As powerhouses like Amazon, Walmart and Target roll out same-day or one-day shipping initiatives, it can be difficult for smaller retailers to keep up. But with the holiday season around the corner, it’s important for retailers to understand that while fast shipping is a key consideration, free shipping is often a requirement.

eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman discusses how stores are adapting to their customers' lifestyles, why Target saw a rush of back-to-school shoppers, how consumers feel about shopping at Best Buy and more.

As privacy concerns continue to rise, you’d think consumers would be dubious about sharing their data. But according to a number of surveys on the topic, that’s not necessarily the case—especially if they get some value out of it.

This follow-up to our Amazon Prime Day 2019 preview report analyzes the post-event results for Amazon and other retailers, and its implications for back-to-school season and beyond.

Last month, Amazon held its fifth annual Prime Day event to honor its Prime members with steep discounts and deals across a range of products and categories. This year’s midsummer shopping event—extended to 48 hours and held on July 15 and 16—racked up record sales, further cementing Amazon’s ecommerce leadership position, while creating incremental opportunities for sellers and competing retailers.

Despite protests, technical concerns and stiff competition from ecommerce rivals, Amazon managed to hold its most successful Prime Day yet. Though the company did not disclose its sales figures—or how many new Prime members were added—Amazon announced that it sold 175 million items during the two-day event and surpassed its combined sales total from Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2018.

AmazonFresh, Amazon Pantry and Amazon’s Whole Foods operation cater specifically to the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market. But almost none of the retail giant’s CPG sales come from Amazon-branded goods.

Amazon Prime Day has emerged as a massive midsummer shopping event that drives incremental shopping at Amazon and competing retailers while serving as the unofficial lead-in to the back-to-school shopping season.

It may have started as a holiday manufactured by Amazon, but Prime Day has become one of the biggest shopping events of the year. Nearly every major online retailer—including Walmart, Target and eBay—now offers competing sales during the annual July shopping event. For many Prime Day shoppers, the search for the best deals online doesn’t end with Amazon.

The global ecommerce market will rise more than 20% in 2019, despite mounting economic uncertainty and declining consumer spending growth around the world.

US ecommerce will continue to grow by double digits in 2019 amid a strong economic backdrop that is beginning to moderate compared with prior years.

Thousands of new shopping apps continue to pop up in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store each year as consumers gear their shopping habits towards mobile. But the increase in competition might be causing smaller retailers and startups to think twice about investing in app development, especially on the iOS marketplace.

Last week, Amazon announced its latest ploy to attract and retain Prime members: An $800 million investment in one-day delivery. This expansion initiative comes when growth among its most lucrative shoppers is waning. We estimate that US Prime user growth will be less than 9% this year, vs. 12.5% in 2018.

Grocery is the least penetrated but fastest-growing category in ecommerce today. Traditional brands and retailers need to understand why this channel shift is accelerating and adjust their marketing and selling strategies accordingly.

Last year, the number of locations offering “buy online, pick up in-store” (BOPUS) nearly doubled among leading US grocery retailers. Walmart (and various third-party partners), Target/Shipt, Kroger/Instacart, Ahold and Albertsons brought their collective number of click-and-collect locations from 2,451 in January 2018 to 5,800 in December 2018, per data from CommonSense Robotics.

While retail ecommerce sales are growing rapidly in the US, brick-and-mortar shopping is still important to consumers. They’ll spend almost 90% of their retail dollars in person this year, and a large portion of that foot traffic comes from webrooming.

The online grocery market is starting to reach an inflection point, but in order to achieve success, retailers must overcome key logistical hurdles.

In-store charging stations offer a solutions for brick and mortars desperate to stay relevant.

“Try before you buy,” AR and an improved online experience will breathe new life into established ecommerce categories like apparel and accessories, furniture and home furnishings, and toys and hobbies by the end of our 2023 forecast period.