Cyber Monday is expected to remain the year’s biggest online shopping day and rake in up to $11.6 billion in sales, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions at over 85 of the top 100 U.S. online stores.
Humankind is a software-as-a-service company whose platform allows retailers to make personal connections with online shoppers. Indianapolis-based venture studio launched the company last fall, and it now has 16 employees.
Abby Vitale’s struggle to find sneakers she liked in a woman’s size 7 last year at a shoe resellers’ convention has led to a growing business and has established an online community for female sneakerheads.
Amazon controls roughly 38% of online sales in the U.S., more than Walmart, eBay, Apple, Best Buy and Target combined, according to the research firm Insider Intelligence.
Many merchants fear they’ll be forced to cut prices to move a mountain of unsold inventory. It’s an abrupt change from the previous two years when sellers scrambled to get enough products into Amazon warehouses to meet pandemic-fueled demand.
It’s the second fee hike imposed on merchants this year by the online retail behemoth. In April, the company added a 5% “fuel and inflation” surcharge to offset rising gas costs and inflation.
Amazon sold more than 300 million items over two days, more than any previous Prime Day, the company said Thursday. Best-selling items included diapers, beauty products and Apple watches, according to Amazon.
The company has long used the two-day event to lure people to its Prime membership. This year, it could help Amazon boost profitability amid a slowdown in overall online sales.
Amazon prospered during the COVID-19 pandemic as homebound people eager to limit human contact turned online to purchase what they need. But growth has slowed as vaccinated Americans feel more comfortable going out.
Radial, which fills online orders for dozens of retail brands, said it needed the temporary help it pick, sort, pack and ship an upcoming surge in holiday orders.
Humankind offers its customers–retailers like Saucony, TaylorMade Golf Co. and others–a way to connect with online customers and offer custom product recommendations.
Philadelphia-based GoPuff, a fast-growing company that entered the Indianapolis market in 2018, currently operates three micro-fulfillment centers here and plans to open two more.
Carmel-based Market Wagon grew from five employees to almost 55 during the pandemic, prompting the need for more operations space. It also plans to expand from 29 to 50 markets by the end of the year.
The e-commerce giant said Monday that it blocked more than 10 billion suspected phony listings last year before any of their offerings could be sold.
Bastian Solutions, which makes conveyor systems, robotics and other automated materials-handling items often used by the retail industry, has seen growth accelerate because of the pandemic.
Godiva said the pandemic caused customer traffic to decline at its brick-and-mortar stores, though it will continue to sell its products both online and through third-party retail stores.
The Illinois-based video rental chain, which opened its first store in 1978, outlasted competitors Blockbuster, Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video, but said it could not withstand the disruptions caused by COVID-19.
The increase fell short of predictions from the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, which had expected sales to rise between 3.6% and 5.2% this year compared with 2019.
The marketplace it says is open to all artists, regardless of their affiliation with the center or where their wares are displayed.
Fewer Americans shopped during Black Friday weekend, and those who did spent less than they did a year ago. It’s the latest example of how the pandemic has upended consumer habits and created new challenges for retailers.
