged each year worth approximately $48.5 billion. The data comes as e-commerce sales are expected to make up 26% of total U.S. holiday retail sales, up roughly 8% from 24% in 2023, according to a recent analysis from Forrester.

“Three quarters of Americans (78%) make online purchases that are delivered to their home and/or workplace at least once a month while almost half of those polled receive deliveries weekly,” said Steven Rose, managing director of North American packaging at DS Smith. “Damaged packaging can be a big frustration for e-commerce shoppers as well as a pain point for retailers.”

[READ MORE: Study: One-in-three online orders delivered late; shoppers want compensation]

The survey was conducted Nov. 7-11, 2024 among 3,071 adults ages 18 and older.

WH Smith PLC is doubling down on its airport travel shop business in North America. 

The London-based retailer, which opened 40 stores in North America this year, said it recently won some “significant new airport business,” including wins for stores at Dallas, Denver and Washington Dulles airports, and is also the preferred bidder for a further 15 stores across two major U.S. airports. 

WH Smith plans to open about 60 shops in North America during the next two years. By 2028, the company expects be operating around 500 stores, up from its current total of 341. (The total includes 256 stores in airports, 83 in resorts and two in rail stations.)

“North America, the world’s largest travel market and with increasing passenger numbers, is our most exciting growth opportunity where we see excellent prospects to further grow our airport business,” WH Smith said in a financial release. “This division will continue to become an increasingly significant part of the Group and is now our second largest division in profit terms, after Travel UK. “

WH Smith is a leading global retailer in news, books and convenience for the world’s travel customer. It has more than 1,700 stores across 30 countries worldwide.

In April, Toys”R”Us parent WHP Global signed a long-term license agreement with WH Smith as the exclusive shop-in-shop partner for Toys"R"Us in the U.K.

Staples has adapted its product data for an online-focused customer experience in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg.

The office supplies giant’s Staples Benelux subsidiary had previously received single orders from department and office managers purchasing items for an entire team, using a printed catalog. 

However, as business shifted online and an increasing number of remote employees began placing individual orders, the retailer found it had to providing a searchable, streamlined online customer experience for home office shoppers.

To support this initiative, Staples Benelux deployed the Akeneo product information management (PIM) platform. This helped the retailer manage its assortment of 55,000 SKUs provided by a wide variety of distributors and wholesalers using their own product attribute standards and preferred languages, which had been manually managed by a two-person team.

Staples Benelux decided to implement Akeneo PIM, working with Sitation, to bring all of its content up-to-date. The dashboard system and completeness score feature made it easy to share progress updates with the rest of the company and track improvement in real time.

In addition, import and customization features enabled the retailer to work efficiently with consistent, accurate data while collaborating with multiple suppliers, partners, and wholesalers.

In one year Staples Benelux was able to double its product catalog and the company's goal for 2024 is to quadruple it. In addition, leveraging Akeneo PIM Staples Benelux has been able to use bulk actions to fix data errors, update thousands of products to include the keywords consumers are using, and automate content creation workflows with wholesale partners and supplies, without needing to invest more resources.

[READ MORE: Zenni centralizes product information management]

Two generations are most receptive to making a purchase after seeing a digital ad.

 Over a third (37%) of 45-54 year olds and 40% of 55-64 year olds said they make purchases from ads they see online at least every few months — greater than the average of 31%, according to a report from technology company LoopMe. The findings indicate that marketers will need to be highly targeted with their spend if they want to capitalize on older shoppers' online ad engagement, noted the company.

In other findings, 26% of the 45-64 age demographic are happy to see advertising in exchange for free online content — on the condition that ads aren’t intrusive. On average, 13% of this demographic prefer viewing ads than paying to read content.

The research also explored consumer perceptions of ad placement. It found that shoppers were more likely to notice ads embedded within the content itself, with 17% of all consumers stating it was where they most frequently noticed ads. This was followed by top of the page (10%) and bottom of the page (8%). 

While 33% of consumers feel that ads have become too intrusive and overwhelming, younger shoppers welcome the increased relevancy and personalization of ads – with 14% of 18-24 year old shoppers and 17% of 25-34 year old shoppers feeling positive in this regard.

The research was conducted in October 2024 to mark the 30th anniversary of the first online ad, which debuted on Wired magazine’s website HotWired on Oct. 27, 1994. That first banner ad was the start of a revolution in online advertising, leading to a range of formats being utilized by brands aiming to engage with potential customers, noted LoopMe.

LoopMe, which uses artificial intelligence to improve brand advertising performance, surveyed 1,318 U.S. consumers in October.