Shopping

• [New] Kroger predicted its sales and profits will drop in 2021 as more consumers get vaccinated and resume previous shopping habits.
• [New] Twitter is quietly testing a new shopping feature that will allow brands to showcase products and link out to their ecommerce site directly from within the social platform.
• [New] In the UK, IGD expects the changed retail landscape to retain some of its new features such as online shopping and big weekly shops.
• [New] Pubs, restaurants, shops and other businesses hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic will be boosted by a £5 billion grant scheme to help them reopen, with the restart grants worth up to £6,000 per premises.
• [New] By 2025, online grocery shopping is projected to reach 21.5% of total US grocery sales according to Mercatus / Incisiv's new eGrocery's New Reality study.
• [New] One-fifth of remote workers in the UK recycle their work email or password to log into consumer websites and apps, such as online shopping and even dating, increasing the risk of their corporate credentials being stolen.
• [New] Online shopping will increase in 2021, with 68% of US online shoppers more likely to purchase from retailers and brands offering plastic-free packaging.
• [New] England's high streets could lose up to 400,000 retail jobs as a result of more people working from home and shopping online after the coronavirus pandemic, with affluent towns in the south among the most vulnerable.
• [New] Despite Statista's prediction that ecommerce sales will reach $407 B in 2021, buyers are not expected to stop shopping in physical stores.
• [New] Visa-free travel in the EU is being limited to 90 days for British travellers, though the good news is that Duty Free shopping is going to make a comeback once the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided.
• [New] The ZEW investor sentiment index in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, rose by far more than expected in February on expectations that people will flock back to shops and other retail outlets in the coming six months.
• 5G will allow for increased innovation in the e-commerce space in the coming years, invoking technologies like augmented reality, to create completely novel shopping and transacting experiences.
• The beauty specialty player will open shops in over 100 Target stores in the second half of 2021, with plans to establish even more in the future.
• With UK online sales forecast to rise by up to £67 billion over the next five years, we could see e-commerce drive additional requirements of 92 million sq ft and that creates opportunities for more deliver businesses also.
• Interactive shopping provides a huge opportunity for retailers to take advantage of the increase in online shopping in 2021.
• Users of MoMo will be able to use a Mastercard virtual payment solution linked to their MoMo wallets, to shop at well-known global e-commerce brands and pay quickly and securely for leisure shopping, travel, accommodation, entertainment, streaming services and more.
• Shop Pay will first become available to all Shopify merchants using checkout on Instagram in the US, and then will launch to Facebook in the following weeks.
• Within the next two years, more and more brands will transfer their marketing campaigns and online shopping platforms from static webpages and 2 D images to interactive experiences and platforms.
• Augmented reality in retail is set to be worth more than $12 billion by 2025 as more brands transform their shopping platforms to interactive experiences.

Last updated: 07 March 2021