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Now that the dust has settled, we can say that neither proved to be true.

As part of the recently released Top 1000/Top 500 Report from Digital Commerce 360, we examined the ecommerce growth from 2019 through 2023 for the 1,000 largest North America-based retailers and consumer brand manufacturers by global online sales. And there were quite a few surprises.

How did the pandemic affect sales growth for the Top 1000 online retailers?

It is true that the Top 1000’s online sales grew rapidly during the pandemic. In fact, their global ecommerce revenue exceeded $1 trillion in 2023 for the first time, growing 6.9% over 2022.

And for 2019-2023, online sales for the Top 1000 increased at a robust compound annual growth rate of 17.2%, nearly doubling during that period. But online retailing was growing at an even faster rate before COVID hit. The Top 1000 posted an 18.6% compound annual growth rate from 2016-2019, well above the pandemic-era CAGR.

How fast did Amazon grow during the pandemic?

And while Amazon (No. 1 in the Top 1000) did fine during the pandemic, posting a 17.8% CAGR during the five-year period, store-based retailers collectively did even better, growing at a 19.2% annual rate.

As a result, their share of Top 1000 sales increased to 34.0% in 2023 from 31.8%. Amazon’s share also grew, but more modestly, to 38.7% in 2023 from 38.0% in 2019.

Amazon accounted for 7.4% of global online retail sales in 2023. But that global number includes the $2.17 trillion in e-retail sales in China, where Amazon effectively no longer competes. Taking out China, Amazon accounts for 12.2% of online retail sales in the rest of the world. That more accurately reflects its dominance everywhere but China.

2024 Top 1000 Report

Analysis of North America’s leading 1,000 online retailers. Includes over 175 charts, rankings by annual web sales, benchmarking data, and growth analyses by category and merchant type.

View Details

Growth in online grocery sales

A big reason for the online growth of physical store retailers is the surge in online grocery shopping during the pandemic.

The Food/Beverage category posted the highest compound annual growth rate from 2019-2023 at 26.0%. That mainly benefited traditional supermarkets like Kroger (No. 6 in the Top 1000), which increased its online share of total sales to 10.5% in 2023 from 5.3% in 2019, and Walmart (No.2), which sells the most groceries of any U.S. retailer and increased its ecommerce penetration to 15.4% in 2023 from 7.6% in 2019.

Here are some of the other data highlights from the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000/Top 500 report:

• Conversion rate for Top 1000 retailers ticked down to just over 2.6% in 2023 from nearly 2.8% in 2022. But that still was ahead of the 2.2% rate in 2019.
• Shoppers 55 and older accounted for only 18.4% of visits to Top 1000 sites in 2023, down from 21.8% in 2022. That suggests that older consumers were especially likely to return to shopping in physical stores as the pandemic eased in 2023.
• Larger retail chains are more likely than smaller ones to offer a mobile app, and store operators with apps are more likely to offer omnichannel services: 33.0% of store-based retailers with a mobile app offered curbside pickup in 2023 versus 13.5% of those without an app, and 87.0% offered in-store pickup of online orders compared to 50.4% of those without an app.
• The Top 1000 accounted for 19.2% of global retail ecommerce sales in 2023, unchanged from a year earlier. Amazon alone accounted for 7.4% of global e-retail in 2023, up from 7.2% in 2022.

What else is in this year’s Top 1000 report?

The Top 1000/Top 500 Report includes all of the following:

• Top 1000 growth by merchant type and merchandise category, comparing 2023 to 2022 and analyzing the five-year period from 2019 to 2023.
• Website traffic trends, broken down by merchant type, merchandise category, gender and age.
• Average order value and conversion rate by merchant type and merchandise category.
• An analysis of winners and losers within the 2024 rankings of the Top 500, North America’s leading retailers by global online sales.
• Mobile traffic and sales for Top 1000 ecommerce sites.
• International shipping methods, payment types and shopping features offered by Top 1000 sites.
• Which online marketplaces Top 1000 retailers sell on, broken out by merchant type and merchandise category.
• An analysis of omnichannel retail services offered, including in-store pickup of online orders, curbside pickup and showing store inventory on retail chain websites.
• How digitally native brands are faring online.

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The smaller screen size can make it more difficult to find products, so Casio UK and its G-Shock watch website, have been using content personalization and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search in an effort to boost conversion. So far, it seems to be working.

One way has been through creating a sense of urgency. Casio UK has tested FOMO (fear of missing out) messaging on its website. Monique Green, ecommerce manager at Casio UK, told Digital Commerce 360 that an SKU with less than 10 remaining units for sale will display messages such as “last chance” or “only five left in stock.” This has driven conversion rates up to 18%, according to Casio.

Using technology from Nosto, Casio UK’s website will display how many times a product has been viewed (on its Casio site) or purchased (on its G-Shock website) in the past 24 hours. Nosto is a commerce experience platform (CXP) that offers automation and AI tools to provide insights on ecommerce data.

Casio sells watches, calculators and musical instruments. It has different ecommerce websites for:

• North America
• Latin America
• Europe (including a separate website for the UK and Ireland)
• The Middle East and Africa
• Asia and Oceania

Casio UK taps Nosto for personalization tools

Although Casio sells wholesale, it said it wants to encourage shoppers to buy directly from both its Casio and G-Shock websites. Using a Nosto feature, Casio and G-Shock’s UK websites have achieved a 40% conversion rate on a retention campaign that triggers a pop-up message offering consumers a discount code. The catch is that it appears when a shopper copies and pastes product details to potentially search online for the same product elsewhere.

Danny Power, head of digital at Casio UK, told Digital Commerce 360 that the retailer’s focus “has been on DTC improvements in the past 5 years anyway, to understand the customer more and serve content that fits.”

He added that Casio UK had “a lot” of customers shopping directly on its websites during the pandemic, but that tailed off over the past few years and is building back up toward peak levels.

“Stock was difficult to move to retailers as their warehouses shut, so customers had to come direct during [the COVID-19] pandemic,” Powers said.

Additionally, Green said, Nosto will generate a pop-up on Casio UK’s site suggesting returning visitors pick up where they left off. That pop-up would take consumers to pages they’ve already visited, nudging them to convert.

“If I want to put a banner on the site, that’s a bit different,” she said. “I would go in and manually do that. But a lot of the things like PLP, products gone out of stock, that would drop to the last page. No one wants to see an out-of-stock product they can’t buy. So that’s, I’d say, like 90% just working in the background.”

Product recommendations

Casio UK said it also uses Nosto’s product recommendations feature “to help consumers find the right products quickly.” The retailer said it uses A/B testing to optimize where those recommendations appear across its site. That can include triggering a notification on a product listing page that a newer model of a product is available. This is driving 26% of sales on G-Shock’s UK site and 11% on Casio UK’s.

Green said Casio UK doesn’t have options on its site to save a product for later or to compare it with another product. However, the site shows recently viewed products at the bottom of the page as consumers are browsing.

“So for example, our GA 2100 is our best seller, and we have it in like four different colors,” Green said. “So before, you would only see that product when you clicked on it. Now, when you click on that product, you can see the different colors also on the PDP.”

Improving search functionality

Casio said Nosto’s AI-powered search makes it easier for consumers — especially those on mobile — to find products on its website by entering attributes including color, shape, or product names.

12% of Casio and G-Shock UK’s site visitors use the search bar during their buying journey. But Casio said its “previous search functionality suffered from a lack of advanced product data processing, meaning it couldn’t provide relevant matches to complex queries unless the team spent time manually linking attributes for each product.”

Other technology Casio UK uses

Green said Casio UK also uses Yotpo for user-generated content. Yotpo is a retention marketing platform that retailers can use to produce reviews, text messages, email, subscriptions and more. Casio UK also uses Hotjar, which offers website heatmaps and behavior-analytics tools.

Heat maps are “really useful, especially when you’re trying to see what’s annoying people or bugs,” Green said. “Or if someone’s clicking on something loads and it’s not working, it helps you pick up things on the website. … But because it requires you to go back and watch it, it’s quite time consuming.”

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The third annual Automotive Aftermarket Digital Health Report reviews nearly 13,000 product pages across eight auto parts categories on the ecommerce sites of seven merchants: RockAuto.com, Advance Auto Parts, Amazon, Auto Zone, NAPA, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Walmart. The report was produced recently by Content Status, a digital content management technology provider, and Pivotree, a digital agency and systems integrator.

For displaying products online effectively, the report notes the significance of developing:
● An effective product data taxonomy for helping online buyers discover products across multiple categories.

● Comprehensive and accurate product descriptions with images to help buyers decide on purchases and become loyal customers, leading to increased conversion rates and sales.

But the report found that only about half of the reviewed merchants’ ecommerce sites followed effective product data management procedures.

For example, it found:

● 49.4% “adhere highly to category taxonomy and intermediary category page guidelines.”

● 50% “adhere highly to product image and gallery user interface (UI) guidelines.

● 40% “adhere highly to product information and specification guidelines.”

● 66% of displayed products have only four or fewer images.

● 82% of displayed products don’t include 360-degree spin images.

● 82% of products have no videos.

The report also notes the challenges merchants face in receiving and managing often incomplete product data, often in various formats, from multiple suppliers. “Incomplete or inaccurate product information hampers your customer’s ability to make informed decisions, resulting in decreased conversion rates and diminished customer trust.”

Automotive aftermarket lags in digital content

It adds that, despite digital technology improvements for automating and streamlining data management, “the automotive aftermarket industry remains heavily reliant on manual entry, review and normalization of data,” resulting in a lack of efficiency and accuracy in managing effective online product content.

The report breaks out performance scores for the seven retailers by overall content management, data taxonomy, and content by eight auto product categories, including brakes, car batteries, fuel pumps and oil filters.

Although the report singles out Amazon and Walmart as overall leaders, its retailer scores vary widely across the multiple scoring areas. For overall content, it cites Amazon as tops for “providing more content than other retailers.”

For taxonomy, the report scores AutoZone highest, followed by NAPA, while giving Amazon a “poor” score.

Among the eight product categories, the report calls out several retailers for effective content strategies, such as Advance Auto Parts with detailed product descriptions in brake rotors and O’Reilly in spark plugs for detailed product descriptions and 360-degree images.

The report found that car batteries had the most effective content overall among all retailers, and it cited Rock Auto for providing specification documents for all of its featured battery products.

It found oil filters to have the most lacking content overall but cited Walmart and Amazon “as the clear leaders in this category by consistently providing more content.”

But while the report gave Walmart and Amazon the highest scores for oil filter product descriptions, it gave Walmart a “poor” imaging score for lacking documentation and rich images.

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

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In North America, 45 of the Top 1000 online retailers use Shopify as their ecommerce platform. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest online retailers in the region by annual web sales. In 2022, those 45 online retailers combined for more than $8.29 billion in web sales. Retail clients include Fashion Nova (No. 115), Figs Inc. (No. 173), Nine West (No. 252) and Steve Madden Ltd. (No. 262).

These are the most important updates Shopify released in its Winter ‘24 Edition.

Shopify conversion updates

Shopify said it improved how it lists products with the biggest update to its product model in more than a decade. Now, products that come in multiple variations can be purchased under a single product listing. The updated model also reduces the time and effort that go into creating new product listings, Shopify said. The product page can now automatically categorize listings by features like color and size, eliminating the need to categorize them manually. Customers can also find products based on these attributes, it said.

The checkout page also got an update, Shopify said. The platform streamlined the checkout experience, reducing three pages to just one that customers must interact with. That cut buyer completion time by an average of four seconds, it said. Shopify added 14 new APIs and 90 new apps retailers can use to customize their checkout pages. The new apps allow for features including loyalty programs, post-purchase surveys, order tracking and other customizable content.

Shopify released a new semantic search tool using artificial intelligence (AI), too. The storefront search feature uses AI to surface results consumers are more likely to buy from, rather than exactly the keywords they searched, Shopify said.

Shopify channel updates

Shopify said some of its new updates were designed to make it easy for retailers to expand into new marketplaces and social channels. One such update is point-of-sale ship from store. Retailers will be able to select a store as the fulfillment location for an order through Shopify, so staff can pack and ship the order directly from the location. In-store fulfillment can increase efficiency, reduce warehouse load, and minimize shipping costs, Shopify said.

The platform also released Markets Pro to U.S. customers. The product bundle is designed to make selling internationally easier for U.S. retailers as a hub for help on global taxes, international shipping labels, customs, and more.

New marketing releases

Shopify says Shopify Audiences will “help you find more customers, lower customer acquisition costs (CAC), and improve return on ad spend (ROAS).” The app gives retailers the ability to target consumers on social platforms like Meta, Snapchat and TikTok. Then, Shopify uses machine learning (ML) to improve advertising targeting. This edition of Shopify Audiences includes benchmarks for measuring results against similar retailers and industries, Shopify said.

The platform also announced it will rebrand Shop Cash as Shop Campaigns. The customer acquisition tool will add new estimates and analytics in this update, Shopify said.

Business operations updates

Shopify said it’s using AI on several new releases to simplify retailers’ business operations under the banner “Shopify Magic.” 

Media Editor uses generative AI to create instant product images for free, Shopify said. The editor tool can create professional-looking images and enhance low-resolution files into high-quality media assets, it said.

Sidekick, meanwhile, will be “the world’s most useful AI-enabled assistant for commerce,” Shopify said. “It allows you to use AI to increase productivity, improve workflows, make smarter decisions, and spend less time on operational tasks.” The tool is in an early access rollout with select retailers. Shopify did not share when results will be available, or when other customers will get access to it. It previously demoed Sidekick answering retailer questions, such as “How do I set up a discount for my holiday sale?”

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“Companies that leverage their customers’ data effectively to build trusted, connected commerce experiences will see stronger customer loyalty and profitability,” Jujhar Singh, executive vice president and general manager of Salesforce Customer 360 Applications and Industries, said in a statement. “Every business must focus on driving efficiency and growth with new integrated and AI-powered innovations that enable a faster path to purchase and greater customer satisfaction.”

Salesforce provides technology services to retailers in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000, including to 69 retailers as an ecommerce platform, 55 for content delivery network, and 56 for web hosting and cloud services. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest online retailers in North America by sales.

Salesforce generative AI tools for productivity

Salesforce’s newest AI releases are all intended to give retailers ways to use the emerging technology in relatively low-risk ways, says Michael Affronti, general manager of the Commerce Cloud. Retailer clients tell Salesforce they want to use generative AI, but they’re nervous about implementation and maintaining privacy protections. That’s why the products in this release from Salesforce are focused directly on improving productivity as an easy way for retailers to test the waters, Affronti says. 

As part of the new rollout, Salesforce debuted Page Designer, a tool that allows retailers to build web pages through text prompts. Retailers can customize the design or specify that it mirrors existing branded web pages. For now, Page Designer is in the pilot stage, though Salesforce already claims to be seeing results among early users. During pilot testing, the tool has increased designer productivity 10%-30%, Affronti says. 

Generative AI tools to increase conversion

In another new launch, the Return Insights Tool gives retailers insights based on returns data. It uses generative AI to look for patterns in the data, then gives retailers suggested changes to product display pages that could minimize future returns. It also monitors reviews and reasons for returns to give those retailers specific ways to address issues causing frequent returns. Return Insight is available now, according to Salesforce.

Salesforce also detailed a new inventory management tool. The Inventory Insights tool gives retailers almost real-time access to information about their inventory and insights based on it. Insights based on the data can help in anticipating future demand and advising customer service workers on specific product recommendations when upselling to customers during service requests.

Other new insights from the announced offerings will be based on shopper data delivered through a feature called Customer and Product Insights. For example, the Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud will tell retailers the top product bundles customers buy, and the most engaged customers’ demographics, which can be leveraged to make strategic decisions. Inventory Insights and Customer and Product Insights will be available in summer 2024, Salesforce said.

What did Salesforce release for consumers?

Salesforce also announced Einstein Copilot for Shoppers. The generative AI assistant will have conversations with consumers through ecommerce stores or messaging apps and make product recommendations. Einstein Copilot takes into account a particular consumer’s preferences, location, purchase history, and other factors to make an appropriate recommendation. The consumer can then complete the purchase within the conversation.

Salesforce says Einstein Copilot for Shoppers will be available in summer 2024. The software company isn’t releasing specific results from the pilot test yet, but Copilot has adoption equal to or greater than traditional chatbots in tests, Affronti says. 

Other Salesforce releases

Salesforce announced its new releases on the first day of the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York City.

Prior to these latest generative AI features, Salesforce announced a new integration with Amazon’s Buy with Prime. Buy with Prime allows consumers to check out using Amazon’s payment systems and receive orders using Amazon’s fulfillment network from a website other than Amazon.com. Retailers using Salesforce Commerce Cloud will have access to Buy with Prime later in 2024, the companies said. 

See the other NRF stories Digital Commerce 360 is following here.

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FedEx is a shipping carrier for 478 retailers in the 2023 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000. The Top 1000 is a ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales.

FedEx introduces fdx

FedEx called the new platform “fdx.” Subramaniam said it will help retailers track the four most important areas of ecommerce across the customer experience:

• Demand
• Conversion
• Fulfillment
• Returns

“FedEx is transforming into a digitally-led business powered by our extensive physical transportation network, leveraging our scale and insights from moving 15 million packages per day,” Subramaniam said. “Through fdx, we will enhance our longstanding relationships with merchants of all sizes to help them optimize and grow their businesses through digital intelligence.”

The primary benefit of fdx over other ecommerce technology vendors is that everything lives in one platform, FedEx says. A single unified platform is more efficient than a siloed approach with many vendors and technology systems, Subramaniam told the audience at NRF. 

For example, FedEx can connect clients with high-value customers through ShopRunner, which it acquired in 2020. It can also give retailers delivery estimates to share with customers on product pages and in the cart, which it says will increase conversion.

FedEx has access to extensive data from its huge delivery network that it can put into practice for retailers to help them make strategic decisions across their business, it said. 

Fdx will be “FedEx 2.0,” Subramaniam said. The digital network will be built on the extensive physical network FedEx already owns. 

Fdx and returns

FedEx says the new fdx platform will also include a way to manage returns. It will “streamline, configure, and manage digital front-end return experiences, data exchange, and physical transportation for returns in one platform,” according to the press release. 

Subramaniam confirmed that the shipping carrier will process returns without boxes at FedEx locations. That news comes just a few months after rival UPS announced its acquisition of Happy Returns, which processes box- and label-free returns at UPS stores.

When will FedEx launch fdx?

FedEx plans to launch fdx in fall 2024. The carrier is also offering previews to interested retailers now. Potential clients can also visit FedEx’s booth at NRF to learn more ahead of the launch. 

See the other NRF stories Digital Commerce 360 is following here. 

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AfterSell is a Shopify partner that helps retailers create customizable checkout and post-purchase experiences. It has more than 20,000 clients, per AfterSell’s LinkedIn page. With the purchase, Rokt, which has an existing tech portfolio, will gain access to AfterSell’s client base and the ability to expand its offerings to small and medium-sized businesses.

Rokt and AfterSell

AfterSell’s customers include Good American, KitchenAid and Bloom Nutrition, according to a press release. In Rokt’s deal to acquire AfterSell, the software company will also gain access to Rokt’s AI technology and resources, according to Rokt’s announcement. 

“AfterSell has built a brilliant roster of SMB clients on Shopify and has garnered hundreds of five-star reviews from merchants, which is a testament to how well it delivers,” said Bruce Buchanan, CEO of Rokt. “This acquisition strengthens our competitive advantage by enabling us to better serve SMB customers and provide access to advertisers that aren’t typically available to them. We’re also thrilled to bring the AfterSell team’s knowledge and expertise into our organization.”

Rokt’s checkout optimization feature will integrate AfterSell through Shopify, with the combined features under the name “Rokt ecommerce.” Rokt Shopify app users will have access to features from AfterSell to grow revenue through improving customer experience, Rokt said.

AfterSell employees will join Rokt, with plans to “grow significantly” in 2024, it said.

Details of the acquisition

The deal was made through a blend of cash and equity, Buchanan and AfterSell co-founder Dhruv Patel said. 

Rokt and AfterSell spent nine months in an exploratory period, followed by a three-month period to get the two companies acquainted, Axios reported. Prior to the deal, AfterSell considered other potential acquisition options and funding rounds. 

“We wanted to accelerate towards helping more merchants drive more value per transaction. It seemed like a natural strategic fit with Rokt,” Patel said.

Rokt’s path toward an IPO

Rokt is growing and making acquisitions in preparation for an unscheduled future IPO. The company previously expected to make its market debut in 2023, which did not happen. The company will not have an IPO for at least the first six months of 2024, Buchanan told Axios. Timing depends on market conditions, he said.

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On an earnings call with investors, he announced eBay revenue and gross merchandise value (GMV) grew in the marketplace’s fiscal third quarter, ended Sept. 30. EBay GMV grew to nearly $18 billion in Q3, he said. And much of its GMV in the past year has come just from collectibles.

“We generated over $10 billion in GMV from collectibles over the last 12 months, and more than one in four eBay buyers purchased at least one collectibles item over the past year,” Iannone said. “These buyers carry some of the highest conversion, repurchase, and retention rates on eBay. And they are also among the heaviest cross-category shoppers on our platform, which supports our other categories.”

In the past 12 months, eBay GMV reached about $72.8 billion, according to financials listed in its most recent earnings release. Based on those figures and Iannone’s statement, Digital Commerce 360 estimates eBay collectibles accounted for about 13% of GMV in the past 12 months.

EBay ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV. Digital Commerce 360’s 2023 Global Online Marketplaces Report includes key insights into the biggest players in the database.

eBay capitalizes on collectibles in Q3

Iannone said eBay’s goal is to remain “the world’s most loved destination for passionate collectibles enthusiasts.” Working toward that goal, he said, eBay launched direct submissions to its vault.

“This enables any U.S. resident to send in trading cards valued at $250 or higher from their personal collections to the vault, even if they were not purchased on eBay,” he said.

Additionally, in July, eBay announced what it calls Vault Enhanced Submission. It enables eBay “to gather large amounts” of valuable trading cards in person at events. In one weekend, eBay added “tens of millions of dollars of assets under management to the eBay vault,” Iannone added. That includes a signed Jackie Robinson card valued at about $1 million.

The marketplace describes eBay vault as “a secure, climate-controlled, physical storage facility for graded trading cards available to eBay customers. In addition to best-in-class storage, the eBay vault offers opportunities for seamless buying and hassle-free selling with the confidence that comes with Authenticity Guarantee.”

The eBay collectibles category includes sports trading cards, toys and figures, sports memorabilia, comic books and more. The category accounts for more than 10% of eBay GMV.

eBay revamps condition grading system for trading cards

Iannone said eBay “revamped” its condition grading system for trading cards. It improves transparency for collectibles in the subcategory, he said. New listings now carry more precise details, he added. That includes whether a card has been professionally graded and the numerical grade, or one of several predefined card conditions.

EBay will also migrate existing listings to the new standard “over the coming months,” Iannone said. “Sellers have been asking us for this feature for some time, and we believe it will drive improved trust for buyers, better and more consistent price realization for sellers, as well as more robust data and insights around individual card values for eBay.”

Making the shopping experience more interactive

Although still in beta, eBay launched eBay Live last year in response to its growing community of collectors and enthusiasts, Iannone said. The interactive live-shopping feature is available within the eBay app, and the marketplace continues to expand its availability to more sellers and categories, he said.

Using eBay Live, buyers can interact with sellers and checkout in real time without leaving the livestream, Iannone added.

“Q3 marked an inflection point as we hosted over 1,000 live events, saw our millionth buyer tune in, and grew GMV from eBay Live by 4x quarter-over-quarter,” Iannone said.

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