eCommerce

Retailers looking for global opportunities in emerging markets should head to Asia, particularly China, according to a just-released survey.   

China ranks as the top country in A.T. Kearney’s 2016 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), followed by India, whose high market potential, fast growth, improved regulatory environment, and ease of doing business pulled it up to second in the rankings. (See end of article for top 30 rankings.)

The term “post-department store era” was once considered so controversial that many in the retail world avoided using it, fearing backlash from powerful industry giants like Macy’s and Sears. Some saw the very idea of department store obsolescence as pure folly while others saw it only as a vague possibility too far in the future to consider.
 

Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT I Inc. is acquiring a grocery-anchored shopping center, expanding the company’s holdings in Massachusetts.

Northwoods Crossing is a 159,562-sq.-ft. grocery store-anchored shopping center in Taunton, Massachusetts, a suburb 40 miles south of Boston. The center is anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club. It also features national and regional tenants such as Tractor Supply Company, Dollar Tree, Subway, Ruby Tuesday and Wendy’s.

Canadian retail conglomerate The Loblaw Cos. Inc. is pulling up stakes on store-based operations of its Joe Fresh banner in the U.S.

According to the Financial Post, Loblaw has closed the final remaining U.S. Joe Fresh store in the SoHo neighborhood of New York, and also no longer distributes the apparel brand through J.C. Penney stores in the States.

The expansion of online fulfillment availability is giving retailers new avenues for selling goods via the Internet.

The latest example of how non-traditional e-commerce opportunities are popping up is a just-launched partnership between Food Network and Instacart. The lifestyle network/website does directly sell a variety of cooking-related products and utensils online, but until now has not been involved in the sale of food items.

Image Courtesy: news.nike.com

It seems safe to say the novelty of shopping online has worn off.

According to a new study examining the online shopping and purchase habits of the U.S. population from e-commerce platform BigCommerce, 96% of Americans are shopping online. E-commerce customers spend an average of five hours per week making online purchases and allocate an average of 36% of their shopping budgets to e-commerce.

Respondents ranked online shopping ahead of smartphone GPS and streaming media as a basic essential they could not live without.

Amazon.com is now offering one-hour deliveries of grocery items to Prime Now members in the Dallas area, via an expanded partnership with Sprouts Farmers Market.

The e-tailer will allow Dallas Prime Now members to shop for Sprouts items via their accounts. Orders will then be picked from a local Sprouts store by Amazon and Sprouts employees and given to a driver for delivery.