“Overstocked” Items at Amazon; CVS Media Platform; Retention Expectations
Since July, weighted average inventory amounts at Amazon have remained in normal ranges, although some manufacturers are seeing changes to inventory on certain ASINs (Amazon increasing inventory on high volume ASINs, decreasing on low volume, especially as it preps for 4Q demand). As part of this dynamic, 15% of those…
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Back-To-School; Post Office Raises Rates; eCom Market Booming in the US
According to an analysis from Stackline, online growth across Amazon, Walmart and Target has decelerated in back to school categories year-to-date. Both Walmart and Target had discussed back-to-school sales across digital and store formats during their earnings calls this week, although both expect the selling period to extend longer than…
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A Career-Defining Internship… But Make It Virtual?
Ah the junior year summer internship. Pivotal in many collegiate journeys, yet it's also the first thing to get cancelled in a world-wide pandemic (understandably so). That's exactly how my spring semester at Zoom University (Miami Univeristy) was coming to an end... with a cancelled internship. Instead of wallowing in despair…
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WFH Expectations; Lowe’s Supply Chain Improvements; Kroger Looks to Expand
Consumer expectations for returning to the office have worsened according to our latest consumer study results, with 51% of workers expecting to go in for work in the month of October compared to ~70% in our July study. This aligns with recent announcements that Google has extended its remote work policy until…
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Amazon 2Q Earnings; Home Depot Enhances Omnichannel; Wayfair Turns Profitable
Last week Amazon reported earnings for what proved to be a phenomenal quarter, despite the high costs related to COVID-19 ($4B+). During the second quarter, the company grew its GMV an estimated $36B+, to ~$113B. To put that in context, this level of incremental growth in 2Q surpassed what it accomplished…
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eCommerce Growth; Bezos’ Testimony; eBay and Shopify 2Q Results
According to our interview with Michael Lagoni, Founder and CEO of Stackline, eCommerce growth has normalized around 60-70% year over year for the past several months. This is down from 80-90% growth in March and April, but is well above the 17% rate at which eCommerce was growing pre-pandemic. Stackline…
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Consumers Returning to Stores; Walmart’s Special Bonuses; ’21 Growth on Amazon
Our consumer research suggests delivery to home has continued to decline for the past month for groceries but has remained relatively consistent for general merchandise purchases. For groceries, the peak appears to have occurred in May with 31% of consumers reporting they received deliveries to the home vs. 17% in…
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Instacart’s National Reporting; New Amazon Warehouse Rules; Return to Normal
In our most recent research, Instacart has been called out as offering a range of good activations including search advertising, national coupons, and free shipping programs. The one downside to participating in these programs is that Instacart only reports the national results, rather than illustrating performance/results at the individual retailer…
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Digital Activation; Changes to Amazon Seller Profiles; China’s Shopping Holidays
Our most recent report on commerce marketing highlighted steady, but perhaps, slow progress from Amazon’s key omnichannel rivals. In our research, brands are continuing to look for more advanced analytics and activation options across Walmart, Target, and Kroger in particular. While these retailers are eager to build a robust advertising business…
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