News Briefs

Consumers often struggle to find what they are after when online shopping, leading to “decision fatigue.”

According to a new survey from Software Advice of more than 5,500 global consumers, most online shoppers start their product search on retailer websites (52%), search engines (67%) or e-commerce marketplaces (46%). However, unhelpful search results, including sponsored, inaccurate, or irrelevant product listings make shopping more difficult.

Over three-quarters (77%) of consumers regularly use search filters when browsing online. Still, users told Software Advice that filters are often incorrectly applied to products (45%), lack a helpful degree of specificity (44%), or are too sparse to meaningfully narrow product selections (34%).

“This abundance [of inaccurate results] creates a frustrating experience that leads to decision fatigue, causing many shoppers to abandon their carts or avoid e-commerce sites with poor search functionality,” said Molly Burke, senior retail analyst at Software Advice.

Despite their importance, consumers also noted having trouble finding trustworthy reviews, contributing to overall decision fatigue. Only 34% of respondents trust reviews made by social media influencers, indicating a need for more genuine customer reviews. A similar number of consumers (30%) say they start their product search on social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Software Advice noted two key factors that complicate the online shopping journey. First, consumers are inspired by social media trends, but most make their final purchases outside of social platforms. Second, many retailers fail to incorporate trending social media keywords into their website, including search functionality and product information.

“Retailers need to improve their discoverability on search engines while enhancing their own website’s search functionality to better match customers with products they really want,” said Burke. “Making reviews easier to digest helps influence purchase decisions and cuts down on costly returns.”

The Wendy’s Company is focused on growing its brand across Europe.

The quick-serve restaurant company has signed two development agreements with franchisees in the Republic of Ireland and Romania, supporting Wendy’s expansion goals to develop hundreds of restaurants across Europe over the next decade. Both countries are new markets for Wendy's, with plans to open restaurants beginning in 2025.

Wendy's re-entered the United Kingdom in 2021, which serves as the foothold for growth across Europe. The company expects to see up to 50 restaurants in the market by year-end, with the potential to continue growing the brand in the U.K. to 400 locations over time.

Wendy’s said it has significantly invested in local resources to support its growth across Europe, including a robust supply chain, regional operations teams and world-class marketing and creative agency partners. It is actively recruiting franchisees in European markets to help expand its restaurant footprint across the continent.

“We are continuing our journey to become a brand of increased global significance, and Europe is a high-priority, strategic growth market to expand Wendy's presence internationally,” said E.J. Wunch, president, international for The Wendy's Company. “To accelerate our momentum, we are focused on building relationships with franchisees who share our ambition to grow and scale Wendy's restaurant footprint across the continent..

Wendy's international presence represents 70% of the brand's planned expansion through 2025, with several incremental and accelerated commitments in place to rapidly expand the brand's global footprint.

Wendy's and its franchisees operate over 7,000 restaurants worldwide.

Private label products reached new heights in the first half of 2024.

According to Circana data provided exclusively to the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA), private label sales reached all-time highs in both unit and dollar sales. As of June 16, unit market share was 22.9% and dollar market share was 20.4%. Total store brand sales for the six months were $121 billion, while national brand sales were $472 billion.

PLMA says the improved market shares came on the strength of private label’s superior performance at checkout versus national brands. Private label dollar sales were up 2.3%, compared to a gain of 1.1% for national brands. In unit sales, the difference was even greater, with private brands up 2.5% and national brands down 0.8%.

“These record highs in market shares illustrate the ‘Store Brands Phenomenon’ that’s sweeping the retail industry across all channels, departments and categories,” said PLMA President Peggy Davies.

Results in the 10 individual product departments that Circana tracks for PLMA show that private label sales were up across the store in the first six months of the year. The beauty department improved the most, up 10%, followed by liquor (+8.8%), general food (+6.9%), home care (+6.8%), pet care (+5.8%), beverages (+4.3%), frozen (+2.9%), general merchandise (+2.2%) and home (+1.7%). Only refrigerated slipped, but it was a nominal minus 0.7%.

Founded in 1957 with offices in New York City and Amsterdam, PLMA represents more than 4,500 member companies worldwide.

Amazon is expanding its air cargo operations with Minnesota-based, low-cost air carrier Sun Country Airlines. 

Under the amended agreement, Sun Country, which operates in the United States and the Americas, will operate up to eight additional Boeing 737-800 cargo aircraft beginning in early 2025.  The amended agreement will increase Sun Country’s cargo operation for Amazon from 12 to up to 20 freighters.

The first additional aircraft expected to begin service in the first quarter of 2025. All eight aircraft are expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2025. Sun Country began operating aircraft for Amazon in May 2020.

“Amazon is an extremely important customer to Sun Country and strong execution on our current cargo services positioned us well to grow our business," said Jude Bricker, CEO of Sun Country. "We look forward to continuing to provide services to Amazon into the 2030s."

Amazon has been simplifying its domestic US network over the past year, according to a report issued earlier this year by the Chaddick Institute, reported AirCargoNews. The changes have seen the carrier deploy larger aircraft and consolidate operations at fewer hubs, the report said.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) welcomed the recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing a lawsuit that says the Federal Reserve set its 2011 cap on debit card “swipe” fees too high to move forward despite arguments that the suit was filed too late.

“There are multiple reasons why the statute of limitations has not expired in this case,” NRF chief administrative officer and general counsel Stephanie Martz said. “The bottom line is that a small business harmed by a faulty regulation should not be denied its day in court based on a technicality, especially one that has been in dispute. The Federal Reserve set the cap far higher than intended by Congress and merchants like Corner Post have paid millions of dollars too much as a result, in turn driving up prices for their customers. That harm is ongoing and hasn’t been changed by the passage of time. The Supreme Court has made the right decision by allowing this lawsuit to be decided on its merits.”

The Supreme Court ruling was in favor of a 2021 federal lawsuit filed by the Corner Post, a Watford City, N.D., truck stop and convenience store that was joined by the North Dakota Retail Association and the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association. The case challenged a Federal Reserve cap on debit card swipe fees that took effect in 2011, saying it was set higher than intended by Congress. NRF is not a party, but Martz is a co-counsel in the case.

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The direct selling industry is making massive gains, according to new data.

Direct selling channels contributed $111.4 billion to the U.S. economy in 2022, up 34% from $28.3 billion in 2016, according to the Direct Selling Education Foundation's 2024 Economic Impact Report. The increase contributed $15.5 billion in tax revenue to federal, state and local governments, an increase of $4.9 billion (a 46% increase) from 2016.

“Because of the nature of the direct selling industry and its widespread use of independent contractors, the total estimated economic impact of $111.4 billion should be considered conservative,” said Dr. Robert A Peterson, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin who conducted the study. “What we’re seeing is a big effect on household income (induced effect), an increase of 70% from 2016, and real growth of 34% in total impact over the same period.”

According to the DSEF report, the $111.4 billion economic impact consisted of:

• The Direct (retail sales) Effect of direct selling, $40.5 billion
• The Indirect (upstream or supply chain) Effect of direct selling, $31.0 billion, and
• The Induced (downstream or household) Effect of direct selling, $39.9 billion

“The impact of the channel continues to grow as people engage with direct selling companies to earn supplemental income, pursue entrepreneurial opportunities and enjoy great products and services,” says Joe Mariano, president of Direct Selling Association and DSEF. “The channel is definitely hidden in plain view.”