Retailers are cautioning that a lengthy war in Iran could mean higher prices in stores. As CNBC reported Thursday (March 25), among the companies sounding this warning is British clothing seller Next, which has accounted for $20 million in added costs that could materialize due...
The traditional eCommerce funnel ended at checkout. Once a consumer clicked “buy,” the retailer’s job was to deliver the product quickly and accurately. That framework pushed retail competition toward a familiar script: win on price, expand selection and deliver faster than everyone else. But this...
Amazon has expanded its free returns program to 10,000-plus U.S. drop-off points. The eCommerce giant announced Wednesday (March 25) that this expansion means that 80% of its U.S. customers now have a drop-off point within five miles of their home. These include 1,500 FedEx Office...
The most endangered species in retail isn’t brick-and-mortar. It’s the mid-market shopper share of wallet. Findings in the March edition of the PYMNTS Intelligence “Share of Wallet: Amazon vs. Walmart” report reveal that modern consumer is increasingly no longer one coherent decision-maker. Instead, shoppers are two...
Walmart announced plans recently to bring digital price tags to its stores by year’s end. However, the retail giant’s effort is happening as lawmakers have begun to criticize digital shelf labels (DSLs), CNBC reported Saturday (March 21). Their argument, the report said, is that DSLs...
Amazon is developing a smartphone that will integrate artificial intelligence capabilities and sync with the company’s voice assistant Alexa, Reuters reported Friday (March 20), citing unnamed sources. Known internally as “Transformer,” the phone will offer personalized features that will enhance the Amazon shopping experience and...
Retailers today are operating under intense margin pressure from multiple directions. eCommerce has introduced higher fulfillment and return costs, while supply chain volatility has increased inventory risk. At the same time, consumers have been conditioned by years of price competition and digital transparency to expect...
Amazon has brought Alexa+ to the U.K., the first European country to receive the AI voice assistant. Alexa+ is now available across Great Britain as part of an early access program, with hundreds of thousands of customers expected to get invitations in the weeks ahead,...
Financial stress is pushing more consumers toward digital wallets, and the shift may say less about tech adoption than about how shoppers are trying to stay organized when every dollar matters. That is one of the clearest takeaways from “The New Checkout: Crimped Consumers Lean Into...