eCommerce

The game is back on at City Sports Inc.    In 2015, the Boston-based sporting goods retailer filed for bankruptcy and closed its 26 stores. Shortly afterwards, two Wharton-trained brothers, Brent and Blake Sonnek-Schmelz, bought City Sports' intellectual property rights at a bankruptcy auction for $400,000.    

For millennial shoppers, Victoria’s Secret is tops, followed by Sephora and Nike.   That’s according to a report from Conde Nast Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which surveyed the popularity of brands among millennial shoppers, reported Bloomberg.   

The user experience is critical to e-commerce success, a factor that makes snafus in Web performance unacceptable.    Performance is so critical that even a 100-millisecond delay in website load time can hurt conversion rates by 7%. Meanwhile, a two-second delay in Web page load time increase bounce rates by 103%, according to the “State of Online Retail Performance,” a report from Akamai Technologies.   

The Australian retail marketplace is in for a huge shake-up.   Amazon is preparing to operate an online store in Australia, offering the country’s consumers access to more categories. Amazon already sells Kindle e-books and readers, Audible audiobooks, and online shoppers can also download apps, but this move will bring “a retail offering to Australia,” according to the e-retailer.  

Birchbox is no longer in the red.   The online subscription beauty retailer has achieved profitability, MediaPost reported, and is returning to television advertising with a spot that speaks to the joy the company’s monthly beauty box brings to its customers.   Founded in 2010, Birchbox had a tough 2016 during which it cut costs and laid off staff. But investments in technology and automation have helped it turn a corner.    

Office Depot continues to make good on its promise to focus on its North American business.     The company announced it has reached an agreement to sell its business in Australia and New Zealand to Platinum Equity, a global private equity firm. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in each country and is expected to close within the next several months.  

Days after announcing it is closing hundreds of stores, Rue21 is taking steps to better connect with shoppers online.   Focusing on conversational commerce, the teen apparel retailer launched a personalized, interactive shopping experience via the chat-based Messenger app. Powered by mode.ai, the virtual stylist uses Messenger’s new Chat Extensions feature that allows users to interact with the shopping tool in group and one-on-one message threads with friends, the retailer said.  

One way for U.S retail companies to win in 2017 is to look beyond their domestic borders for growth. As retail executives implement this year’s business plans, they should consider embracing cross-border e-commerce in China to grow now, and in the future.   China is the world’s largest and fastest-growing e-commerce market. Cross-border e-commerce is experiencing explosive growth due to Chinese consumers’ desire for lower prices and higher-quality products.