Curt Westphal, director of program development, HDA Truck Pride

But this year, HDA is going beyond its traditional role as a truck-parts buying group for its more than 140 member companies. Its members operate in aggregate 900 facilities across the U.S., servicing many thousands of trucks, from single-owner-operators to corporate fleets with thousands of vehicles.

It hasn’t been easy to build customer loyalty among fleets and individual truckers across the country, but that’s the route HDA says it’s now taking with its new FUSE National Fleet Program.

In April, HDA launched the FUSE program with TreviPay, a B2B payment technology and services provider. In the FUSE web portal, trucking companies can apply for credit terms that they can use throughout the HDA member network. And at the end of a billing period, they can view a single statement to manage and pay invoices from hundreds of parts and repair shops.

“This is what is helping us build the HDA network to the fleets across the country,” says Curt Westphal, HDA’s director of program development.

A mechanic works on a truck breaking system at an HDA Truck Pride network service center.

Westphal says he expects the FUSE program to support more consistent connections between its member companies and truck fleets, leading to larger average order sizes while sellers avoid taking on credit risk. TreviPay extends the credit terms after an expedited credit check and takes on the risk.

More accurate invoices, faster payments

Westphal adds that a main benefit of the FUSE program is the ability it has shown to improve invoice accuracy by 90%, resulting in faster payments. He says the FUSE program lets the customers of HDA’s companies control their purchase order specifications, which goes a long way toward ensuring the accuracy of purchase orders and invoices processed through the FUSE portal. The system avoids manual double-entry of documents, supporting the increase in accuracy, he adds.

Westphal notes that HDA has already onboarded more than half of its140-plus member companies and is gradually adding fleet customers.

He adds that the FUSE program also lets fleet customers click a portal button to dispute any unrecognized charges, giving sellers  the opportunity to directly work out any discrepancies.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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In other words, if Amazon is holding a sales event, so are other online retailers. Furthermore, if Amazon is holding a sales event, consumers are shopping — whether on Amazon or elsewhere — to capitalize on promotions.

Amazon is No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database of North America’s largest online retailers based on web sales. It’s also No. 3 in the Global Online Marketplaces database, which ranks the 100 largest global marketplaces. Digital Commerce 360 projects Amazon’s total web sales in 2024 will reach $469.01 billion.

As one of the largest online merchants on the planet, its decisions — such as when to hold promotions — affect the entire ecommerce industry.

How much did consumers spend on the first of Amazon’s Prime Days in 2024?

U.S. consumers spent $7.2 billion on July 16, the first of Amazon’s 48-hour Prime Day 2024 sales event, according to Adobe Analytics. But that’s not just sales on Amazon.com. Adobe’s analysis is based on 100 million stock keeping units (SKUs) across 18 product categories and covers more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites.

That $7.2 billion represents 11.7% year-over-year growth and marks the single-largest ecommerce spending day of 2024 yet, according to Adobe data. It also substantiates the likening of Prime Day to “Black Friday in July,” as some retailers offered promotions using the marketing term that overlap with — or directly compete against — Amazon’s sales event.

200 online retailers in the Top 1000 use Adobe Analytics for their web analytics, and 97 use it for site design and development. Top 1000 online retailers also use it for content delivery and management, as an ecommerce platform, a marketing platform, for personalization and more.

Trending spending habits

Moreover, the first 24 hours of Amazon’s Prime Day 2024 event also marked the biggest mobile shopping day of the year so far, Adobe said. The Amazon Prime Day effect contributed to $3.5 billion in mobile spending on July 16, which is 49.3% of sales, nearly equal to desktop shopping.

Specific categories drove the sales, Adobe data shows. Electronics sales as a whole increased 33% compared to average daily sales in June 2024, Adobe said. Across specific products, headphones and Bluetooth speakers saw the largest sales growth at 164%, followed by:

• Televisions (up 83%)
• Fitness trackers (81%)
• Tablets (71%)
• E-readers (65%)
• Computers (64%)

Consumers used curbside pickup for 18% of online orders from online retailers that offer the service. That represents a decrease from 20% for the same period last year, Adobe said.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) accounted for 7.5% of online orders in the first 24 hours of the Prime Day 2024 event. That represents $540 in revenue, which is a 17.1% year-over-year increase, according to Adobe.

“Steep discounting has been the story of e-commerce so far this year, as consumers look to get the most value out of their dollar,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “It is driving up demand for major categories like electronics and apparel, which have seen more modest growth in recent months, while also capturing back-to-school shoppers at just the right moment.”

What is the Amazon Prime Day effect?

Prime Day creates a small “halo effect” for North American retailers, as Salesforce puts it. Online sales growth in North America hit 3% year over year in the first 24 hours of Prime Day, according to the platform provider, based on the activity of 1.5 billion shoppers across Salesforce Commerce Cloud and other Salesforce products. Its results encompass retailers and brands outside of Amazon, it said. Web traffic to North American online retailers grew 4% year over year.

In North America, 76 of the top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. And in 2023, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $136.077 billion in web sales.

In the U.S., specifically, online sales grew 3% year over year during the first day of the event. For Canada, that was 4% growth over the same period. Meanwhile, web traffic to online retailers grew 4% in the U.S. and 6% in Canada.

Globally, year-over-year sales during the first 24 hours of the Prime Day event were flat for retailers other than Amazon, Salesforce said. However, global web traffic to Salesforce-powered online retailers grew 2% year over year for the first 24 hours.

Salesforce also broke out which categories had the largest sales growth and discounts during the first 24 hours of the 2024 Prime Day event.

Top-performing verticals by sales growth

1. Health & Beauty (23% increase)
2. Active Footwear (10%)
3. General Handbags (12%)

Highest discounts globally by category

1. General Apparel  (average discount of 28%)
2. Beauty & Makeup (26%)
3. Home & Furniture (24%)

Global discounts grew 10% year over year during the first 24 hours of the Prime Day event, Salesforce said. The average discount rate across categories was 20%.

Highest discounts by category in the US

1. General Apparel (average discount of 33%)
2. Home Goods, which includes dining, furniture and art (23%)
3. Health & Beauty (20%)

Discounts from U.S. online retailers grew 13% year over year during the same period, according to Salesforce. The average discount rate across categories was 22%. For online retailers in Canada, those figures are 8% and 27%, respectively.

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Now, he plans to bring his skill set and mission mindset to PayPal. His appointment is effective as of June 24.

Srini Venkatesan joins PayPal as chief technology officer

Srini Venkatesan, chief technology officer at PayPal | Image credit: PayPal

“I’ve spent my career innovating to create new and improved ways for customers to discover, shop, and buy the goods they want and need,” said Venkatesan upon joining PayPal. “I’m incredibly excited about joining PayPal and bringing together my experiences across tech and retail to personalize customers’ shopping experiences.”

PayPal provides payment processing services to 147 merchants in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. It also provides payment security services to 21 of the Top 1000.

PayPal experienced strong growth during the pandemic, but as the COVID crisis receded and people began to venture out, PayPal’s problems mounted, including recent rounds of layoffs.

The competitive landscape for PayPal

Experts say Venkatesan is entering a competitive space, but there is room for growth.

Sean Gelles, who is senior director of payments intelligence at consumer research firm J.D. Powers, said J.D. analyzes players in PayPal’s space by their performance in three areas:

• BNPL
• Digital Wallets
• P2P transfers

Each category is analyzed by qualities such as ease of transaction and customer complaint resolution.

“PayPal does not lead in any,” Gelles said. “It performs best in the BNPL [buy now, pay later] study, where it’s above average in overall satisfaction.”

Venkatesan taking on his new responsibilities at a time when PayPal is seeing success with buy now, pay later may not be a coincidence.

“This points to several opportunities for Venkatesan as he assumes his new role,” he explained.

Gelles says that this space is still maturing and rather competitive, but companies that focus on the services that consumers clearly value, like the ease of making and receiving payments or privacy and security, will likely have an edge.

“But customers can easily vote with their digital feet,” Gelles said.

Outlook for PayPal as Venkatesan arrives

Phillip Parker, founder of CardPaymentOptions.com, which covers the payment processing industry, said PayPal has challenges ahead.

“Venkatesan has a difficult task ahead of him,” Parker noted. “The payments industry has evolved since PayPal became a leader in the space.”

Mergers and acquisitions have been one way it has been able to claim market share.

“The company has attempted to stay relevant by acquiring up-and-coming challengers like Venmo,” Parker stated. “However, it still lags in the merchant card acceptance arena — where real money is generated.”

He adds, however, that if Venkatesan is to succeed, he will need to understand what drives businesses to their competitors and then adjust technology, design, pricing and value proposition to return business owners to PayPal.

Parker said that Venkatesan’s time at Walmart, as it transformed itself into a genuine rival of Amazon’s, will help him at PayPal.

“Having experience on the enterprise retail side of payment acceptance will give Venkatesan a unique perspective on changes that can be made at PayPal to gain traction in the retail space,” Parker said.

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A primary driver behind the need for AI in these markets is the growing fraud threat. As ecommerce traffic increases, it becomes harder for ecommerce merchants and sellers of digital goods to screen potentially fraudulent transactions in a manner that does not degrade the customer experience. In theory, AI-powered fraud management tools help online retailers and B2B sellers quickly flag and score suspect transactions. Those results may in turn lower rates of chargebacks and transaction disputes.

Why fraud is an ecommerce problem with potential AI solutions

Fraud and chargebacks are two of the biggest issues facing ecommerce and sellers of digital goods. The same can be said in both the B2B and B2C worlds. Some 48% of B2B sellers and 46% of ecommerce retailers cited fraud as a leading business concern, according to the Rapyd report. In addition, 31% of B2B sellers and 30% of ecommerce retailers cited the risk of chargebacks as a leading concern.

Raypd surveyed 1,000 business owners and payment decision-makers from eight high-opportunity industries in January. Those participants came from 10 countries, including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

In addition to improving fraud detection, AI can also be used to improve customer service. That can involve creating chatbots that function as a virtual customer service representative by mimicking human conversation through voice or text interactions.

On the payments side, the move toward real-time payments continues to accelerate as online retailers and B2B sellers look for immediate availability of funds. They are also looking for ways to improve cash management and provide a smoother customer experience.

“Speed of payments has never been more important than today, and adoption of real-time payments globally is a testament to this,” the report says. “Real-time payments are quickly gaining global prominence, addressing the complexities and prohibitive costs associated with traditional payment methods. This shift is driven by the need to overcome the challenges of errors, delays, and increased risks of international transactions. Businesses worldwide are increasingly adopting real-time payments as a solution to expedite their payment processes.”

AI trends in ecommerce

When asked to list what trends they foresee over the next 12-18 months, 46% of respondents said more acceptance of real-time payments in ecommerce, and 40% said more adoption of AI applications. Other trends cited include more use and acceptance of virtual cards (30%) and buy-now-pay-later loans (30%). Respondents could provide more than one response.

Since payment service providers are the ones that will be delivering these technologies, businesses need to evaluate them to select the appropriate partner.

When asked what criteria they use to evaluate a payment provider, 40% of ecommerce retailers and digital goods sellers cited ease of integration, while 31% checked speed of payments. Other criteria include availability of tools for fraud management that reduce the risk of regulatory and financial crime (26%) and tools for mitigating fraud and financial risk (23%).

“When evaluating a payments provider, ease of integration is consistently ranked as the most important factor across industries and regions surveyed, which directly correlates with speed and convenience,” the report says.

The reasons B2B sellers and ecommerce retailers prefer certain payment methods vary. Among B2B sellers, the top reason for accepting a payment option was speed of receiving or sending a payment (66%). No. 2 was convenience of acceptance (62%). No. 3 was having a lengthy relationship with their financial institution or payment provider (43%).

Reasons online merchants choose payment options

Among ecommerce retailers, the top reason for accepting a payment option was convenience of acceptance (59%). That was followed by a solution being the fastest way to receive or send a payment (51%). In third place was an option proving to be the most popular payment method in the market (36%).

With travel bouncing back post-pandemic, travel agencies are preparing for a future in which online sales could make up 76% of total travel and tourism revenue by 2028, according to the Rapyd report. As a result, there would be “secure and efficient transaction processes that keep pace with the rapid growth and unique needs of the global travel market,” the report states.

Respondents were asked to identify the top fintech trends in online travel sales over the next 12-18 months. 43% of them cited adoption of real-time payments and 35% cited adoption of AI applications. Other payment options online travel agencies see gaining momentum during that period include pay-by-bank solutions (32%) and virtual card acceptance and use (27%).

Threats cited by online travel agencies

Among online travel agencies selling to businesses, the top threat to their business is financial security data risks (49%). Next were compliance and regulatory risks (43%). Some 34% of agencies cited the risk of fraud, while 32% cited chargebacks.

Among online travel agencies selling to consumers, the top threat to their business is compliance and regulator risks (53%). Those were followed by financial data security risks (49%). In addition, 40% of respondents cited fraud and 24% cited chargebacks.

The top reason online travel agencies selling to businesses preferred a specific payment method was speed of the transaction. 54% of respondents cited speed when receiving a payment and 51% when sending a payment. Convenience of acceptance was cited by 52% of respondents when receiving a payment and 48% when sending a payment.

Among online travel agencies servicing consumers, speed of payment was cited by 46% of respondents when receiving a payment and 37% when sending a payment. Convenience of acceptance was cited by 51% of respondents when receiving a payment and 42% when sending a payment.

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American Freight has taken some steps to improve that online purchasing experience and even push some customers to checkout online, chief marketing officer Lauri Joffe told Digital Commerce 360.

Each initiative she mentioned led to “meaningful basis point improvements” to total conversion, which encompasses customers who abandon carts online and make a purchase in stores.

American Freight ranks No. 232  in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. Digital Commerce 360 categorizes it as a hardware and home improvement retailer.

These are the strategies American Freight employs to improve checkout.

1. Single-page layout

Keeping the whole checkout process on a single page is “critical,” Joffe said. She called this initiative the most important for conversion.

The delivery address, billing information and payment information are all on one page. That’s a change from about a year ago, when each piece was a separate page. 

“Just by default, what we sell is a pretty long process,” Joffe explained. “We ask a lot of questions, and we have to have your delivery information.”

Nevertheless, those details help to ensure good outcomes.

“You have to schedule your delivery,” she said. “We want to reduce time and make it as simple as we can, and most importantly, make sure that the customer can see what they’ve completed and what they have left.”

American Freight prioritizes making a customer’s progress on that checkout page visible.

“From an accessibility perspective, it’s very clear when you’ve completed a step, and what steps are remaining — and it’s all visible in one page,” Joffe stated.

2. Guest checkout

Retailers often want customers to make accounts and share data, but guest checkouts are often consumers’ preferences, Joffe noted.

“I’m definitely a lot more obsessed about user experience than I am about collecting data,” she said. Consumers choose guest checkout for a number of reasons, including anonymity and not wanting to share data with a retailer. It’s preferable to let the customer check out the way they want to, even if it means the retailer misses out on some data they could use to encourage future purchases.

About 60% of purchases with the furniture retailer are made through guest checkout, Joffe said. 

3. Giving customers a breadth of payment options

American Freight has a dropdown menu of payment types it accepts on the checkout page, including PayPal, financing, credit cards, Google Pay and Apple Pay. American Freight presents the information in a way that makes it easy for a customer to see all the payment options at once and expand any of them to get more information, Joffe said.

“We were super early adopters of Apple Pay and Google Pay because they’re one-click solutions on mobile,” she emphasized. “We’re seeing a huge uptick in those as a percentage of our ecommerce sales.”

4. Abandoned cart emails and texts

American Freight takes a careful approach to contacting customers who abandon their carts, Joffe stated. According to her, many of them do end up converting in stores. 

In addition to standard abandoned cart emails, the retailer also sends texts. 

“The message is personalized, and it tells you that you’d love something before asking to answer any questions for you,” Joffe said.

“And then if they did have a question, what they left in the cart, they text back and there’s literally a conversation between the agent and the customer on what was happening in that cart,” she continued.

The interaction is more of a conversation than an email, which has produced good results, Joffe said. She recommends the practice to other retailers.

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Forever 21 is No. 105 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. Digital Commerce 360 categorizes it as an apparel retailer.

1. Push customers to a mobile app

The mobile app is the “first and biggest way” that Forever 21 improved checkout, Hawkins said. Two years ago, when he started at the retailer, a mid-single-digit percentage of sales were made on the app. Now, more than 50% of total business comes through the app.

“It’s the single fastest, easiest way to shop Forever 21,” Hawkins added.

Customers can see products similar to others they’ve viewed, and once they check out, all of their information is saved for a faster checkout next time. Through the app, consumers can also see prices and availability of specific products in stores and opt for ship to store, Hawkins said.

2. Offer alternative payment options

Giving customers a variety of payment options is an important way to make sure they complete the purchase, Hawkins said. The apparel retailer allows consumers to pay via Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal, Klarna and Amazon Pay. 

It’s a matter of choosing a variety of payment types without overwhelming the customer, Hawkins said.

“We don’t want to have every [payment type] out there because more is not always more — sometimes you confuse them with 20 different options,” he said. Payment types like Apple Pay and PayPal speed up the checkout process and save the time needed to enter credit card and shipping information, he added.

3. Optimize the website

Forever 21 took steps to make its website faster for consumers through a third-party vendor, Hawkins said. The entire website is cached and content is loaded from servers close to the customer. About a month after rolling out this change, the website was 50%-80% faster, depending on the device used to access it, he said. 

Consumers don’t have the patience to wait for slow-loading checkout pages, and they expect an instantaneous experience, Hawkins said. Meeting that expectation is good for conversion.

4. Personalization

Forever 21 also added a behavior-informed aspect to its checkout process. For example, a customer will see personalized recommendations when they’re at the checkout page based on other information they’ve shared. There are also recommendations on pages of different products.

“I think checkout is an important piece, but you want to speed the entire process up,” Hawkins said of the customer’s shopping experience.

He noted that speeding up the customer’s journey to checkout is important for retailers to think about, and personalized recommendations help consumers quickly find products they’re interested in. Revenue from personalized recommendations has doubled in the eight months since Forever 21 launched the feature, he said.

5. Show customers omnichannel options

Retailers should give customers many options for receiving a product and make it easier for them to decide to check out, Hawkins said. Forever 21 offers ship to home and store pickup. That helps Forever 21 appeal to consumers with slightly different preferences. For example, a customer who doesn’t want to pay for shipping can elect to ship to a store for free. Or, someone who needs a specific dress by that evening can purchase it via buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) and have it within a few hours.

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Adobe says its data is based on more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail ecommerce sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories.

“In an unpredictable economic environment, the latest data from Adobe Analytics shows continued resilience in the digital economy, as consumers embrace new categories online,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “Groceries is a standout, and Adobe expects that in the next three years, the category will be a dominant force in e-commerce that is on par with electronics and apparel in revenue share.”

In total, 333 online retailers in the Top 1000 use Adobe for vendor services including — but not limited to — its ecommerce platform. Some use it for web analytics, performance and hosting, as well as cloud services and more. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking the largest North American online retailers based on their annual web sales.

Top online retail sales categories through April

From Jan. 1 through April 30, consumers spent $331.6 billion online, the data shows.

Adobe Analytics projects more than $500 billion in U.S. retail ecommerce spending in the first half of 2024. That would represent at least 6.8% year-over-year growth, based on Adobe data from 2023.

Electronics, apparel and grocery sales guided retail ecommerce spending through April this year, Adobe said. Consumers spent $61.8 billion online on electronics (3.1% year-over-year growth), $54.5 billion on apparel (2.6% growth) and $38.8 billion on groceries (15.7% growth), the data showed.

The cosmetics category also grew year over year — up 8% to $13.2 billion. In all of 2023, the cosmetics category accounted for $35 billion in online sales, which was up 15.6% year over year.

Adobe found that within the grocery category, “goods with low inflation saw revenue grow by 13.4%, while products with high inflation saw revenue drop by 15.6%. The effect was less pronounced in a category such as cosmetics (revenue up 3.06% for low-inflation goods, down only 0.34% for high-inflation goods), as consumers exhibit stronger loyalty for their favorite brands.”

Consumers fight inflation while shopping online

Adobe separated its data into four price quartiles. Going back to January 2019 from April 2024, it found that the share of the cheapest products “increased significantly across categories.”

• Personal care (up 96%)
• Electronics (up 64%)
• Apparel (up 47%)
• Home/garden (up 42%)
• Furniture/bedding (up 42%)
• Grocery (up 33%)

Although to a lesser extent, the sales share of cheapest goods also grew for:

• Sporting goods (up 28%)
• Appliances (up 26%)
• Tools/home improvement (up 26%)
• Toys (up 25%)

Adobe noted that these are categories where brand loyalty has more of an impact on consumers’ decision-making. It also said consumers tend to invest in higher-quality products within these categories.

Retail ecommerce trends and forecasts in early 2024

In a different way of combating inflation, U.S. consumers continue to use BNPL (buy now, pay later) “for greater flexibility in managing their budgets,” Adobe said.

Through April this year, consumers used BNPL to spend $25.9 billion. That’s up 11.8% through the same period last year.

Adobe projects that to grow through 2024, driving between $81 billion and $84.8 billion. That would put year-over-year growth between 8% and 13%, Adobe said.

Mobile commerce also grew in the first four months of 2024, bringing in $156.9 billion in online sales. That’s up 9.8% over the same period in 2023. Adobe projects mobile sales to take a 52.5% share of online revenue in 2024 holiday spending (November through December). In the 2023 holiday season, mobile spending surpasses desktop for the first time at 51% share of November and December sales. Mobile spending in the 2023 holiday season peaked on Christmas at 61% share of sales.

When it comes to marketing channels, paid search has driven the largest share of sales this year, Adobe said. It attributes 28.2% of retail ecommerce spending to paid search, and:

• 19..6% to direct web visits
• 17.1% to affiliates/partners (17.1%)
• 15.9% to organic search (15.9%)
• 15.4% to email

Revenue that Adobe directly attributes to social media remained at less than 5% of total sales, but that share has grown 5.2% year over year in 2024. Organic search has declined 5.6%, Adobe said, driving 15.9% of total sales so far this year.

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Functionally, the partnership means checkout experiences can be localized with support for multiple currencies. That means merchants will gain flexibility in positioning their web stores for customers in different markets.

Among retailers in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest North American e-retailers by online sales, 32 use Global-e for international ecommerce services.

Use of Global-e for payments on Wix sites

“Our collaboration with Global-e removes the complications involved in selling online internationally, enabling Wix merchants to maximize their reach globally, breaking down barriers to international commerce,” said Oren Inditzky, who serves as vice president of online stores at Wix. “Global-e’s expertise in global eCommerce aligns seamlessly with our mission to democratize eCommerce and empower online businesses of all sizes around the world.”

Wix claimed to have more than 263 million registered users at the end of 2023. That was up 8% from a year earlier. Among those users, nearly 683,000 Wix sites operate as stores, according to the data platform Store Leads.

Global-e’s focus on cross-border transactions

“The global D2C e-commerce market is consistently growing, presenting brands an immense opportunity to drive growth and generate new revenue streams,” said Dan Brow, vice president of global partnerships at Global-e. “However, the ‘global market’ is not one market; rather, it’s an amalgamation of hundreds of markets, each with its own characteristics, regulations and local consumer preferences.”

The Wix partnership will focus on key features from Global-e’s portfolio. Those include:

• Pricing and selling in more than 100 supported currencies
• Welcome message and checkout localization
• Local tax and duty options
• Flexible pricing by country
• Payment processing with fraud-prevention support
• Logistics for shipping options, local and pre-paid returns, a customer service portal and import processing
• Analytics and data for local insights

Wix’s reported earnings for its fiscal year 2023

The Global-e announcement preceded Wix’s public earnings announcement on Feb. 21, covering the company’s fiscal fourth quarter and full year for 2023. Tel Aviv-based Wix reported $1.56 billion in revenue for its full year 2023, up 13% year over year. Fourth-quarter revenue was $403.8 million, a 14% increase year over year. The company cited commerce on its users’ sites as an anticipated source of new business.

“[Average revenue per subscriber] improved to more than $253 in 2023, up 10% year over year, driven by a continued mixed shift to higher-tier packages, higher pricing, and increased adoption and usage of business solution products as we continue to onboard higher-intent and commerce-oriented users, particularly partners,” said Nir Zohar, president and chief operations officer at Wix, in the company’s earnings call, according to a transcript posted on Seeking Alpha. “Existing cohort behavior also improved, compared to the prior year, demonstrated by net revenue retention increasing to 105% in 2023, from 102% in 2022.”

Zohar noted the most common types of ecommerce sites Wix users tend to build, underscoring who is using their platform.

“You have to also remember that we have a very wide activity of commerce,” Zohar explained. “So not only shops, but also people are selling scheduling time, selling digital goods, booking, selling tickets to events, booking hotels, et cetera. And I think that in most of these cases, we’re seeing a positive upward trend.”

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Adrien Nussenbaum, co-CEO, Mirakl

2023 marked a “year of maturity for Mirakl,” says Adrien Nussenbaum, co-founder and co-CEO. “Not only did we significantly increase our annual recurring revenue … but we are now financially self-sustaining.”

Nussenbaum adds that Mirakl powers ecommerce operations for more than 450 enterprises. They include B2B companies Airbus Helicopters, pharmaceuticals distributor Cencora (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen), Mitsubishi Electric, restaurant supplier Parts Town and Toyota Material Handling. Among its retailer clients, Mirakl counts Macy’s, Best Buy, Kroger and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Mirakl-powered B2B marketplace sales

Mirakl says the gross merchandise volume on the Mirakl Marketplace Platform, which client companies use for first-party and third-party ecommerce sales and drop-shipping, grew 50% year over year in 2023 to $8.6 billion.

In addition, Mirakl generated a 20% increase in annual revenue to nearly $160 million.

Nussenbaum says Mirakl has been expanding and upgrading its digital commerce and marketing products and services in several areas to help online sellers meet rising expectations of personalized and helpful online buying journeys.

For example, Mirakl introduced last year a program for integrating AI technology across several Mirakl technology platforms:

• Mirakl Marketplace.
• Catalog platform for onboarding sellers’ product information.
• Target2Sell content personalization.
• Target2Sell content personalization.
• Mirakl Ads online advertising program for promoting products on e-marketplace pages.

Mirakl says that, through a feature developed on generative AI, Mirakl customers “can enhance the data quality and completeness of product catalogs, boost search engine rankings, and increase conversions automatically by optimizing product titles, descriptions and attributes.”

It adds that Mirakl has also developed AI-powered language translations to help online sellers “expand their business into new territories.”

In addition, Mirakl launched in 2023 the Mirakl Payout for online payment transactions and a global arrangement with marketing and communications firm Havas Group.

In a sign of what it expects more robust growth to come, Mirakl said it achieved a record $1 billion in monthly GMV in November. And it noted that more than 30 Mirakl-powered marketplaces surpassed the $100 million GMV mark last year, including several that surpassed $500 million.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s MSC Industrial report.

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Below, we recap some of Digital Commerce 360’s most insightful articles about online retailers from 2023 regarding 10 key coverage areas:

1. Industry news and trends (including the Bed Bath & Beyond saga)
2. Artificial intelligence
3. Digital marketing
4. Exploring new technology
5. Fulfillment and delivery
6. Livestreaming
7. Mergers and acquisitions
8. Online marketplaces
9. Payments and fraud
10. Sustainability

These stories highlight meaningful changes to online retailers’ ecommerce operations in 2023. Most notably, they include new and improved technologies and strategies that online retailers have implemented. We published roundups specifically for some of these coverage areas over the first couple weeks of 2024, and we link to them below. Those topic roundups — about artificial intelligence, fulfillment and delivery, and payments and fraud — include subtopics.

1) Industry news and trends

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse hit the ecommerce world. See a list of impacted companies.

The bank had a history of investing in ecommerce startups, and Etsy, Shopify, and others had accounts with Silicon Valley Bank. 

Gathering data in the age of privacy 

Learning how to collect and use first-party data is key if retailers are to navigate a world without third-party cookies. 

Data shows online retailers with the highest carbon footprints

Websites emit carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). Recent data shows which retailers top the list of offenders versus those who don’t. 

Retail profitability rebounds but remains pressured by online costs

Retailers’ profits declined from 2012-2019, in part due to the costs associated with online and omnichannel sales, but bounced back during the pandemic, Deloitte says. Cutting costs, including by limiting free shipping and handling returns more efficiently, will be essential to maintaining profit margins.

What ecommerce retailers can learn from HomeGoods exit

Despite giving ecommerce a go, HomeGoods found out that off-price retailing is not well suited for its online sales.

1.5) The Bed Bath & Beyond saga

Amid all this ecommerce news and the largest online retail trends of 2023, one story remained at the forefront for months. Bed Bath & Beyond’s downfall had — and continues to have — a meaningful impact on the retail industry.

Bed Bath & Beyond says it’s not beyond help, but reports further losses

Coming just days after the retailer said it might seek bankruptcy protection, the poor earnings report paints a dismal picture for the beleaguered retailer. 

Which retailers will benefit from Bed Bath & Beyond’s demise?

Bed Bath & Beyond’s bankruptcy presents an opportunity for retailers to cash in on the shopping experience both in store and online. 

Overstock CEO says brand name is a “boat anchor” ahead of Bed Bath & Beyond relaunch

Revenue and other key metrics were down for Overstock, but CEO Jonathan Johnson says the Bed Bath & Beyond relaunch will be a “new phase.” 

Goodbye, hello: Buy Buy Baby preps to be born again

Under new ownership, Bed Bath & Beyond’s former baby-products retailing unit plans an ecommerce and brick-and-mortar revival.

2) Artificial intelligence

Perhaps the most-talked-about subject for months, if not the entire year, artificial intelligence had a resurgence in 2023. Many retailers were already using it — and machine-learning technology — to guide operating processes. But then, generative AI entered the arena at the end of 2022, and it drew global attention to its capabilities. Here’s how some online retailers are leading AI integration into ecommerce.

3) Digital marketing

How are digital marketers using AI to boost conversion?

Artificial intelligence allows digital marketers to quickly test how consumers respond to ads, images and emails. Over time, the algorithm learns, and its predictions become more accurate. Learn how three retailers increased their online sales after investing in AI.

Online flower retailer UrbanStems increases conversion 12% during Valentine’s Day season

Conversion through paid social channels drove that overall increase, growing 83% year over year.

Why wacky ads work on TikTok, while sober is better for Facebook

Four online marketers share ways they curate their brands’ social media content to cater to their target audience on each platform, and explain when it’s OK to repurpose content.

80% of Chico’s customers sign up for its loyalty program in the first nine months

Chico’s updated its loyalty program for the first time in 30 years, and after one year, more than 80% of customers are members.

Lights, camera, conversion: How some retailers use videos to entice shoppers to buy

Online retailers use video to provide shoppers with a rich customer experience that informs, engages and converts.

4) Exploring new technology

Generative AI wasn’t the only new technology to hit retailers’ tech stacks in 2023. Companies dived into the metaverse and other virtual realities. They also took advantage of atypical payment methods and found ways to change business models entirely.

American Girl invests in its virtual museum

The retailer’s digital museum provides content so girls can play, learn more about the brand’s doll characters and create product wish lists.

Crurated’s wine platform uses NFTs and memberships to find a younger market

70% of Crurated’s members using the blockchain wine service are under 45 years old.

Forever 21 caters to Gen Z shoppers with fast checkout, metaverse products

Despite an initially turbulent relationship, apparel brand Forever 21 and payment provider Bolt Financial are now touting positive results from the integration of the streamlined checkout button.

What online retailers can learn from Evite’s business model pivot

Evite’s customer experience suffered because of the company’s reliance on advertising revenue, CEO David Yeom tells Digital Commerce 360. Evite took the lull in parties during the pandemic to overhaul its revenue streams. 

UK crafts retailer uses data to guide website replatforming process

Hobbycraft had to learn what parts of its website did and didn’t make sense for its shoppers, what bugs to work out, and what changes its website wasn’t capable of. And after about 12 years with its previous website, it replatformed in March 2022.

5) Fulfillment and delivery

Online retailers continued learning how to cut and manage shipping costs in 2023. Some major retailers optimized fulfillment and delivery by using stores to fulfill orders, whether via delivering from them or urging customers to use in-store and curbside pickup options. These stories highlight meaningful fulfillment trends among online retailers in 2023.

6) Livestreaming

Natori invests in livestreaming to appeal to new generation of customers

Luxury apparel brand The Natori Co. believes livestreaming will enable the brand to appeal to new customers. 

Orchard Mile takes control by livestreaming its own shopping events

Luxury online marketplace Orchard Mile hosts livestreaming shopping events through its own website rather than other channels. 

Newegg livestreams more than 24 hours a day

Newegg livestreams 30 hours of content on weekdays, which includes livestreams across its six handles and in China. 

Women’s apparel retailer ‘Evereve TV’ attracts shoppers, increases conversion

Evereve staff model clothing and share their styling tips through video on the retailer’s Evereve TV — and it’s boosting sales.

7) Mergers and acquisitions

Although there were many more mergers and acquisitions in 2023, these are some of the most notable ones impacting the industry.

Walmart sells outdoor retailer Moosejaw to Dick’s Sporting Goods

It’s the latest example of Walmart selling off online-focused brands it acquired as it bulked up its ecommerce business several years ago. Moosejaw will be part of the Public Lands outdoor business unit that Dick’s launched in 2021. 

Unilever is selling Dollar Shave Club after seven years

Private equity firm Nexus Capital Management will acquire a 65% stake in Dollar Shave Club, with Unilever retaining 35%. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. 

UPS to acquire Happy Returns

Happy Returns’ service for online orders will soon be available at more than 12,000 U.S. locations, the CEO of UPS says.

What Sycamore gets for $1 billion to buy Chico’s

Private equity firm Sycamore Partners unsuccessfully tried to buy Chico’s FAS in 2019. Why is Chico’s worth $1 billion? 

Why a serial ecommerce entrepreneur bought Blue Apron

Blue Apron is being sold to Wonder Group, an online food-to-home delivery company, founded by serial ecommerce entrepreneur Marc Lore.

8) Online marketplaces

Michael’s is the latest retailer to add a third-party marketplace

The digital marketplace will quadruple the number of products for sale, with the majority from third-party sellers.

Walmart and Amazon are growing their online marketplaces. Here’s how they compare.

They are both growing the number of third-party sellers on their online marketplaces, but Amazon has a significant lead. 

Selling on Amazon is key for SMBs, but it might not make money

Small and medium-sized retailers say selling on Amazon is a necessary part of customer acquisition, despite added costs. 

Amazon fee change ‘completely out of the blue’ for some Amazon sellers

Amazon announced it will end its Small and Light Program and introduce Low-Price FBA rates for all items priced below $10 (previously $12). 

Prime Day’s mixed message: some merchants boost prices during the event

Last year, retailers raised prices on 13% of top-selling items during the Prime Day promotion, according to new research. And this year, Amazon rolled out invitation-only deals that limit price drops to select shoppers. 

Amazon announces updates to Buy with Prime to stay competitive

Updating Buy with Prime is a way for Amazon to collect data and keep its market share while competing with Shopify.

What were the biggest ecommerce takeaways from Amazon’s Q2 earnings call?

CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon is developing more AI technology, making its fulfillment more efficient and improving its B2B division for business buyers.

EBay rolls out its generative AI listing tool to all marketplace sellers in app

The generative AI tool writes product descriptions for eBay’s app marketplace sellers based on their listing’s metadata. 

Michaels launches MakerPlace online marketplace

Michaels MakerPlace does not charge sellers a listing fee and allows them to sell access to virtual classes and how-to guides. 

9) Payments and fraud

Buy now, pay later was already on the rise going into 2023, when its popularity continued to grow. And as retailers considered implementing BNPL, even if late in the game, they also looked into other ways to make the payments process smoother for their consumers. These stories highlight meaningful payments and fraud trends from last year, showing how online retailers are staying focused on their bottom lines.

10) Sustainability

Grove Collaborative CEO talks sustainable shipping

With a goal to be plastic-free by 2025, personal care and home products brand Grove details ways it makes direct-to-consumer shipping more sustainable.

The secondhand retail industry grew 28% in 2022, according to ThredUp’s latest report

The report shows Gen Z and millennials are growing more open to buying and selling used clothing online. 

How an apparel brand eliminates polybags

Toad and Co. commits to less packaging by sending orders in reusable bags and switching to paper-based polybags that can be regularly recycled.

Bedding brand aims for luxury unboxing without extra tissue paper

Beflax, a small online business, ships its $300 linen bedsheets in reusable packages. The brand wants its customers to have a premium package without extra waste.

Jewelry retailer strives for sustainability on different levels

J’evar uses an in-house generative AI tool to boost its sustainability efforts, which also include using a solar farm to grow its own diamonds.

Archive helps retailers resell their own products

Hanna Andersson customers take advantage of store credit options as they list items on the retailer’s Hanna-Me-Downs resale site. 

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The post Editors’ picks: Our favorite stories about online retailers in 2023 appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.