Global Ecommerce made over $1.35 billion last year for Pitney Bowes. That was more than 40% of Pitney’s total revenue of $3.27 billion that year. It also led Pitney Bowes’ fiscal first quarter, which ended March 31, with segment revenue of $333 million. Global Ecommerce provides business-to-consumer online companies with logistics services for domestic and cross-border fulfillment, delivery and returns throughout the U.S. and more than 200 other countries.

132 retailers in the Top 1000 use Pitney Bowes as a shipping carrier. Those 132 retailers made more than $529 billion in 2023 web sales, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. Additionally, 68 use it for international ecommerce services, and 16 use it for fulfillment services. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking North America’s largest online retailers by their web sales.

Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce hits growing pains

In this year’s first quarter, “Global Ecommerce grew domestic parcel volumes 20% in a challenging market and reduced operating expenses,” Pitney’s then-interim CEO Jason Dies said on a Q1 earnings call.

But Global Ecommerce, one of three Pitney operating segments, has also been reporting the company’s steepest segment revenue and earnings declines: a Q1 EBITDA loss widened 14% year over year to $21 million as the unit’s revenue fell 26% to $333 million. By comparison, Pitney’s other two segments — SendTech Solutions (a mailing technology and services unit) and Presort Services (a mail-sortation business) — each amassed relatively strong financial quarters, as Pitney Bowes’ total revenue dipped by 0.005% to $830.51 million.

In 2023, Global Ecommerce’s revenue fell 14% year over year to $1.36 billion, as Pitney Bowes total revenue dropped 8% to $3.3 billion.

Lance Rosenzweig, interim CEO, Pitney Bowes Inc.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based company, under a new interim CEO appointed in May, Lance Rosenzweig, is conducting a review of Global Ecommerce’s options going forward. In addition, it recently sold the unit’s fulfillment services business to Stord, an Atlanta-based company that specializes in providing fulfillment services to online merchants. Pitney Bowes didn’t provide details on that sale but told industry publication Freightwaves that fulfillment services were a “small piece of the business.”

Rosenzweig joins Pitney Bowes after serving as a top executive at several public and private companies, including Boingo Wireless, technical support services firm Support.com, and customer experience software company Startek.

Pitney seeks a new head of Global Ecommerce

Gregg Zegras, former president, Global Ecommerce, Pitney Bowes

The Global Ecommerce unit’s recently departed president, Pitney veteran Gregg Zegras, retired earlier this month. Pitney Bowes has yet to name a replacement for Zegras.

Pitney Bowes said earlier this month that it was in the final stages of an “expedited strategic review of Global Ecommerce to eliminate ongoing operating losses.” The company recently identified $70 million in cost savings outside of Global Ecommerce and expects to eventually realize overall savings between $120 million and $160 million.

Stord’s acquisition of Global Ecommerce’s fulfillment services includes a 640,000-square-foot warehouse facility in Hebron, Kentucky, with robotic automation and other features. Stord said that facility is now the largest warehouse in its North American network.

Earlier this year, Stord acquired Pro-Pack Logistics, a fulfillment services provider to multichannel merchants in the U.S. and Canada, and it launched Stord Europe with fulfillment centers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to support B2B and B2C markets throughout Europe. Stord says it manages more than $5 billion in commerce annually through its fulfillment, warehousing and transportation services.

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

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The post Pitney Bowes reworks its biggest unit by revenue: Global Ecommerce appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

States, for example, have been collecting sales tax on ecommerce purchases by consumers and businesses for years.

Now, a growing number of states, including Colorado, Minnesota and Washington, are looking for options. Solutions include collecting a percentage of the fee consumers and businesses pay to have ecommerce packages delivered to homes or offices to pay for road repair and related projects.

How ecommerce is taxed in Colorado and Minnesota

For example, in 2022, Colorado became the first state to impose a retail delivery fee. That became one component of a 10-year, $5.4 billion transportation funding package. The retail delivery fee is expected to bring in $78 million a year. At that level, the fee represented approximately 15% of new revenues in the package.

All businesses were initially required to collect and remit a 27-cent fee on each retail delivery order by motor vehicle placed to a location in Colorado. Since being implemented, the fee has increased to 28 cents. However, Colorado also has amended the law to exempt businesses with $500,000 or less in annual sales from having to collect the fee.

Currently, two states — Colorado and Minnesota — have passed bills that collect a percentage of ecommerce delivery fees for fixing roads, bridges, and related transportation infrastructure.

Now, Washington is considering similar legislation. Washington has 57,000 miles of city and county streets. They account for 71% of the total miles in the state, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Cities primarily fund their transportation systems on their own. As they do, 69% of transportation expenditures come from local sources, which face pressure due to competing local demands and structural budget deficits.

Meanwhile, the state’s share, which comes from state fuel tax receipts, is in decline. As a result, local governments are searching for new transportation revenue sources, according to a newly published report from the Washington State Joint Transportation Committee.

Why Washington is considering new legislation

A fee in Washington of 30 cents per order could generate between $45 million and $112 million in revenue in 2026, according to the report. The authors estimate that could grow to between $59 million and $160 million by 2030.

The cost to implement is estimated between $200,000 and $540,000 per year over the first several years.

So far, Washington has produced only one report. Meanwhile, no bill thus far has been introduced in the Washington state legislature.

Still, consumer and business ecommerce spending continues to increase. As it does, even more deliveries are being made. And more states including New York, Ohio, Nevada, Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington are exploring taxing delivery fees for road repair revenue.

“While neither Nevada nor Ohio has moved forward with a delivery fee, both states assessed the mechanism’s viability as a revenue mechanism including its revenue stability, efficiency, ease of administration, social equity, user equity, and transparency,” the report says.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The post Tax-hungry states eye ecommerce delivery fees to fund road repair appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

A new study from researchers at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., finds that people living in communities located next to large warehouses are exposed to 20% more of a traffic-related air pollutant that can lead to asthma and other life-threatening health conditions.

“Increased truck traffic to and from these recently built large warehouses means people living downwind are inhaling an increased amount of harmful nitrogen dioxide pollution,” says Gaige Kerr, an assistant research professor of environmental and occupational health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. “Communities of color are disproportionately affected because they often live in close proximity to warehouses, especially dense clusters of warehouses.”

Ecommerce warehouses worsen air quality

Researchers measured nitrogen dioxide levels by using a satellite instrument from the European Space Agency to zero in from space on the nearly 150,000 large warehouses located across the U.S.

Trucks and other vehicles traveling to and from these large warehouses spew out nitrogen dioxide, particulates, and other harmful pollutants, the study says.

The researchers also looked at traffic information from the Federal Highway Administration and demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

A major cause of added pollution has been the boom in warehouse construction. That boom was spurred by record levels of ecommerce buying from consumers and businesses. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic fueled the explosion of the ecommerce industry and warehouses that receive and sort consumer goods. As a result, the transportation infrastructure needed to ship goods to warehouses and then on to consumers is enormous, according to the researchers. Amazon, specifically, an industry leader in ecommerce, operated 175,000 delivery vans and more than 37,000 semi-trailers in 2021.

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 by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV). Digital Commerce 360 projects Amazon’s total web sales in 2024 will reach $469.01 billion.

According to the study, although warehouses are located all over the US, 20% are concentrated in just 10 counties:

• Maricopa, Arizona
• Alameda, California
• Los Angeles, California
• Orange, California
• San Bernardino, California
• Miami-Dade, Florida
• Cook, Illinois
• Cuyahoga, Ohio
• Dallas, Texas
• Harris, Texas

Key findings from the study

• Although the average spike of nitrogen dioxide associated with warehouses was 20%, nitrogen dioxide levels near warehouses were even larger when there was greater heavy-duty vehicle activity near these facilities.
• Warehouses with more loading docks and parking spaces attract the most traffic. They are also associated with the highest nitrogen dioxide levels.
• Communities with large racial and ethnic minority populations are often located near warehouses. Thus, they inhale more nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants. The proportion of Hispanic and Asian people living close to the largest clusters of warehouses is about 250% higher than the average nationwide.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. 

The post Warehouse boom tied to ecommerce growth yields bad air quality appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

A Houthi spokesperson stated in December that they would target “ships affiliated to Israel or transporting commodities to Israeli ports” and continue to do so if “food and medicine keep not accessing the Gaza Strip.”

The online freight-booking and payments platform said it facilitated a 32% year-over-year increase in the number of transactions to 316,500, exceeding management’s Q2 expectations.

Freightos transaction volume in Q2

Freightos said in a statement that it had expected transaction volume to grow between 27% and 29% to a range of 303,000 and 309,000 transactions. It also said the Q2 growth rate of 32% outpaced its long-term targeted growth rate range of 20-30%.

“This significant transaction growth highlights the growing adoption of digital solutions in the freight industry,” Freightos said.

Freightos added that steady freight prices resulted in corresponding increases in its Q2 gross booking value. It also exceeded expectations by growing 31% to $203.4 million. Freightos had expected Q2 booking value would rise only 15%-18% to a range of $178 million to $182 million.

Freightos lets importers and exporters compare freight shipping rates, book shipments and pay for services through Freightos.com. It also provides software for air and ocean carriers and freight forwarders for managing quoting, pricing, bookings and other operations.

An expanding base of buyers and carriers

Despite its prior slower-growth expectations, Freightos prepared in Q2 for more long-term growth by expanding its air and ocean carrier network by 38% to 51 from 37 carriers. In addition, its number of unique “buyer users” in Q2 increased 16% to approximately 19,000.

Freightos notes that its buyer organizations range from small and midsized businesses to large multinational organizations. Its number of buyer users includes all the individuals placing bookings on its platform. A spokesman adds that Freightos has an average of more than 5,000 bookings per workday.

“This growth underscores the ongoing marketplace network effects, where buyers attract sellers and sellers attract buyers,” Freightos said.

Handling spot freight market growth

Freightos also attributed its growth to its ability to serve the spot freight market, or freight shipments handled outside of long-term contracts.

“This momentum represents the continued digitalization of the spot freight market, estimated to comprise 30%-50% of the total air and ocean freight market,” the marketplace company said.

As part of its carrier network expansion, Freightos in June announced agreements with Thai Airlines and Coyne Airways, carriers on Freightos.com that will use the WebCargo by Freightos digital booking and payment platform to manage freight services across areas including Asia, Africa, and the Persian Gulf and Caspian regions.

Barcelona, Spain-based Freightos said it will host a conference call to discuss its Q2 financial results and Q3 outlook on Aug. 19.

Here’s last quarter’s update on Freightos.

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

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The post Digital trends drive growth at global shipping marketplace Freightos appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Brick Meets Click and Mercatus define the three receiving methods for online grocery sales as:

• Delivery: Includes orders received from a first- or third-party provider like Instacart, Shipt or the retailer’s own employees.
• Pickup: Includes orders received by customers either inside or outside a store or at a designated location/locker.
• Ship-to-home: Includes orders that are received via common or contract carriers like FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc.

Pickup, the largest segment by sales, remained flat year over year, but delivery and ship-to-home both grew.

“Delivery’s strong performance in June likely benefited from the promotional offers made last month, first by Instacart and then by Walmart,” said David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, in a statement. “These promotions focused on delivery and offered deep discounts on each service’s annual membership fees, which helped boost both MAUs [monthly average users] and order frequency for delivery and for Walmart.”

June 2024 data was based on a survey of 1,744 adults in the United States and a similar survey in June 2023 of 1,769 adults, Brick Meets Click said.

June online grocery sales

Online grocery sales in June 2024 grew compared to June 2023. They also grew compared to May 2024, which saw a year-over-year decline.

June online grocery sales hit $7.7 billion, according to Brick Meets Click and Mercatus. That’s an 8.0% increase from $7.1 billion in June 2023.

Online grocery delivery sales grew to $2.9 billion in June 2024. That’s up 18% from $2.5 billion in the prior-year period.

Similarly, ship-to-home sales grew to $1.3 billion in June 2024. That’s a nearly 10% increase from $1.2 billion in June 2023. That marked the fourth straight month of year-over-year sales gains for the segment. Brick Meets Click and Mercatus attributed that growth to an increase in average order value (AOV) despite a 1% reduction in MAUs and a decline in order frequency.

Impact of Mass Merchants on monthly online grocery sales

The overall online grocery MAU base grew nearly 4% year over year in June, driven almost entirely by reactivating lapsed users, Brick Meets Click and Mercatus said. The increase in customers in June 2024 is largely due to less-frequent users making another order or lapsed customers who are giving the service another chance, they said.

Nearly a third of customers bought online from both grocery stores and Mass Merchants — such as Walmart, Target or Costco — Brick Meets Click and Mercatus data showed. In June, 31.6% of online grocery store shoppers also received an online grocery order from a Mass Merchant. More specifically, the share of online grocery store shoppers who also ordered groceries online from Walmart reached 22%.

Walmart, Target and Costco each rank in the top 10 within Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 Database. The database ranks North America’s leading online retailers by their web sales.

In terms of where surveyed households report buying most of their groceries, whether in-store or online, Mass Merchants expanded their share to 42% in June 2024. Meanwhile, supermarket operators’ share dipped to 39%.

“Regional grocers need to stem the tide and regain market share by leveling the playing field against Mass Merchants, despite these rivals having a price advantage,” said Mark Fairhurst, chief growth officer at Mercatus, in a statement. “Integrating personalized and targeted promotions into their first-party platform experience will be key to re-engaging lapsed customers and improving repeat purchase rates. Additionally, incorporating high-level, in-store customer service into the digital experience — a strength that regionals are known for — will be crucial and can give them an advantage over their mass [merchant] competitors.”

Read last month’s update here.

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post June online grocery sales grow as fulfillment methods get more use appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

How Dave Boone — who was named interim CEO in May to replace Harry Dochelli, who retired — intends to do that is by transforming a traditional distribution company into a more streamlined organization focused on digital commerce and transformation.

Essendant is a national wholesale distributor with consolidated annual net sales of more than $5 billion. The company’s new corporate emphasis is on a new program Essendant calls Connected Commerce.

Essendant emphasizes its Connected Commerce services

Connected Commerce brings together Essendant’s capabilities to serve B2B sellers more effectively. It also seeks to efficiently drive visibility through a comprehensive platform of digital services that include:

• A connection to most major marketplaces, B2B platforms, and web stores. It also connects to nine of the top 10 national retailers.
• Deep ecommerce service and channel expertise for more than 1,300 major brands and 560 suppliers. This comes through 20 online storefronts and marketplaces.
• Fulfillment expertise and fast delivery. This includes next-day delivery to 98% of the U.S. with a national network of more than 20 fulfillment centers.
• A big focus will be on serving companies across the spectrum in business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C).

“50% of the shipments we make from our distribution centers go direct to the end user and are an ecommerce shipment,” Boone tells Digital Commerce 360. “This (Connected Commerce) is building what this company has been doing for a long time. What we have realized in the past six months has been that we have a set of assets that, put together properly, are a very compelling proposition for brands.”

Essendant is based in Deerfield, Illinois. Today, it distributes 2,000 brands and 80,000 SKUs across all major channels.

Key features of Connected Commerce

Through its new Connected Commerce program, Essendant will offer customers and users a defined set of tools and digital features. These tools enable them to:

• See optimized product listings and content for each channel.
• Have real-time inventory access.
• Implement performance tracking and trended guidance.
• Conduct pricing analysis and view competitive insights.
• Digitally monitor the sales process across marketplaces and channels.
• Use compliance expertise to sell directly to major retailers.
• Use a flexible network of coast-to-coast fulfillment centers.

“We have the fulfillment network established and have the capacity to grow it in the marketplace,” Boone says. “The second thing I think we have that is underappreciated is that this business is connected to every significant platform and company in the U.S. — that’s a big opportunity.”

Going into the next two decades with an organization with an established infrastructure and strategy focused on connected commerce will help Essendant conduct business in new and better ways, he says.

Boone, Essendant to keynote at EnvisionB2B 2024

“As we look at the next 10-20 years for this company — the ongoing growth of ecommerce B2B and B2C — we just felt that if we put these assets together in a more in a more comprehensive solution that it would be powerful.”

Boone and Essendant will be talking more about Essendant’s ongoing digital transformation at EnvisionB2B 2024 on Sept. 12 in Chicago.

His afternoon keynote fireside chat — A Better Way To (E)Commerce Excellence — will focus on how brand office supplies and industrial products manufacturers and distributors collaborate for growth through digital channels.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The post B2B distributor Essendant reinvents itself through Connected Commerce, digital transformation appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

But now, Pandion has raised money from Revolution Growth. Pandion is a parcel network designed for ecommerce residential delivery and founded by Amazon Air founder Scott Ruffin.

Pandion last-mile delivery gets funding boost for new management

With the new funds, Pandion has added new hires to its management ranks including:

• Brent Cervenka joins as chief operating officer, bringing 26 years of experience from Flexport, Pitney Bowes, Target and Amazon, where he led the launch and development of its middle-mile transportation and sortation networks.
• Jeff Petersen rejoins Pandion as head of network design and strategy. His 29-year career has included transportation and logistics roles at Flexport, Walmart, J.W. Logistics, Amazon, Target and FedEx Express.
• Jay Sackos joins as vice president of sales, having spent 20 years in transportation sales at Dolly, Schneider National and C.H. Robinson.
• Austin Luhman is the new head of product, bringing 20 years of product development and leadership experience from roles at Veho, Walmart, Jet and others.

Pandion is also using its recently raised funding to:

• Accelerate the growth of its residential parcel delivery network, including building innovative technology offerings.
• Expand its geographic reach.
• Increase delivery speed for customers like Saks Fifth Avenue.

“With this new funding and the expansion of our leadership team, Pandion is positioned to disrupt ecommerce delivery for brands of all sizes,” Ruffin said. “Companies can no longer rely on just the national parcel carriers, but they also don’t have the capabilities and resources to build their own parcel delivery capability or a diversified network of national and regional carriers. They need an alternative. That’s where Pandion comes in.”

New investors Proof and Sentinel Global added to the Pandion funding. Existing investors that joined in the new round of funding for Pandion include:

• Playground Global
• Prologis Ventures
• Bow Capital
• Telstra Ventures
• AME Cloud Ventures
• Schematic Ventures

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The post A last-mile delivery startup rounds out its management team with ecommerce veterans appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

CEO Rodney McMullen said in an earnings call with investors that Kroger expects customer sentiment “to continue improving” as inflation moderates. But for now, many are “managing economic uncertainty.”

“As we’ve seen over recent quarters, customers continue to seek value and are shopping with us differently based on their financial situations,” McMullen said. “Spending from premium and mainstream customers continue to be strong.”

He added that Kroger is starting to see positive signs among its “most budget-conscious households.”

Kroger has moved up to No. 6 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking the largest online retailers in North America. Kroger is first in the Top 1000’s Food/Beverage category. However, it competes with Mass Merchants that rank higher than it in the Top 1000 — Walmart and Target — for online grocery sales.

Kroger digital sales

In Q1, Kroger said, it accelerated its digital presence by increasing delivery sales 17% year over year. It also increased digitally engaged households 9% year over year.

Kroger digital sales increased more than 8% in Q1, said Todd Foley, interim chief financial officer, in the earnings call. For total Kroger sales, which increased to $45.3 billion in Q1, gross margin was 22.4% of sales. Whereas total sales increased slightly from $45.2 billion in the previous year’s Q1, gross margin decreased slightly (down seven basis points), he said.

McMullen said delivery and pickup both grew in the quarter. Kroger’s delivery team has improved fill rates, he said. That refers to the number of orders Kroger can ship from its available stock. It also reduced wait times and improved on how many of its orders were delivered without error, he added.

“Through the power of machine learning and AI, we are developing new ways to elevate the pickup experience for customers and at the same time reduce costs,” McMullen said. “With dynamic batching of orders, these tools are providing associates the most effective pick routes, which is enabling us to dramatically reduce pick lead time in our highest volume stores.”

Additionally, he said customers love Kroger’s delivery experience for refrigerated products. The Kroger delivery network has nearly doubled sales year over year in Q1, he said.

Personalization and retail media at Kroger

Personalization has helped Kroger engage with more digital customers, McMullen said. As a result, Kroger customers clipped 18% more digital coupons than they did in the year-ago quarter.

“Capturing more digital households is a key to our long-term growth model as these households are more loyal, spend nearly three times as much with us and drive our alternative profit businesses,” McMullen said.

Meanwhile, McMullen said Kroger Precision Marketing, the company’s retail media network, is on pace to meet full-year expectations of more than 20% growth. Kroger Precision Marketing added new capabilities with Meta on June 19, he said. It continues to “broaden its reach by offering its custom audiences and ad measurement capabilities to advertisers on the Meta social media platforms.”

McMullen said this will create more opportunities for clients to reach relevant audiences in more places.

Possible Kroger merger with Albertsons

McMullen told investors that Kroger believes its updated divestiture plan meets regulators’ concerns and will put the company in a better position to complete its merger with Albertsons.

Kroger and Albertsons announced in April a plan to sell grocery stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers. This came in response to a statement the Federal Trade Commission had released in late February calling the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger “anticompetitive” and suing to block the $24.6 billion acquisition.

McMullen said the proposed divestiture “positions C&S to be a strong and successful competitor.”

Albertsons ranks No. 24 in the Top 1000. C&S currently does not rank in the Top 1000.

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Kroger digital sales improve as total sales remain flat again in Q1 appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

The outlook for ecommerce sales in 2024 remains positive among small businesses. According to the survey, 65% of respondents anticipate that their ecommerce sales will increase year-over-year (2024 vs. 2023). 24% expect a significant increase and 41% predict a slight increase.

“This positive sentiment highlights the resilience and growth potential within the e-commerce sector, as businesses continue to adapt and find new ways to thrive in the fluctuating environment,” the survey says. “Only 6% of respondents foresee a decrease year-over-year, indicating a strong overall confidence in the continued expansion of online sales.”

However, the survey also reveals that small businesses do have some concerns over the ecommerce portions of their enterprise.

Three concerns small businesses have about ecommerce

1. Higher costs for delivery.
   Inflation and shipping costs are prominent concerns today for ecommerce businesses — large and small. The survey reveals that 40% of respondents view shipping costs as the biggest threat to their business. Meanwhile, 38% identify inflation as their primary challenge. Likewise, 60% of respondents note that inflation is the top issue they will be following for the rest of the year, compared to other subjects like the presidential election, AI regulation and ESG regulation.
2. International business growth is a top priority for SMEs.
   International expansion is a key focus for SMEs in 2024. Over half of the survey respondents (53%) see international growth as the biggest opportunity for their ecommerce business. This is further supported by their priority markets for expansion, with 43% targeting the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK), and 29% looking toward Mexico and Canada.
   “As businesses look to expand globally, customs compliance also remains top of mind, with multiple SMEs noting that compliance with destination customs to streamline clearance will be key to market growth,” according to the survey.
3. International trade.
   The views of U.S. presidential candidates on international trade are poised to significantly influence voting decisions among business owners. According to the survey, 65% of respondents agree that the candidates’ stances on international trade will affect their vote, with 23% strongly agreeing.

Submit a nomination

Nominate a game-changer for the Global B2B eCommerce Industry Awards from Digital Commerce 360 and the B2B Ecommerce Association.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. 

The post DHL: Despite a few worries, small businesses are optimistic about ecommerce appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

The company, which provides cloud-based services and an ecommerce platform for merchants, expects “a challenging season” for shoppers and retailers alike. And “we can’t say shoppers didn’t warn us,” Salesforce said. That’s because shoppers have been searching for savings and waiting to make big purchases, it said.

“After remaining largely resilient throughout four years of economic uncertainty, consumers are finally feeling the pinch,” Salesforce said in a statement. “From sustained inflation to supply chain woes, consumers worldwide have been through a lot.”

Nearly a third of global shoppers (32%) reported using alternative credit services like buy now, pay later (BNPL) more frequently this year, according to Salesforce research.

Salesforce defines the holiday season as Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. In North America, 76 of the Top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2022, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $116.97 billion in web sales.

Here are Salesforce’s five predictions about the 2024 holiday shopping season.

1. Chinese shopping apps will take over

The first Salesforce holiday shopping prediction revolves around two factors: prices and China. The company said 63% of Western consumers plan to purchase from Chinese shopping apps during the 2024 holiday season. That includes merchants such as Aliexpress, Cider, Shein, Temu and TikTok. And it all comes down to price, Salesforce said.

Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail at Salesforce, said sales increases have been “almost purely because of price increases, not increase in products sold.”

Order volumes have been falling since 2022, Salesforce said, and shoppers want their purchases to feel worth it. Salesforce projects that these Chinese shopping apps will take 21% of sales outside China itself in the 2024 holiday season.

2. Middle-mile shipping puts strain on margins

The second Salesforce prediction is that brands and retailers will spend an extra $197 billion on middle- and last-mile expenses during the 2024 holiday shopping season. That would be a 97% increase over last year’s holiday season.

The company said attacks in the Red Sea from Yemen-based Houthi forces and rising crude oil prices are driving container costs up worldwide. A Houthi spokesperson stated in December that they would target “ships affiliated to Israel or transporting commodities to Israeli ports” and continue to do so if “food and medicine keep not accessing the Gaza Strip.”

Salesforce cited a Reuters report assessing that “any ceasefire agreement would lessen the tension in the Middle East.” To date, Israel and Hamas have not agreed on terms for a ceasefire that would end the current Israeli military campaign. Israel has pushed for a six-week ceasefire, whereas Hamas has pushed for a permanent ceasefire.

Moreover, the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has stalled delivery times and added expenses for retailers. But despite these challenges, Salesforce said, retailers shouldn’t push shipping expenses onto consumers.

More than half of shoppers say they are more likely to purchase online than in a store if delivery is free, according to Salesforce. This is also in line with Digital Commerce 360 research.

Garf said retailers are getting more stringent about returns, as well. That has also led to retailers pushing buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS).

3. Shoppers embrace AI to search for the perfect gift

Salesforce said that artificial intelligence (AI) influenced 17% of online purchases during the 2023 holiday shopping season. Predictive and generative AI contributed to $199 million in online sales during the 2023 holiday shopping season, it said.

This year, Salesforce anticipates that more consumers will leverage AI, whether they know it or not. Already, 53% of shoppers Salesforce surveyed said they are interested in using generative AI for discovering gift ideas.

As Google embeds generative AI into its search tool, Salesforce said, retailers will be able to transition from keyword searches to natural prompts for finding products on their websites. Salesforce said it predicts search will drive a conversion rate nearly 3x better compared to traffic not engaged with site search. It also predicts a 1.8% conversion rate across all geographies and verticals in the 2024 holiday shopping season.

Salesforce announced AI, Data Cloud and Commerce Cloud features at its Connections 2024 conference at McCormick Place in Chicago on May 22 and 23.

4. Black Friday becomes Cyber Friday

Among the Salesforce predictions is that ecommerce will capture 7% of in-store sales on Black Friday.

Nearly two-thirds of shoppers Salesforce surveyed said they’re waiting until the Cyber 5 period to make large holiday purchases.

“The big news is that Black Friday is going to be the biggest day for digital,” Salesforce said.

Survey respondents cited convenience, free delivery and the ability to search for the best prices as their top reasons for going online. Additionally, 72% of surveyed consumers told Salesforce they prefer to shop online during Black Friday.

5. Retailers tap loyal shoppers to avoid skyrocketing digital marketing costs

Digital marketing costs are becoming more expensive as the United States prepares for another presidential election and Chinese companies buy more advertising inventory, Salesforce said.

“This means that brands and retailers have to better engage their existing customer base amid this tug of war over digital advertising space,” it said.

As a result, Salesforce said, shoppers are doubling down on loyalty programs. 63% of shoppers are making more purchases from stores where they can earn and redeem loyalty points, Salesforce said.

Salesforce Shopping Index data indicates that the rate of repeat buyers increased 8% over the last two years. Furthermore, 46% of shoppers say earning and redeeming loyalty points is the second-highest factor, behind price, influencing where they buy, according to Salesforce data.

The final Salesforce holiday prediction is that loyal, repeat buyers will make 40% of purchases in the 2024 holiday season.

“This season will be competitive, intense, and no doubt all about pricing and discounting strategies,” Salesforce said. “It’s never been more important to rely on your customer data for guidance and insight into marketing campaigns — especially the holiday promotional calendar — that keep your loyal customers buying more and buying from you.”

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

The post Salesforce releases 5 holiday shopping predictions for 2024 appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.